IUP president, union president claim he said, he said in e-mails

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Written by Staff reports

Saturday, 28 November 2009

INDIANA — IUP President Tony Atwater told the campus that he is willing to discuss grievances between him and the faculty union, but the union president says that's not true. With a no-confidence vote scheduled by the union next month, Atwater sent a campuswide letter, saying such votes come with the territory, especially in difficult economic times when tough choices must be made, according to the Indiana Gazette. The union approved the no-confidence vote because of what it calls Atwater's "imperialistic" leadership style and his decisions on certain financial issues. But union President Robert Mutchnick said Atwater is missing the point. "I wish to communicate in no uncertain terms that I have the highest regard for our faculty,'' Atwater wrote in his e-mail. "In many of my presentations to many audiences, I have referred to them as the engine that drives our university. I have and will continue to honor and support their crucial role in the success of academics at IUP.'' According to the Gazette, Atwater said criticisms raised by the union are not representative of the truth, writing, "I could rebut effectively each of these allegations; however, it is not my goal to contribute to a public debate that will not serve the interests of our great university.'' He also wrote that he was willing to discuss the difference of opinion with Mutchnick, who rebutted, "For Dr. Atwater to claim he has extended an invitation ‘to meet and discuss our differences' is certainly, at the least, inaccurate and may even border on being disingenuous," the newspaper said. Mutchnick wrote that he has had two telephone conversations with Atwater since the union approved the no-confidence vote, and that Atwater told him he wasn't interested in reading the bill of particulars, the Gazette said. "Dr. Atwater specifically stated he was not interested in any negotiations, but that if we wanted to talk about the issue of centralization of personnel budgets, he was willing to talk about this particular issue," Mutchnick wrote. "He further stated that if this was a ‘whitewash of his presidency,' that he was not interested in talking." The Gazette said that while frustrations with Atwater have been festering, the centralization of the personnel budgets was the "last straw'' that led to the vote. The issue is a policy under which all personnel decisions would have to be approved by the vice-president of administration and finance. Before its implementation, the university's deans had the authority to make personnel decisions, as long as they stayed within their budgets, the newspaper said. Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs Gerald Intemann, however, said fears about centralizing decisions within the vice-president that would devalue the provost are unfounded. "There have been concerns expressed by some that this centralized approach to personnel budgeting will undermine our academic mission and threaten academic quality and integrity," he wrote in his own e-mail. " If I believed that were true, I would never have supported these budgeting guidelines. "Although we may have limited power on the total amount of resources we are allocated (which is true in a decentralized model anyway), I promise you that academic affairs will play a central role in the budget allocation process each year and will still retain control over how the resources we are allocating will be used," Intemann wrote.

Last Updated ( Monday, 30 November 2009 )