Cynthia Warrick
The Grambling State University Faculty Senate, representing more than 200 faculty members, has decided that Interim President Dr. Cynthia Warrick is not the leader for our esteemed institution, now or later. Therefore, the Faculty Senate has voted in favor of a vote of no confidence and they strongly suggest that the University of Louisiana System President Dr. Sandra Woodley immediately dismiss Warrick.
Dr. Herbert Simmons, Faculty Senate president, said; “This has been one of the most difficult and troubling issues that I have faced as president of the Faculty Senate. It seems that when it comes to selecting a president for Grambling State University, we just can’t seem to get the right match.”
“It saddens me to say that Dr. Warrick has been one of the most disappointing and disrespected leaders we’ve seen at Grambling,” said Simmons. “I was hopeful that she would be a breath of fresh air, a leader who would quickly come to understand our desires and our grave needs and someone who could pull us together as we go through a difficult time. Instead, she has proven to be the most dogmatic and insulting presidents the university has seen in decades.”
Simmons said the senate leadership took a secret ballot vote on Nov. 13, resulting in a decision to seek Warrick’s ouster. As a part of the no confidence vote, the senate says that Warrick has discredited the office of president and the institution, injuring the reputation of both by belittling faculty and staff as she talks to individuals and groups, failing to answer important and urgent questions and taking significant actions without consulting the faculty.
The senate is demanding that Warrick open the university books to justify her allegations and suppositions that the university has a big deficit, revealing specifics including total revenue, fixed expenses, budget funds that can be disbursed at administration discretion and general discretionary funds.
The senate notes that Warrick has hired several administration executives at salaries higher than $100,000 and some have been hired without going through the normal system and university hiring processes. As the university faces a Warrick-described $3.7 million deficit, the president has insulted faculty and staff by providing nine administration officials with free housing at the university’s West Campus along with free meals. “Plenty of faculty and staff would enjoy free rent and free food in lieu of raises we haven’t seen in many years,” said Simmons.
The Senate also noted that Warrick came into the interim president’s role knowing there might be significant enrollment issues and rather than work to stop the enrollment bleeding she further caused problems on several levels, including failing to properly staff the university admissions office in ways to successfully recruit and maintain students.
“Perhaps one of Warrick’s worst efforts has been to draft a mission statement to replace our decades-old mission statement, departing from our commitment to educate the daughters and sons of slaves and their descendants and to more recently provide a four-year degree institution,” said Simmons. “Based on a draft the senate has seen, the president is working to dismantle all we’ve done to make Grambling State University the great institution it is with a mission statement to refocus GSU as a lesser university.”