On Thursday, April 17th the members of the Academic Council of the University of the Pacific will be convening to decide whether to give all full-time faculty members across the entire university the right to vote on whether they have confidence in the leadership of University President, Christopher Callahan. We urge the members of the AC to not contribute to our broken shared governance by denying the faculty a meaningful voice in joint decision making. We submit the following letter to the Academic Council but ask for support from all members of the University community by signing this petition and we encourage your comments here.

Dear Members of the Academic Council, 

President Callahan has repeatedly denied faculty a meaningful role in joint decision-making and shared governance. We have entrusted you with the responsibility to ensure that faculty voices are heard and that our concerns are taken seriously. On Thursday, you will be casting a vote to either allow or further deny our being heard on this crucial matter of governance and leadership. To be clear, this vote is not about your expressing confidence in the president, it’s about your expressing confidence in the faculty.

To date, faculty of the Dugoni School of Dentistry, Long School of Pharmacy, McGeorge School of Law, and the School of Health Sciences have all made public statements in support of holding a vote of no confidence in President Callahan due to grievances regarding their specific schools as well as those that affect the entire University. Others have voiced their opinions from each and every school and college across the University but have made the decision to remain silent out of fear of retaliation.

But as faculty we are only one part of the university community. There are many others—staff and students—who lack the platform and protections that we have in shared governance. We are all too aware of the numerous grievances expressed by staff and students, many of which have gone unanswered, with little meaningful opportunity to voice concerns without fear of retaliation. Alumni members have also expressed serious concern about the state of the University’s leadership and while they do not have a say in shared governance, they may decide to vote with their checkbooks.

Below are just some of the many complaints and grievances regarding the leadership of President Callahan from across the University:

• Faculty and Staff Retention: Bullying, intimidation, and a hostile workplace created by President Callahan have resulted in talented and well-respected faculty, staff, deans, and administrators resigning, being pushed out of their jobs and positions, leaving to go to better universities, or staying but feeling hopeless and afraid of speaking up. We are deeply concerned about the loss of quality educators, staff partners, and exceptional leaders since the president’s appointment, as well as the manner in which this has occurred. These individuals are valued colleagues, mentors, supportive alums, and are positive influences in the lives of our students, present and past, yet they have been treated like dispensable employees.
• Faculty Compensation: When questioned at school and college town hall meetings about faculty compensation being significantly lower than it is at other schools and universities, including community colleges, the President has responded that our faculty should be satisfied with teaching for the privilege of teaching and if they want to leave for higher pay, he can just replace them. Faculty and staff morale is very low, and dissatisfaction is very high. Urgent action is needed to address these concerns and restore a supportive environment for faculty and staff.
• Enrollment Integrity and Academic Standards: The President's actions have led to several concerning practices, including the forced over-enrollment of undergraduate and professional school students without adequate consideration for the necessary faculty, facilities, and resources to support them. Additionally, schools and colleges report being pressured to admit students who do not meet the minimum academic criteria to boost claims of record enrollment. For example, one of the professional schools has been pressured to admit students who are academically underprepared, overruling faculty admission decisions, leading to a significant decline in on-time graduation rates and prompting the need for corrective action plans by the school’s accrediting body. There are university-wide complaints from faculty, staff, and deans about being threatened with termination by the president if they do not comply with his demands to retain or even re-enroll students who have failed to meet minimal academic performance criteria. These decisions, made in pursuit of higher enrollment, have damaged the University’s reputation and undermine the integrity of academic standards and the quality of education we provide.
• Lack of Financial Transparency: The School of Pharmacy has been unfairly penalized for not meeting enrollment targets, despite a national decline in pharmacy student numbers. The administration's lack of transparency in financial matters, particularly regarding budget allocations and the impact of the gain-share model, has created significant challenges. Mid-year, retroactive budget cuts and claw backs have further strained faculty and staff, who are expected to manage increased workloads with limited human and financial resources.
• Strategic Planning Failure: The President has denied the Board of Regents, faculty, staff, students, and alumni the ability to participate in the university’s strategic planning process as referred to in the Faculty Handbook saying he simply does not believe in strategic planning. A strategic plan is necessary to define the university’s vision, mission, and goals and ensures all stakeholders are aligned and working toward common objectives. The process of developing and implementing a strategic plan engages stakeholders in decision-making, promotes transparency, accountability and a shared sense of ownership. It ensures all stakeholders are aligned and working toward common objectives and establishes measurable goals and benchmarks for evaluating performance allowing the university to assess progress and make data-driven decision for continuous improvement.
• Denying Faculty a Meaningful Voice: Regents have repeatedly rejected requests to meet with faculty and other members of the university community about concerns with the President. When an ad hoc committee of four regents finally did meet with Dugoni stakeholders due to mounting pressure, it was all for show and nothing came of it. Nearly 50 faculty, staff, students, administrators, and alumni members of the dental school were interviewed over two days, yet no formal report was ever filed and there’s been no acknowledgement or apology from the president or board for the treatment of faculty and staff that was brought to their attention in these grievances.
• Obstruction of Faculty Governance: The President is attempting to interfere with faculty governance by inappropriately seeking to influence Academic Council with limited and false narratives to prevent a vote of no confidence, yet again overstepping governance boundaries and trying to suppress the voice of concerned faculty who are finally stepping up to protect academic integrity and the future of the university.
• No Whistleblower Protections: Complaints made to the online Ethics and Compliance Hotline have resulted in confidentiality breaches and often receive no response. The Office of the Ombuds that served to provide an independent, impartial, safe, and confidential place for faculty, staff, and students to discuss concerns and seek resolutions was eliminated under President Callahan’s leadership. A survey required by WASC was conducted in Autumn of 2023 and posted on the University website more recently that indicates reports of discrimination and harassment by administrators is significant at UOP and reasons given in the survey for not reporting discrimination and harassment included fear of retaliation, nothing ever being done about complaints, lack of trust in the effectiveness of the systems meant to address their concerns, and the perception that those in authority are either complicit or indifferent.
• Unnecessary Damage to the Dental School: The President’s actions have caused and continue to contribute to significant instability at the Dugoni School, jeopardizing its unique culture that drives enrollment demand and donor support and its long-term sustainability and that of the University as a whole. Dean Nadershahi resigned after being mandated by President Callahan to increase enrollment of dental students by 20% in a very short period of time without regard to the education of students, care of patients, constraints of the facility, and limitations and strain on faculty and staff resources. The Dean was instructed to relinquish control of the operations and finances of the dental school student clinics, the alumni department, and the development and fundraising divisions of the dental school to university administration. Now that the President has put on hold these changes to the dental school that led to Dean Nadershahi’s resignation in the first place, the Board of Regents should be asking Dean Nadershahi to withdraw his resignation for the sake of preserving the dental school. The school is in a state of turmoil right now as faculty and staff are contemplating resignation, alumni and donors are threatening to halt their financial support, and strong dean candidates are unlikely to want to apply to a dental school that is led by President Callahan. If the regents have any interest in repairing the damage being done to the dental school, restoring faculty and staff morale, assuring faculty and staff retention, mending alumni and donor relations, rebuilding the reputation of both the dental school and the university, and preventing unnecessary negative impact to student education and patient care, they need to realize that retention of Dr. Nadershahi as Dean is imperative. 
• Failure to Adhere to Core Values: The President is failing to demonstrate the University’s stated core values that include academic excellence, community engagement, integrity and accountability, respect and civility, and being student-centered. He is not committed to or upholding the value statement from the University website that reads “Our values also support our faculty and staff development and engagement through a shared sense of purpose and identity. They foster a culture that recognizes and rewards the talents and commitment of our people, and cultivate an environment of innovation, inclusiveness and respect.”
• Bullying, Anger Management, and Micromanagement: President Callahan prohibits or removes school and college leadership from critical decision making, publicly belittles faculty, staff, and other administrators, and has shouted that whether we like it or not, there is only one decision maker and it’s him. He has anger management issues, and the Chair of the Academic Council recently stated publicly that the President has an issue of yelling at people. No one should have to tolerate a leader who demeans others or fosters an environment of fear and disrespect. The board has continued to turn a blind-eye and rewards President Callahan even though he behaves in a manner that would not be tolerated by any other employee of the University or in any workplace. Additionally, he micromanages the details of projects without utilizing or engaging faculty expertise and when things go wrong, he blames others. We are at an inflection point and we demand and deserve a leader with a demonstrated ability to bring us together and not tear us apart during these tumultuous times and those that surely lie ahead of us in higher education.
• No Accountability: The Board of Regents continues to bury their heads in the sand instead of seeking complete information and actually listening, understanding, and caring about what is really happening at our university and to the exceptional people who work here, attend school here, and support the University with their financial contributions. The Regents are responsible for hiring, reviewing, and terminating the President, but it seems like the Regents work for the President, not the other way around. No one other than the uninformed Regents have any input into the President’s performance reviews and the Board has continued to reward the President with compensation increases and recently renewed his 5 year employment contract.

So, we ask you, as our elected Academic Council faculty leaders, to provide us with a meaningful platform to be heard and to place the decision regarding confidence in President Callahan’s leadership in the hands of all faculty, not just in yours. We are asking you to serve as stewards of our voice, not gatekeepers of our vote.

Sincerely,

The Concerned Faculty of the University of the Pacific

Relevant Documents Can Be Found Here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3ob6cufxgct59ep7n5wb8/AE6oukrhU9dQy6Y_L80un88?rlkey=ltqq5mc8fcwwa6vx7kl1hymig&st=k1i3smg8&dl=0