WEBSTER GROVES — The faculty of Webster University issued a vote of no confidence in the leadership of Chancellor Beth Stroble and President Julian Schuster amid growing criticism of how they have managed the college through financial turmoil.
The 59-41 vote on Tuesday afternoon doesn’t directly impact the university leaders’ employment but is meant to be a symbolic move aimed at improving communication between them and faculty, said Julie Palmer, who leads Webster’s faculty senate.
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Palmer said this was just the second time faculty voted no confidence against a Webster leader in recent memory.
“It was a way for the faculty to decide to send as strong of a message as we could to the administration that we’re not convinced that we are going in the right direction and that we need to make some big changes,” Palmer said.
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And the move has already worked, Palmer said: Several members of Webster’s board of trustees, who are fiduciaries of the private nonprofit university, plan to meet with faculty next week.
The vote follows days of mounting pushback from faculty, staff and students after the Post-Dispatch reported last week that Webster lost tens of millions of dollars over the past decade, including $25 million in each of the past two reported years. Yet Stroble and Schuster received annual raises that have put them among the Ƶ region’s highest-paid college leaders.
Stroble made just under a $1 million last year; Schuster, $850,000.
Webster’s board of trustees, who are fiduciaries of the university, has offered few details about its decisions, and has continued to support Stroble and Schuster.
Then, this week, board chair Sumit Verma said the board was working with Stroble on finding her successor, though he did not disclose a timeline nor confirm whether Stroble would still remain with the university.
That lack of transparency around executive pay and succession planning prompted Webster faculty and staff to write letters to the board expressing their concerns over the future of the university. Students on Tuesday protested against leadership and called for higher pay for faculty and staff and better student services, which have been cut in recent years.
University leaders, meanwhile, say that their plan to grow enrollment, which was halved over the past 10 years, is working. Webster, a liberal arts college, is focusing more on science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs as well as recruiting more international students to boost ranks.
Stroble has said that fall enrollment this year is projected to be 12,600, which would be a 20% increase over last year.
But higher education experts have said that a pivot to STEM is a common strategy for many universities, and schools risk alienating their current base without the payoff of more students.
Palmer, who leads Webster’s faculty senate, said the vote of no confidence also shows that faculty want better communication with university leaders.
“This was more about a statement that we are absolutely insisting on wanting to work with the board and are willing to work with the board,” Palmer said. “And we’re still willing to work with the administration because they’re still here.”
Neither Webster University nor Verma responded to a request for comment.