In recent days — following the high-profile departures of top leaders at Connecticut State Colleges and Universities — faculty groups have cast multiple votes of ‘no confidence’ in the system’s administration and its Board of Regents.

On Thursday, faculty and students had a chance to address the Regents directly during the board’s first regular meeting since the departures were announced.

Brendan Cunningham, a professor of economics at Eastern Connecticut State University — and treasurer of the faculty union — described a higher education system “in full crisis and chaos.” He said he was concerned the upheaval among leadership could affect how much funding the system receives when lawmakers take up the budget next year.

“Our faculty have not seen well-reasoned and effective advocacy in the legislature by this board or management,” Cunningham said. “Instead, we have seen yet another embarrassing and horrendous scandal serving as a stain on our institutions.” 

In late April, CSCU Interim Chancellor John Maduko resigned, just days after he was informed he was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint and placed on administrative leave.

Earlier this month, CSCU released documentation of that complaint that alleged Maduko had sent text messages and made comments, often of a sexual nature, to a female employee of the system over the course of two years. The complaint included concerns about Board of Regents Chair, Marty Guay, who resigned days later. 

Students also criticized the board at Thursday’s meeting — both for the recent upheavals in the administration and for a lack of adequate funding.

Dom DeGennaro, a student at CT State Gateway, said he sees a “growing disconnect” between students and the administration, and he questioned how the colleges and universities could address operational problems — like those pointed out in a recent audit of CT State — when they’re so busy dealing with upper management crises.

“To be clear, students are the ones being impacted most by the unclear and unstable administration that presides over our schools. When there’s a constant change in these high-level positions, it’s students paying the price,” DeGennaro said.

In the wake of the resignations, former State Comptroller Natalie Braswell has been named interim chancellor of the CSCU system and Ari Santiago was named Interim Board Chair. 

During Thursday’s meeting, Santiago said Braswell was selected from a field of 17 candidates and that she would begin her work June 15. 

“Ultimately, [Braswell] stood out for her ability to lead through complex situations and to deliver results. Her mandate is to stabilize operations, support our institutions, and steward CSCU through this period while we conduct a full national search for permanent leadership,” Santiago said. 

According to Santiago, the board will be hiring a firm to conduct an independent investigation into Maduko’s actions and the CSCU system’s response. He said CSCU administrators and board members were “in the final stages of selecting a firm,” and that an initial report would be presented by June 30. 

In a joint statement Thursday, representatives for two staff and faculty unions — 4C’s and CSU-AAUP — wrote, “The Board of Regents and CSCU leadership have an obligation to change course. New names in leadership roles are not enough. We need real transparency, real accountability, and a genuine commitment to shared governance. We must prioritize public higher education’s resources where they belong: into classrooms, student services, advising, libraries, mental health supports, and stable staffing.”

Several professors told the board at its Thursday meeting that they viewed the allegations against Maduko as one more event in a long line of leadership failures among administrators within the system.  

Louise Williams, president of the faculty union at the universities — and a history professor at Central Connecticut State University — said the resolutions behind the votes of ‘no confidence’ noted there were problems with the administration going back to 2011, when the state universities and colleges were first consolidated under a single Board of Regents. 

The resolution approved by the CT State Community College Senate on May 22 calls on lawmakers to perform a “comprehensive review” that would evaluate “the continued viability and effectiveness of the Board of Regents governance structure.” The resolution approved by the Central and Southern University Senates called for an “evaluation” of the operations of the CSCU system that could lead to either abolishing the system or “significant reorganization.” 

Santiago said he was aware of the votes of no confidence, and that he had already reached out to faculty members for in-person conversations. 

Elle Van Dermark, president of the CT State College Senate and a professor of history at CT State Asnuntuck, called the system consolidation “a failed experiment.”

“Year after year, debacle after debacle, we are humiliated to be associated with CSCU. The dedicated faculty and staff at CT State have courageously endured one fiasco after another,” Van Dermark said.

Van Dermark added that, once the investigation into Maduko’s behavior and the system’s response was finalized, the CSCU system needed to “boldly confront a system that creates a culture that silences those abused, harassed and mistreated.”  

Kari Swanson, president of Southern Connecticut State University’s faculty union —and a librarian at the university — said the board and administration had become a “distraction” from the work of educating students.

Swanson said given CSCU’s requirement that employees attend trainings about sexual harassment and serve as mandated reporters, she didn’t understand how the allegations against Maduko could have been allowed to unfold the way they did. 

“On behalf of the women who attend and work for these institutions as the purported leaders of this organization, do better,” Swanson said. “Conduct an actual transparent investigation, hold those who failed in this situation accountable.”

Jett Brickett, a student at Naugatuck Valley Community College, told CT Mirror that she was “disgusted” by what she’d heard about the CSCU administration, and she said she wants her voice to be heard. “ As a sexual assault survivor, I think it’s disgusting that they let these kind of things happen,” she said. “I go to Naugatuck Valley, I attend college, and these are the people that are making decisions for me.” 

Ethan Bresson, a student at CT State Tunxis, said the campuses were “understaffed, under-resourced and underfunded,” leading to long waits for mental health support and struggles for some students to access resources like the food pantry. 

Bresson said he wants students to have representation on the Board of Regents, and he said the students, faculty and staff should be able to vote to elect members to the board. He said students and faculty need a board that “personally understands the struggle our system faces” and pushes for more investment. 

John O’Connor, a professor of sociology at Central, said he thinks the board needs more members who are experts in education, rather than “corporate and entrepreneur types.”

“The only way out of this cesspool is to focus on the classroom. Everything else is a distraction,” he said. 

In a statement made after the meeting, Santiago said he appreciated the comments from the faculty and students and that he is committed to an “open, ongoing dialogue” with anyone who had an interest in the CSCU system.

“Hearing from our shared governance bodies and campus communities is essential to informing the decisions and solutions that move our system forward. CSCU’s mission is too important to avoid difficult conversations. Our responsibility is to ensure the system advances student success, supports its institutions, and operates with accountability to the people and communities we serve,” Santiago said. 

Juanita James, who is leading the search committee for a new permanent chancellor, said the committee plans to present a report at the June Board of Regents meeting regarding the role, structure and composition of a Search Advisory Council. 

James said the committee had identified six possible firms for the board to hire to help with the search process, and it planned to do “rigorous interviews” before selecting one. She said they planned to hire a new permanent chancellor by April 1, 2027.