After the April 3, 2019 decision by faculty senate leadership to move forward with a ‘Vote of No Confidence’ (VNC) over the leadership of Maria Harper-Marinick—all 10 of the Maricopa Community Colleges had voted on the resolution by Tuesday. Scottsdale Community College was the last college to vote late Tuesday afternoon.

The final tally resulted in nine out of the 10 Maricopa colleges voting ‘No Confidence’ in the Chancellor’s leadership.

Scottsdale Community was the lone college that voted, 14 “no” votes on the VNC and 10 “yes” votes on the Vote of No Confidence, with one representative opting for abstention according to the Scottsdale senate meeting notes.

Faculty Association President, John Schampel, told Northeast Valley News the steps that would immediately follow after the final vote results were on the record.

“We intend to submit the results to the Governing Board electronically on Wednesday morning. After that, we wait for a response from the Governing Board and/or the Chancellor. We have an obligation to continue to advocate and educate about the problematic leadership under our current Chancellor until our concerns are properly addressed so that the system can be put back on track,” Schampel said.

“It is clear that there is currently, and has been, a dysfunctional system for our students and all employees that we have tried in good faith to remediate with this Chancellor for three years. Elected faculty leaders have arrived at the point of advancing a Vote of No Confidence — a recognized manner to advance an issue of such importance in an academic system.”

On Wednesday morning, Dr. Linda Thor, Maricopa Governing Board President, responded to our request for comment on the vote of ‘no confidence’ from the nine Maricopa colleges as well as the faculty association’s submission of the vote total to the Board.

“The Governing Board respects the voice of the faculty and recognizes their right to utilize tools such as a vote of no confidence to raise their concerns and issues.  The vote of no confidence process is independent of any Board process.  The Board will be evaluating the Chancellor in May in accordance with her contract and Board policy.  As a Board, we have a duty to make decisions based on fact and to follow our established processes,” Thor said.