Just hours after Faculty Association President John White and SG President Ally Schneider dropped a bombshell at a BOT meeting meant to determine whether or not President David Szymanski deserved his $75,000 bonus, Spinnaker reached out to UNF’s United Faculty of Florida to see what faculty members had to say about the current administration.

The response was overwhelmingly negative with many claiming Szymanski has not made an effort to build a relationship between his administration and faculty. Many also said that Szymanski alienated himself by adding security to the second floor of J.J. Daniel Hall.

 The inflammatory faculty responses which can be seen below will remain anonymous. 

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When Spinnaker requested to interview the President for his reaction to Tuesday’s BOT meeting and faculty responses on that meeting the university’s Director of Media Relations, Ginny Walthour said that although it was a great idea, now was not the right time but that they would love to do so in the near future.

Walthour also adamantly requested that Spinnaker “publish immediately” UNF Chair Board of Trustees Kevin Hyde’s statement in response to yesterday’s article. The statement outlines much of what was in the original article despite Spinnaker being told by Walthour that it was “one-sided”.

“During the 8/25 UNF Board of Trustees meeting, trustees expressed strong support for the President and all of his accomplishments, including significant improvements in performance metrics, meaningful increases in student retention, double-digit growth in minority enrollment, securing $6 million in MedNexus funding, and outstanding leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. In recognition of his many achievements, the Board unanimously voted to award the President the full amount of incentive compensation,” said Hyde.

Not only did the university send Hyde’s response but they also sent Spinnaker an unsolicited email from John White sent last week to faculty and staff which the administration says shows White’s support of the President.     

Syzmanski is two years into a four-year contract.  Hyde, who said he was reworking Szymanski’s review after hearing concerns at the BOT meeting, says he’ll meet with Szymanski to discuss the simmering topics. Board members at the Tuesday meeting agreed that Szymanski needs to improve his relationship with the faculty for UNF to continue to move forward. 

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