CAIRO — In a fiery speech at the American University in Cairo last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sided with the autocrats who dominate the Middle East and played down the Arab Spring protests that upended the region in 2011.

This week that speech became the trigger for a revolt against the man who hosted it: Francis J. Ricciardone, the university’s president and a former American diplomat. Mr. Ricciardone faces an open challenge from academics at the university, one of the most prestigious in the Middle East, who are angered in part by his decision to give Mr. Pompeo an unchallenged platform.

On Tuesday, the university Senate voted overwhelmingly to declare no confidence in Mr. Ricciardone, a former United States ambassador to Egypt, Turkey and the Philippines and Palau. In a resolution, the academics said that they had lost faith in Mr. Ricciardone’s stewardship of the university and urged its New York-based board of trustees to immediately begin the search for a successor.

The academics said their grievances against Mr. Ricciardone, who has been the university’s leader since 2016, long predated Mr. Pompeo’s speech on Jan. 10. In a letter to Mr. Ricciardone, faculty members cited low morale, complaints about his management style, grievances over contracts and accusations of illegal discrimination.