GVSU Community Survey Shows Lack Of Confidence In Leadership, Admin Says Results Are Not Credible

Michigan Advance

May 12, 2026

An informal “pulse check” questionnaire of faculty, staff and students at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids showed very low confidence in the university’s leadership, specifically President Philomena Mantella. University administrators, however, are saying that the questionnaire is not credible.

The questionnaire, titled “Community Pulse on Leadership at Grand Valley State University,” was active from April 22 to May 2 and was distributed via email and generated 460 submissions that were verified as responses from real members of the GVSU community. Around 55% of the respondents were faculty of some kind, and about 25% of the respondents were students.

The survey followed an open letter, sent to GVSU administrators in early March, expressing concerns about the financial decisions made at the university and the overall direction in which leadership is taking the school. Specific concerns included the OMNI initiative, a program targeted to adult learners that combines digital and in-person instruction, as well as renovation projects to the Blue Dot lab and Eberhard Center.

Most of the respondents to the questionnaire agreed on the question of how the actions of Mantella have changed the morale of the university community over the last year — nearly 94% said that it had decreased, and just two people said that it had increased. Similarly, around 89% of respondents said that the relationship between Mantella and the university community had deteriorated over the last year, while just three people said it had improved.

Respondents were slightly more divided on the question of how to react to this fact. 79% of respondents said that they believed the University Academic Senate should go forward with a censure/no censure vote on Mantella — the questionnaire stated that a censure “expresses serious concern and demands remedies.”

Meanwhile, 67% of respondents — and only just over half of faculty respondents — said that they would support a confidence/no confidence vote for Mantella, which would indicate complete disapproval of her leadership.

But if such a vote were to be held, the questionnaire’s results do not bode well for Mantella, who has led the university since 2019. 81.5% of respondents said they did not have confidence in Mantella — including 88.3% of undergraduates and 75.8% of all faculty.

University administrators, however, questioned the legitimacy of the results of the survey.

A release accompanying the results noted, “People who were interested in responding to the questionnaire should have been able to gain access because responses indicate that the questionnaire had reached people from all groups across the University who could then make it available to others.”

About one-third of all tenured faculty at Grand Valley responded, the release continued, a level of engagement that falls within a common range for voluntary higher education and campus climate surveys.

But the university’s statement disagreed with the idea that this would be a representative survey of the community, writing, “Participation was voluntary and self-selected, and misconstrued as sampling of the whole.”

“It was not part of our shared governance process, nor was it endorsed by the University Academic Senate,” the statement continued. “The summary release and analysis of the results were controlled exclusively by its author.”

Figen Mekik, a professor in the Department of Physics who helped to organize the questionnaire, said that it was intentional not to create or endorse the questionnaire by shared governance — because it represents a grassroots movement within the university community, but also because the University Academic Senate has passed resolutions for procedures for a vote of censure/no censure and vote of confidence/no confidence for leadership, which the administration has taken no action on.

“So, shared governance has failed the constituents it is purported to represent. The only recourse left for the GV community to be heard is to take a pulse directly. That is what we did,” Mekik wrote to the Advance. “Furthermore, if 34% of the tenured faculty submitting responses to the survey, and 77% of their responses voicing no confidence in the presidential leadership is not cause for concern for the well-being of the institution, then senior leadership is not doing their jobs.”

Mekik, who has written education-related commentaries for the Advance, added that she did not singlehandedly create or distribute the survey, as the university’s statement implies, and that she collaborated with a team to do so.

The questionnaire, which organizers noted in the release, received 145 more responses from the university community than the number of signatures on the open letter since it was sent March 6.

“Moments of tension and questioning are not uncommon in higher education, particularly during periods of significant change,” the university statement said. “GVSU welcomes and has many outlets for thoughtful feedback and debate.”

Mekik added that the tone of the administration’s response indicates why people working on the questionnaire are hesitant to come forward, due to a fear of being targeted and retaliated against.

“It is unfortunate and unbecoming of senior leaders of an institution of higher education to disrespect the submissions of 460 members of the University community rather than hear what the community has to say; and it is also very disillusioning that they impugn the scientific credibility of ‘the author’ (they mean me) of the questionnaire who is an NSF-funded well-published scientist,” she added.

The questionnaire was sent out shortly after the decision by the Grand Valley State University Board of Trustees to extend Mantella’s contract, which was slated to end in 2029, through 2031.

“GVSU’s Board of Trustees’ recent and unanimous decision to extend the president’s contract reflects its confidence in the university’s long-term trajectory, fiscal responsibility and commitment to preparing students for the future,” the university said.

“We fully support the President’s leadership in advancing this work and stand firmly behind the direction being set for the University,” Elizabeth Emmitt, the GVSU Board Chair, said. “The Board is proud to serve and support a university that is investing in a strategic vision that will fortify its future.”

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