Conflict and procedural objections raised in demand Trustees vote again Monday
UNION, NJ…University students, faculty and staff are calling on the Kean University Board of Trustees to vote again on the leadership of President Dawood Farahi after narrowly retaining the controversial President last month. The local is questioning the validity of one vote of one Trustee who is employed by the administration, another whose vote may have been recorded incorrectly and an absent third not afforded the opportunity to call in, which would be enough to change the narrow 7-4-1 vote of confidence in Farahi’s leadership on Feb. 15.
The vote outraged faculty and staff who allege that Farahi falsified his resumes and applications for employment at the university by inventing publications, a deanship, an award and an editorial board position that they believe are fictitious. Student protests were ignited particularly by the Trustee’s claim that the university’s Academic Integrity Policy only applies to students and not to President Farahi, despite plain language to the contrary in the policy.
Student petitions and two campus unions—the Kean Federation of Teachers (KFT), which represents faculty, professional staff and librarians and the International Federation of Professional, Technical Engineers (IFPTE), local 195, which represents approximately 135 janitors, skilled-trades workers and security officers—are calling for the Trustees to remove President Farahi.