UC Riverside’s faculty is on the verge of initiating a no-confidence vote for Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Paul D’Anieri, the second-highest administrator on campus.

Academic senate Chairman Dylan Rodriguez said he has received enough requests to call a special meeting after the first of the year to address the issue. In a letter to his members, Rodriguez said 10 requests from faculty are required to call such a meeting. He said he had received more than 100.

There have been periodic rumblings of dissatisfaction from the school’s faculty in the past several years. The concerns spilled out at a town hall meeting Nov. 29. Faculty members talked about their dissatisfaction with the decision-making process under Chancellor Kim Wilcox, the way faculty is treated by the administration and the administration’s vision.

Much of the focus was on efforts to add more buildings, students and faculty.

Shortly after taking over as chancellor in 2013, Wilcox announced an ambitious plan to add 300 faculty members to the school by 2018, a nearly 50 percent increase. He also proposed the addition of new research labs and other buildings and a goal of adding 3,000 students to the 22,000 the school had at that time by 2020.

In a Dec. 5 letter sent to the faculty, Wilcox responded to the issues raised, proposing a series of remedies he said would be immediately implemented. He did not address the no-confidence vote, but at Tuesday’s meeting, he reportedly said any such action should be directed at him rather than D’Anieri.

Many of the professors that spoke at the town hall meeting said the rapid growth was initiated without sufficient planning. They said new professors had arrived on campus to find they had no office or lab space. Many of the existing facilities also are in poor condition, they said.

“To bring in so many faculty and students without the infrastructure to support them is irresponsible,” said David Eastmond, chairman of the cell biology and neuroscience department.

“We have new faculty who do not have adequate access to vivarium (laboratory) space and to conduct their experiments. We made commitments when we brought them here. and we risk not being able to honor our commitments.”

Because of the shortage of space, Eastmond added, “We’ve already lost one faculty member and we’ll lose another one soon.”

In his letter, Wilcox said he was “humbled and gratified” by the commitment of the faculty to the university and listed several actions he plans to take.

“Effective immediately, I have declared a moratorium on major new initiatives,” Wilcox wrote. “There is still work to do in finalizing several ongoing initiatives, as well as ensuring that recent student and faculty growth efforts receive the infrastructure and staffing support they deserve.”

The school recently broke ground on a large multidisciplinary research building.

Campus spokesman James Grant said the administration is aware of the issues raised by the faculty.

“We’ve got some expected growing pains,” Grant said. Wilcox and DiAnieri are “engaged with the faculty, are meeting on an ongoing basis and are determined to address any concerns.”

A few faculty members said some of the initiatives put in place by Wilcox were good ideas. Few seemed to feel they had been carried out well, and the forum centered on complaints.

Faculty members said the conditions of existing facilities were, in some cases, “deplorable.” They described dirty environments with “disgusting” bathrooms, and classrooms with sticky floors, broken desks, wires sticking out of walls and missing ceiling tiles.

Imani Kai Johnson, a dance professor, said rat feces were found in some of the facilities she uses.

She called the conditions of the facilities in the arts building and the shortage of support staff “extremely demoralizing.”

“It affects our ability to recruit and retain,” she said.

Biology professor Kurt Anderson said just doing research can be a challenge.

“It’s hard to do world-class science when you have mold growing on everything,” he said. “You’ve got panels dropping off the ceiling onto your equipment.”

Such conditions are not limited to his lab, he said, calling the conditions “really embarrassing.”

Wilcox said the meeting showed him there is “a perception that senior administrators, including myself, have been unwilling to actively solicit or listen to faculty perspectives. I commit to working hard to change that perception.”

The academic senate’s Rodriguez said a date will be set in the coming week for a meeting to consider the no-confidence vote.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9595 or mmuckenfuss@scng.com