Herald and News
by Becca Robbins
March 17, 2021
The faculty senate at Oregon Tech voted Tuesday night to recommend university president Nagi Naganathan resign, citing his disregard for shared governance between administration and faculty leadership.
After months of low faculty morale and faculty claims of being left out of the senior administration’s decision making processes, the faculty senate voted on a resolution affirming that they had lost confidence in Naganathan’s leadership.
The resolution calls on Naganathan, who has been in the post for nearly four years, to resign or face a potential faculty-wide vote of no confidence.
A faculty vote of no confidence would then head to the Oregon Tech Board of Trustees, a 15 member board appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. The trustees have the power to remove Naganathan, if they choose.
A faculty senate report that accompanied the resolution cited three areas the senate found Naganathan’s leadership lacking: a disregard of policies and the editing of policies without faculty senate approval, a disregard for shared governance and irresponsible fiscal management of Oregon Tech’s resources.
Naganathan spoke at the virtual faculty senate meeting, which was attended by more than 100 people. He called the resolution “passive aggressive” and a “smear campaign.”