Full-time faculty members at the Moore College of Art and Design, a 500-student institution in Philadelphia, have voted overwhelmingly that they have no confidence in the college’s president, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today. The vote, in which only the women’s college’s 30 full-time professors could participate, was 24 to 2. The college also has 70 to 80 adjuncts.
The root of the dispute appears to be a decision in January by the president, Happy Fernandez, to fire a faculty member who also was the head of the faculty union. The union leader, Steve Sherman, also attributed the vote to dissatisfaction with Ms. Fernandez’s “autocratic management style.”
Ms. Fernandez, a former member of the Philadelphia city council, has since received a vote of confidence from the college’s board, whose chairman described her as “outstanding.” —Andrew Mytelka
