Dive Brief:

• The University of West Florida’s Board of Trustees passed a resolution supporting the school’s president, Judy Bense, on Monday, responding to faculty demands that she step down.
• Among the faculty accusations is that she made implementing a football program a priority over the university’s “academic vitality and integrity,” the Pensacola News Journal reported.
• In passing their resolution of support for Bense, the trustees stated that West Florida had risen to national prominence under her leadership.

Dive Insight:

The 21-member faculty senate passed a no-confidence motion against Bense on Friday, which prompted the trustees to schedule an emergency meeting on Monday. At the board meeting, the faculty union's president said that Bense’s lax admission policies had put West Florida’s accreditation and state funding in danger, and that she had received substantial pay increases while withholding pay increases from university staff. Bense said the university had allowed students to enroll who shouldn’t have, but it had since toughened its admission policies. She also pledged to improve the university’s standing with the state, which gave the school a low rating and withheld $4 million this year. The trustees lauded Bense for helping the school grow and make Forbes' top colleges list and the Princeton Review’s top Southeastern colleges list. Bense has been president since 2008 and her contract expires in June.