Adrian Jimenez Morales

With 92% of the voting faculty in favor of No Confidence, the Oakland University American Association of University Professors (OU-AAUP) calls for the replacement of Michael Wadsworth as Dean of Students. 

Of the 436 faculty votes ballots cast by Nov. 1, 402 votes were of “no confidence in the leadership of Michael Wadsworth, OU Dean of Students,” with the remaining 33 votes supporting his leadership.

“After more than a decade of failed policies, procedures and performance that has resulted in a campus more dangerous than ever for faculty and students, and support for students with disabilities less effective and less appropriate than ever, the OU faculty has voted No Confidence in the Leadership of Dean Michael Wadsworth and the Dean of Students Office,” OU-AAUP President Michael Latcha wrote in a message to the University. 

The vote of no confidence followed after a threat was posed against a School of Music, Theater and Dance faculty member. On Sept. 18, students and professors reported a student’s misbehaviors through various channels, including the “Report Behavior” system managed by the Dean of Students Office.

“The Dean of Students was provided with a tape recording where the student stated, ‘If I was a different person, [the Professor] would have been shot on sight … If I was my grandfather, [the Professor] would have been shot on sight,’” the union wrote in a response to the incident. 

By Oct. 9, Wadsworth responded that the recording did not pose a direct threat of violence against the professor and a day after, by noon, Oakland University Police Department sent out a campus advisory saying that there was no credible threat. However, at 5:55 p.m. on Oct. 10, faculty unanimously voted not to return to Varner Hall after proper investigations, the Oakland Press reported.

“OUPD sent out an updated advisory stating that the Dean of Students had issued a Persona Non-Grata order for this individual banning them from campus pending a hearing,” OU-AAUP wrote. “The inconsistency in this change of policy raises serious questions about the legitimacy of the investigation that led to the noon-time announcement that no credible threat existed.”

A social media post followed on Oct. 17, with a presumed threat to faculty and students attending Varner Hall on Oct. 29. OUPD Chief Mark Gordon did not anticipate taking action on campus that day, the Oakland Press reported.

OU-AAUP also provided rationale concerning the Disability Support Services (DSS) performance, noting problems with the DSS office “erroneously fallen into a pattern of dismissively providing blanket denials for any faculty requesting an exemption in order to support time-and-a-half students,” the union wrote.

With Wadsworth being interim director of the DSS, faculty encountered problems with the June 2024 grievance settlement’s “failure to notify faculty of their unilateral adoption of an AI classroom recording accommodation to replace previous note-taking accommodation methods,” the union wrote. 

Based on these two developments, the union issued a Vote of No Confidence ending on Nov. 8 requiring the appointment of a “professionally trained and fully dedicated” Disability Support Services Director, the professionalization of the behavioral concern processing system and the replacement of Michael Wadsworth as the Dean of Students. 

The Oakland Post contacted Wadsworth but received no further response from him. 

“University administrators were disappointed to learn that the AAUP chose to pursue this week’s unprecedented and counter-productive no-confidence vote, which, unfortunately, may compromise the ability of the university and its faculty to meet and constructively resolve these and future concerns in a cooperative and collaborative manner,” OU said in a statement.

The union’s Executive Committee awaits the opportunity to discuss these matters with campus leaders, Latcha said, and will also carefully consider further action.