UW faculty pass vote of no confidence in President Seidel

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Scattered and hesitant applause broke out in the University of Wyoming Union’s Family Room as the UW Faculty Senate, which had been deliberating for nearly four hours, voted 43–11 to vote “no confidence” in the administration of University President Ed Seidel.

Seidel, his office and the UW Board of Trustees have been in hot water in recent weeks for the questionable termination of a popular dean. Deliberation opened up more concerns over the president’s alleged preferential treatment of some schools over others and the poor optics of Seidel supporting a transfer of $500,000 to a department his romantic partner is in charge of.

For the full details, see Oil City News’s previous article at this link.

The senate had scheduled to meet from 3:10 to 5:10 p.m., but officially adjourned just before 7 p.m. Most of that time had been spent in executive session, where viewers could only see through glass doors as individual faculty members spoke about their personal experiences with and their views on Seidel.

Apart from the approval of the session’s minutes and agenda, the later approval to bring the resolution to a vote and the final vote itself, the entire meeting was private and inaccessible.

As of 7 p.m. Monday, April 7 — just moments after the adjournment of the meeting and at the time of this article’s publishing — Seidel has not made a public statement regarding the decision.

The UW Board of Trustees is the body ultimately in charge of Seidel’s fate and employment. That body — which usually meets monthly and whose meetings are often scheduled well in advance — is holding an impromptu meeting at 7 a.m. tomorrow.