Piedmont University President Dr. James Mellichamp on Wednesday tapped the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Steve Nimmo, to serve as interim vice president for academic affairs. Nimmo steps into the role after it was abruptly vacated Tuesday by Dr. Dan Silber.
In a sharply worded email sent to colleagues upon his departure, Silber, who served as Piedmont’s academic chief for four years, said he was resigning in protest over anticipated faculty cuts. Those cuts, he said, were part of a proposed operating budget to be voted on by Piedmont’s Board of Trustees this week.
In response, President Mellichamp issued a statement to faculty and staff in an email of his own on Wednesday acknowledging the administration’s frustration over the “steps we have had to take to bring spending in line with revenue.” He countered Silber’s characterization of the cuts as a “draconian” saying, “we are very close to reaching a balanced budget and will need to make only slight adjustments to expenses to attain that goal.”
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The embattled president whose own job security remains in question after a no-confidence vote by the Faculty Senate last month lays the blame for budget cuts on the pandemic.
“The past two years, thanks in large part to the pandemic, have been a time of transition for Piedmont University. Our budget has been impacted by the pandemic, declines in graduate enrollment, volatility in the stock market, and overall economic uncertainty weighing on prospective students and their families. Additionally, Piedmont University has always taken a conservative approach to budgeting — it’s one of the reasons this institution has thrived for 125 years, regardless of the challenges it faced.”
Mellichamp continues, “Under these conditions, we have had to make difficult decisions as we chart the institution’s path through the pandemic and beyond.”
In his email, Dr. Mellichamp sought to assure faculty and staff that the university’s financial situation is not as dire as Silber and others have projected.
“Thanks to efforts we’ve made in marketing, admissions, and student retention, undergraduate enrollment projections continue to outpace last year, and we are expecting record-high attendance at our first two new student orientations,” Mellichamp says.
Piedmont University has not released any documentation to verify those claims, but Faculty Senate Chair Dale Van Cantfort says he is hopeful that this year’s budget cuts will not be too deep.
“As chair, I am actively working with the administration to get a budget approved with minimal impact on the faculty,” he tells Now Habersham.
With the opening of the new school year just months away, none of the faculty at Piedmont yet have signed contracts. That is expected to change this week when the Board of Trustees meets to finalize the budget.
In a statement issued to Now Habersham late Tuesday following his resignation, Dr. Silber said: “Despite my disagreement about this particular budget decision, Piedmont remains a wonderful institution,” he says, “and I will always wish its students, faculty, and staff the very best.”
While serving as Piedmont’s interim academic chief, Dr. Nimmo will continue as dean of the school of arts and sciences, a position he has held since 2009.
