Faculty Votes No Confidence in African-American President of Indiana University of Pennsylvania

The faculty of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the largest of the 14 universities in the state system, has issued a vote of no confidence in the leadership of President Tony Atwater. The vote was overwhelming against President Atwater with 84 percent of the faculty supporting the no-confidence measure.

The faculty listed their grievances as including poor decision making, a leadership style that alienates various segments of the campus community, and questionable spending priorities. The head of the faculty union said that Dr. Atwater has been uncooperative in attempting to find a solution to their list of grievances. President Atwater said in a statement, before the results of the vote were announced, that the criticisms of his leadership were based on “inaccuracies and misleading information.”

Before becoming president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2005, Dr. Atwater was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Youngstown State University in Ohio. A 1973 graduate of Hampton University, President Atwater holds a Ph.D. in communication research from Michigan State University.

The university, which is east of Pittsburgh, has about 12,000 undergraduate students, 11 percent of whom are black.

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