Amid Pride Dispute, Faculty to Hold Confidence Vote on Catholic School’s President

Faculty members at St. Edward’s University, Texas, are expected to hold a confidence vote about the school’s president, following students’ concerns about the administration’s removal of a Pride flag on campus.

Bondings 2.0 reported previously that a Pride flag had been hanging in the coffeehouse of the Austin-based university since 2018, but was removed over the summer due to renovations. Afterwards, campus officials failed to reinstate the Pride flag despite student requests to do so. Recently, students held an all-day peaceful protest with the goal of demonstrating the importance of LGBTQ+ support and representation. Students started a petition, which has gained over 900 signatures.

Students also publicly requested that a confidence vote be held on whether President Montserrat Fuentes should still serve in that role. At a Faculty Senate meeting on March 1st, twelve faculty members chose to proceed with a confidence vote, while just one member opposed doing so. Now, faculty members will have the opportunity to vote anonymously on whether they believe Fuentes is a capable president. Although this faculty vote cannot directly remove the president, a vote of no-confidence at universities is often the first step in leadership changes.

Following the Faculty Senate meeting in March, Fuentes rehung the Pride flag in the school’s on-campus coffeehouse. The president apologized to students and staff via email, and the university’s Board of Trustees asked the Faculty Senate to call off the no-confidence vote, since it is an “uncalled for action” with “significant consequences for the University.” A recent email from the board’s chair, Martin Rose, stated:

“‘We strongly urge the Faculty Senate to carefully reconsider its current path and more thoroughly exhaust reasonable and viable conflict resolution options available within our shared governance structure.’

“‘Dr. Fuentes has our unanimous support and our ongoing commitment to the University’s shared governance principles and processes.'”

Yet, faculty members claim that the vote of confidence “goes beyond the pride flag.” According to a recent employee survey, there is a general “distrust of the president,” along with concerns surrounding workloads, pay, and school morale. Due to these reasons, the Faculty Senate will proceed with the vote. An email to faculty members from their Senate’s leaders explained the decision to go forward with the vote:

“‘Thank you for your patience as we thoughtfully examine existing issues beyond restoring the flag that led to the challenges we now face and work toward creating meaningful and lasting solutions consistent with our mission and values.”

“‘We do not undertake this lightly or hastily and will take the time and deliberation needed to engage and inform faculty as much as possible throughout the process and ensure that the basis for any action is serious, well-founded, and necessary as evidenced by unsuccessful reasonable and viable conflict resolution efforts within our shared governance structure.'”

Meanwhile, re-hanging the Pride flag on campus is a lackluster response for students, who have organized resources under the @wheredidtheprideflaggo name to continue advocacy efforts. For student protest organizer Mackenna Bierschenk, the return of the Pride flag “didn’t feel genuine.” Nevertheless, students are now “standing up for faculty members” as they prepare for the confidence vote. Bierschenk states:

“‘This pride flag issue really just gave (faculty members) a way to voice the concerns they’ve had about the administration for a long time. Faculty issues, whether that be underpay, workload issues, all of those things affect us as students, directly and indirectly.'”

—Sarah Cassidy (she/her), New Ways Ministry, March 22, 2024