After a vote comprising Barnard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors voted unanimously for no confidence in the leadership of Barnard President Laura Rosenbury, a similar faculty-wide vote had 77% of voters expressing no confidence. 

On April 22, Barnard’s chapter of American Association for University Professors (AAUP), which revived earlier this year, issued a unanimous “vote of no confidence” for current Barnard President Laura Rosenbury. This decision was affirmed by 102 votes from its members, representing over three quarters of Barnard faculty, according to the press release. “The faculty, staff, and students of Barnard College deserve better,” the official statement published by Barnard AAUP read. In a second, faculty-wide vote, 77% of voters expressed having no confidence in Rosenbury’s leadership.

The chapter claimed Rosenbury’s “punitive and rule-bound management approach” to leadership to be the reason for the vote. Rosenbury was selected as the president of Barnard in June 2023. Less than a year into her tenure, the “no confidence” vote is one of the latest reactions to Rosenbury’s actions against protesters during her tenure. Her inauguration in February was met with protests from pro-Palestinian organizations.  

The official notice noted that “the current situation is no longer sustainable,” and went on to list five areas of concern against Rosenbury’s leadership, which included lack of care for students, ignoring shared governance, repeated violations of academic freedom and free expression, administrative chaos at every level of the college, and the undermining the longstanding and cherished culture of Barnard College. The notice criticized a range of decisions that have been levied on student demonstrators, including the  suspension and eviction of students, the recording of students without consent or opportunity for hearing, and the difficulty of completing “basic functioning.” Concerns that “critical decisions [were made] with no consultation with faculty, students, staff,” echoed in the AAUP announcement. 

AAUP, founded in 1915, is an association of academic professionals with a stated mission to “advance academic freedom and shared governance” and has established chapters across campuses in the United States. Columbia AAUP was re-established in 2021; both Columbia and Barnard AAUP chapters came together earlier this month to issue a censure on Columbia President, Nemat Shafik whose leadership have also sparked great disapproval from Columbia faculty. 

Campus demonstrations for Palestine continue. At this moment, disciplinary measures for protesters continue to be in place. On Monday around 2 am, students in the Encampment were given disciplinary notices that offered an interim suspension for their involvement if they immediately left the lawn. Students who refused were informed of the possibility of suspension if the agreement was not accepted by 2 pm. As of today, several students have been suspended. 

To conclude the memorandum, the faculty members acknowledged that as faculty at a historically women’s college, they do not “take the prospect of… [the] vote of no confidence lightly,” in consideration of the fact that “two high-profile women presidents have already lost their jobs in recent months.” The faculty members were referring to the former Harvard president Claudine Gay and former University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill, who both resigned after testifying at congressional hearings regarding possible antisemitism at their respective universities.

Barnard Hall via Bwog Archives