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YSU trustees, incoming President Bill Johnson get ‘no confidence’ from Academic Senate

By Staff report

December 16, 2023 4:48 PM

Bill Johnson speaks at a press conference after being named the next president of Youngstown State University. Screenshot

Youngstown State University’s Academic Senate overwhelmingly passed two votes of no confidence: one against the Board of Trustees and Mike Sherman, Vice President of Student Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness, and Board Professional for their closed door search process and a second against Congressman Bill Johnson, incoming YSU President.

Per an email from Edmund Ickert, Academic Senate Secretary, the Academic Senate’s Resolutions of No Confidence concluded Saturday.

Seventy-seven out of ninety-five members of the Academic Senate voted on the resolutions.” 77.9% of Senators supported the vote of no confidence in the process and 58% of Senators approved the resolution of no confidence against Bill Johnson.

What was the first resolution?

The first resolution was “no confidence in the presidential search process as led by Youngstown State University Board of Trustees and YSU President of Student Affairs, Institutional Effectiveness, and Board Professional Mike Sherman.”

The resolution cited the lack of shared governance, transparency, input from faculty, students and staff and also the “misleading” communication about the search, damage to campus climate and trust in YSU and the negative impacts on donors and alumni as the reasons for no confidence. Copies of the resolution are to be sent to YSU leaders, the President of the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits YSU, and Chancellor Randy Gardner.

What was the second resolution?

The second resolution that was approved by the Senate was “no confidence in President Designee Bill Johnson.” The resolution cited concerns about Johnson’s qualifications for the role, the damage done by the appointment of a partisan, the lack of interaction between Johnson and campus stakeholders during the hiring process, Johnson’s presumptuous statements about universities “indoctrinating” students and the disconnect between Johnson’s public stances on issues important to YSU constituents and YSU’s own mission and vision of being an inclusive, diverse, and equitable campus.

Dr. Amanda Fehlbaum, Associate Professor of Sociology and at-large Senator, brought the two resolutions before the Academic Senate on Dec. 6. Senators, including administrators, students, and faculty, had the opportunity to discuss the resolutions and offer amendments during the meeting. “The process for moving these resolutions forward and having them approved by Senate was a transparent, inclusive, democratic process that all universities should follow. They were drafted in caucus, debated in the Senate, amended and voted on. The YSU community deserved a similarly open, inclusive process for choosing YSU’s president,” Fehlbaum said.