Faculty liaison Robert LaDuca announces to students at the sit in that a vote has gone out to all faculty members at Michigan State University to place a vote of no confidence on their next faculty senate meeting Jan. 31, 2018.
Rob LaDuca, a Lyman Briggs professor and the chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Faculty Senate, resigned from his roles in university Academic Governance last week.
In a memo sent to members of the Steering Committee, LaDuca wrote he was stepping down from his position as chair of the Steering Committee due to "a pressing medical issue of a psychiatric nature."
He is also stepping down from any involvement in Academic Governance, including his role as chair of the Faculty Senate, for the entire Spring 2019 term ending on May 15, the memo said.
The Steering Committee and the Faculty Senate are committees within the MSU Office of Academic Governance, along with the University Council that LaDuca often chairs in place of the president and provost. The University Council brings together faculty, student and administration representatives to discuss issues that involve the entire university.
The memo, which was sent on Dec. 5, came after a previous memo that said he was temporarily stepping down from his position as chair of the Steering Committee until Jan. 2. Vice-Chair Deborah Moriarty will take over his position for the rest of the 2018-19 academic year.
The memo sent to the Steering Committee was forwarded to the entire Faculty Senate, LaDuca said in an email.
LaDuca's resignation came after an essay written by former MSU professor Joy Lisi Rankin discussed alleged sexual harassment she experienced from him when he was an associate dean.
The Office of Institutional Equity, or OIE, determined LaDuca did not violate MSU's Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct policy or federal Title IX laws, according to an email LaDuca sent to Lyman Briggs faculty that The State News obtained.
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