The Observer • February 4, 2026 • https://cwuobserver.com/29010/news/faculty-senate- move-to-authorize-vote-of-no-confidence-against-president-jim-wohlpart/
Faculty Senate members move to authorize vote of no confidence against President Jim Wohlpart
Brandon Mattesich, Editor-In-Chief
The Faculty Senate voted near unanimously, with 44 yeses, 2 noes and 2 abstentions, to approve a motion enacting a faculty wide vote of no confidence against President Jim Wohlpart. The vote to approve the motion took place at today’s faculty senate meeting, Jan 4, and the process for holding the actual vote of no confidence will be detailed in Observer coverage to come.
Prior to today’s meeting, 49 faculty members sent a petition to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC), on Jan. 20, requesting that the Senate authorize a vote of no confidence against President Wohlpart. According to the FSEC, a vote of no confidence “ is a formal process through which faculty express a lack of confidence in the leadership of a university administrator. A vote of no confidence does not, by itself, remove the administrator from office. Rather, the outcome of the vote will be communicated to the Board of Trustees, and they determine any subsequent actions.” The Observer received a copy of the faculty petition in an anonymous email from “concerned CWU faculty.” The petition is a 19 page document that details the reasoning behind the proposed vote of no confidence, with key reasons including, “Interference with faculty long-standing participation in shared governance, interference with the academic mission of the institution in ways that harm faculty, staff and students and fostering a climate of fear, intimidation and mistrust.” In the petition, cosigned by the 49 faculty who originally proposed the motion, they allege that “President Jim Wohlpart has engaged in actions that undermine the Faculty Senate’s role and the academic mission of the institution through a persistent pattern of decisions that erode faculty participation in shared governance and consolidate power in decision making within upper administration.” The petition further goes on to state that “for these reasons, we do not have confidence in President Wohlpart’s leadership of CWU and affirm that his actions devalue the academic mission of the institution to the detriment of the well-being of CWU students, staff, and faculty. The following five areas, independently and taken together, constitute sufficient grounds to justify a vote of no confidence.” This petition follows recent changes surrounding a revision process for changing faculty senate code which led to miscommunication and alleged overreach by Wohlpart. To read about the events that lead up to this petition, check out this article from The Observer: “Miscommunication between Faculty Senate, Board of Trustees and President Wohlpart”
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