By an overwhelming margin, the Clark College faculty union has passed a no-confidence measure against the two-year school’s president, Dr. R. Wayne Branch. Of the 239 full- and part-time faculty votes, 229 went against Branch, citing his autocratic leadership style and the high turnover in key positions since his arrival in 2003. Branch
is the first Black president of the predominately White Vancouver, Wash., college, and his push for a more diverse, younger faculty has riled many old-guard professors.

“Was this just an issue of the White majority, who are feeling usurped by a minority leader that the college has never really dealt with before? This really made me question and debate whether or not we should go public with this,” says Miles V. Jackson, president of Clark’s faculty union.

Jackson says that immediately before the no-confidence vote, he asked faculty union members to make their decision based solely on their opinions of Branch’s leadership and governance issues, and not on his race. However, Jackson says he isn’t convinced his advice was widely accepted.

“We’ve got hundreds of faculty here at Clark. I cannot say for sure that everybody made a vote solely based upon the issues that we brought forward. … I have to say, there is a long-term history of institutional racism, and I really can’t say what effect race had on this decision,” Jackson says.

Barbara Kerr, Clark’s director of communications and marketing, says turnover problems have been exaggerated by some older faculty members, many of whom started working for the 12,500-student college in an era when working at one school until retirement was the norm.

Branch agrees, saying turnover is the natural result of a leadership change. A bruising conflict with faculty prompted the exit of Branch’s predecessor, Dr. Tana Hasart and Jackson says some current faculty hostilities are a holdover from that era.