SUNY-ESF

SUNY-ESF’s Graduate Student Association supports non-renewal of president’s contract

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Faculty and members of the SUNY-ESF administration have frequently clashed in the last few months.

By Haley Kim

SUNY-ESF’s Graduate Student Association expressed support for a non-renewal of President Quentin Wheeler’s contract in a statement released Tuesday morning.

The statement follows a vote by SUNY-ESF’s faculty union in early March, in which 85 percent of 177 union members who submitted ballots voted to recommend Wheeler’s contract be terminated.  

“At this point, the GSA Senate can not envision how this degree of dissatisfaction and the overall rift at the core of our institution can be sustained for much longer,” GSA said in the resolution.

The organization acknowledged that it has successfully worked with Wheeler and the administration on graduate student issues. That includes a graduate student “Bill of Rights,” a planned increase for teaching stipends and an agreement to review the graduate student program.

The statement comes after SUNY-ESF’s Undergraduate Student Association released a statement on March 8 commending administration and faculty for efforts toward campus reconciliation. That statement was a follow-up to USA’s original February resolution, which called for clarification of the vision for strategic plans and increased communication from the administration.



At this point, the GSA Senate can not envision how this degree of dissatisfaction and the overall rift at the core of our institution can be sustained for much longer
SUNY-ESF’s Graduate Student Association

GSA released a statement in January expressing disappointment in the administration’s abrupt removal of three department chairs and concern about the release of a major academic plan without consulting the organization.

SUNY-ESF faculty and administration have been embroiled in conflict for months, starting with a resolution passed by the Academic Governance body in December calling for increased consultation between faculty and the administration. Following the dismissal of the three department chairs, SUNY-ESF’s Academic Governance body passed three resolutions and a vote for campus visitation by the SUNY University Faculty Senate, and also voted to remove executive chair Klaus Döelle.

In November 2016, SUNY-ESF faculty passed a vote of no confidence in Wheeler, expressing frustration in the president’s leadership style and citing a climate of fear.

AG voted on Tuesday to begin the first steps in considering a second vote of no confidence.





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