After two weeks of voting, the majority of Sacramento State faculty members approved a vote of no-confidence in President Alexander Gonzalez on Friday, said Faculty Senate Chair Michael Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald said 464 faculty members voted in favor of the referendum, 134 voted against it and two abstained from voting, all-together.

This translates into a 77 percent vote for the referendum and a 22 percent vote against it.

Gonzalez originally criticized the Faculty Senate actions in an open letter to the campus community on April 10. “In the 28 years I have been a part of the California State University . . . I have yet to encounter the level of incivility, mean-spiritedness and outright distortion that I have found among some members of the Sacramento State community,” Gonzalez said in his letter. “It embarrasses and saddens me.”

He sang a different tune in his latest response, which was sent to all faculty members, after the results were announced Friday. “In the coming weeks, and continuing into the next academic year, I will seek your input and develop a number of concrete actions to address these issues,” Gonzalez wrote.

Fitzgerald said that nearly 66 percent of the entire faculty participated in the vote, which is the first of its kind since a similar no-confidence vote went against former Cal State Poly, Pomona President Bob Suzuki in 1998. Suzuki later retired in 2003.-

“The turnout was very high,” Fitzgerald said. “There were 916 people eligible to vote. Of that number, 600 people actually voted. Talking to people, you can see that most of the faculty predicted that things would turn out this way?.They took the vote very seriously.”

Assistant Professor of sociology Kevin Wehr, who voted in favor of the referendum against Gonzalez, said the outcome was just as he had expected.

“The strong vote of no confidence was not surprising,” Wehr said. “Dissatisfaction-has been evident for some time, the faculty have finally spoken out.”

Wehr said there were several events that led to the introduction and acceptance of the referendum.

“One instance that comes to mind was after the budget meeting last fall, when- several hundred faculty members, who attended the event, expressed concerns about budget priorities and the president’s plans to cut instructional funding,” Wehr said. “A second moment was just after another meeting when the president dismissed faculty concerns with a shrug of the shoulders and a condescending ‘that’s the faculty’ on-air comment to a local television news reporter.”

Fitzgerald said the message behind the referendum was not one of malice, but is instead a call for action and cooperation.

“The faculty wants the president to take the academic budget more seriously,” Fitzgerald said. “The referendum was not a call for his resignation, but is instead a call for change. We hope he will take it that way and be willing to sit down with the Faculty Senate to try to iron out the issues. If that can happen, I think the results will be more positive than negative.”

He said that he is unsure of what will happen next.

“(Gonzalez) can either come out with a conciliatory statement saying that he hears the vote, understands it and wants to fix the problem, or he can come out on the other side,” Fitzgerald said.

Wehr said that Gonzalez has only two choices.

“(Gonzalez) has the choice to resign or work toward restoring the faculty’s confidence in his ability to lead,” Wehr said. “In the past, university presidents who lost the confidence of faculty have usually resigned.”

Last month, Gonzalez said he would not step down as campus president.

CSU spokeswoman Claudia Keith said the CSU and its leaders are confident with Gonzalez and the work he has done.

“The chancellor and the trustees support Gonzalez all the way,” Keith said. “He is a great leader.”

Wehr said the referendum offers Gonzalez a clear road map for reconciliation with the faculty.

“By directing the Faculty Senate to identify ‘specific actions that the-president must take’ to ‘restore the quality of the instructional- program and the Faculty’s confidence in his leadership,’ the Senate is offering him a road map,” Wehr said. “I hope Gonzalez will make use of this opportunity.”

Fitzgerald said that regardless of what happens next, the ball is officially in Gonzalez’s court.

He said that the faculty’s vote is important at the campus level, but carries little weight beyond that.

“The faculty are expressing themselves and that’s fine,” Keith said. “The vote has no official bearing on Gonzalez or his job.”

In his letter, Gonzalez said he is “committed to bringing people together so that we can help our campus reach its full potential.”

Ashley Evans can be reached at news @statehornet.com