(12-09-2014 04:54 PM)blazerwkr Wrote: (12-09-2014 01:45 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote: (12-09-2014 01:38 PM)thebernreuter Wrote: Theoretically, the board could just ignore the vote of no confidence and take not action on it, right?
The Board won't take any action on the vote anyway. If the Senate votes no confidence, the most likely thing to happen would be Dr. Watts stepping down. There's an outside chance he could refuse and Dr. Witt and the Board forces him out, but I find that extremely unlikely.
Another thing to consider in the no confidence vote is that it may not pass so Watts would still be in charge & the only outcome of all this would be maybe he apologizes & says it won't happen again but does nothing about what he's already done.
It is true that the possibility exists that it may not pass, but most of the faculty senate, who don't care about football likely have serious issues with such a decision being made by consulting only a few (likely BOT members).
The comments made by the faculty were damning. It was a sight to see the faculty senate's peers assailing the quality of the the research that led to the decision, the way that the decision was made, and the dishonesty (at best) that was displayed throughout the process. Although many members of the faculty senate may not care about football, no-one wants to have a person in leadership that is dishonest and doesn't care about those who their is decisions effect.
It was
officially Watts who cancelled football and he technically has the authority to act; however, we all know where his orders come from. I don't expect that Watts is willing to do this because even today he continues to "regret" the way that this was handled, but not the decision was made (and without input).
Watts is not a stupid guy. He has already managed to obtain his deans written support (likely coerced) so that it would seem that he currently has his faculty's support. Most Doctors like to practice medicine on a limited basis once they retire. Since he is only ~ 60 and probably would like to remain president of UAB he likely still listening to the true leadership of the BOT.
The media is truly important right now. The coverage of the cancellation of football last week was huge; but the resolution that passed today may lead to an even larger headline:
No Confidence in President Who cancelled UAB Football. Hopefully tomorrow we will start seeing some national coverage of about the upcoming vote of no confidence.
Headlines like this will hopefully get the local and national media digging deeper into the Carr report Watts' used, the lies he made about the donors, the the powers that he really serves. The way we win this is by having light shined on Watts process and the shadowy people behind the decision they can't do what they do when their work is shown for what it is.