The union that represents thousands of higher education employees in Connecticut has joined the call of "no confidence" in state university system Chancellor Terrence Cheng.
The vote from the CT State Community Senate Board comes amid controversy sparked by reports and audits that showed Cheng has spent thousands of dollars on food and transportation using a state-issued credit card — as the system is struggling with low recruitment and retention and funding shortfalls.
Seth Freeman is the president of The 4CS union.
“Chancellor Cheng has failed to be a champion for CSCU students, failed to advocate and fight for CSCU students and to fight for the resources that CSCU students need,” Freeman said. “And that the faculty and staff in our community college system, certainly the faculty and staff that comprise the CSCU Senate, that particular shared governance body felt that we need a new and frankly a better leader at this time. So, the request is to have the Chancellor replaced.”
In a letter, Cheng said he took the concerns seriously and accepted "full responsibility" for the situation. He said he’s dedicated to regaining the community’s confidence.
Gov. Ned Lamont has said he would not call for Cheng to step down.
On Tuesday, CSCU faculty were expected to testify in support of proposed legislation to increase oversight of higher ed management and fiscal accountability.
“Our system is underfunded as it is,” Freeman said. “We need to make sure that the limited and frankly insufficient resources we do have are prioritized for our students and the services our students need and deserve. So, we can’t have the frankly limited and insufficient funding that we do get from the state being mismanaged by our system or managers or anyone else for that matter. So, we are in support of more accountability.”
