Faculty Council: Mark Kennedy Unethically Misrepresented Himself to CU

In a report released yesterday, the CU Faculty Council brought forth new materials regarding Mark Kennedy’s conduct during the search process for the next President of the University. Kennedy responded today with a new open letter, but failed to allay the grave concerns raised by the Council in the report. Namely, Kennedy’s explanation on decreases in donations to his current institution falls flat.

From the report:

“Kennedy’s CV mentions that in “Academic Year 2016-17” he “increased fundraising” to $40 million. His CV does not mention fundraising in his remaining time at UND, however. Fundraising has, in fact, dropped. In fiscal year 2018, fundraising declined to 34.7 million dollars. This fiscal year, the number sits at 33 million dollars with about 2 months left in the fundraising cycle.”

From Kennedy’s letter:

“The assertions being made here do not account for our current year-to-date fundraising when combined with a recently, widely reported $20 million anonymous gift for UND’s new business school, when finalized would represent a record fundraising year.”

While the anonymous donation Kennedy cites is a generous gesture to UND and an impressive investment in their new business school, it can hardly be considered an adequate defense to the net decrease in annual fundraising at UND identified by the CU Faculty Council. Moreover, the University of Colorado generated a record $440M in private support last year, more than eight times the value of UND’s donations in 2018, even accounting for their recent $20M gift. The UND community has characterized Mark Kennedy as incapable of managing their institution effectively, and his failed attempt at the presidency of UCF last year is a strong indicator for his commitment to implementing long-term improvements: How can we expect any better from him here?

At every step, Kennedy has proven himself to be inexpert and unqualified for President of the University of Colorado. Today, a second Regent announced that she would vote against Kennedy’s hiring. If the Board of Regents’ goal in this process is to find a candidate who will represent the progressive ideologies of our institution and unite students, staff, and faculty across the four campuses, the search must be reopened.