EASTON, Pa. — Lafayette College President Nicole Hurd will face a vote of no confidence from faculty members on Tuesday, according to a report in The Lafayette, the college’s student newspaper.
The vote comes after 10 faculty members signed a 12-page, no-confidence motion claiming Hurd prioritized athletics over academics and excluded teaching staff from decision-making.
William Bissell, an anthropology professor, signed on to the motion "because the administration has violated our principles of shared governance," he said in a Monday email.
"There is an extensive record of failures of leadership and poor management under President Hurd," he added. "Simply stated, the college deserves and needs better stewardship."
In addition to Bissell, the faculty members who signed the motion include: Mary A. Armstrong, a women’s, gender & sexuality studies and English professor; Robert Blunt, a religious studies professor; Alessandro Giovannelli, a philosophy professor; Caroline Lee, a sociology professor; Michael Nees, a psychology professor; Monica Salas Landa, an anthropology professor; Angelika von Wahl, an international affairs professor; Jeremy Zallen, a history professor; and Eric Ziolkowski, a Bible/religious studies professor.
These signatories – a fraction of the college’s more than 200 faculty members – called on the Board of Trustees to take immediate action to “address this leadership crisis.”
The role of a college president, they wrote, is to "build and manage collaborative and effective teams, elevate the College as an academic institution [and] successfully communicate a clear, shared vision in an inspired way."
"President Hurd does not meet these standards," their motion reads.
The faculty members further claim Hurd drove a “mass exodus” of administrative staff from the college and did not replace them in a timely manner.
Additionally, faculty members claim Hurd did not include them in governance decisions, such as the approval process for the college’s strategic plan.
They further expressed dissatisfaction with the strategic planning process itself, pointing to expensive and “unhelpful” consultants, disorganized approval operations, the exclusion of pre-tenured faculty voices and an initial failure to support technology infrastructure in the face of growing artificial intelligence concerns in higher education.
Faculty members also claim Hurd deprioritized academics and instead funneled resources and staff positions toward athletics. They said Hurd then misrepresented their concerns on the issue to the Board of Trustees, according to the motion.
The Lafayette reported similar votes have led to the resignation or expulsion of college presidents at institutions across the country, citing researchand other reports.
Scott Morse, a college spokesman, declined to comment on behalf of both the college and Hurd.
In a Sunday phone call, Board of Trustees Chairman Bob Sell also declined to comment, saying it would be "inappropriate and disrespectful to the faculty process" to comment before their vote.
Hurd, the college’s 18th president, has led the school since 2021. She is the founder of College Advising Corps, a college-access organization. She was previously College Advising Corps’ CEO and remains a board member emeritus for the organization.
Hurd holds a doctorate degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia.
The college in Easton will mark its 200th anniversary in 2026 and is among the city's largest employers.
