ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A member of the Saint Louis University Faculty Senate claims the Board of Trustees is flatly ignoring all communications from students and faculty on the advice of a public relations firm.

Professor Steve Harris, President of the SLU Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the trustees brought in Fleishman-Hillard to “manage” the no-confidence votes against University President Father Lawrence Biondi.

“It has been one continuing crisis after another,” Harris said.

He said that, in his opinion, the trustees intend to support Biondi no matter what, hence the public relations hiring.

“This is not a public relations problem that must be managed, this is a crisis of a substantive issue that must be fixed,” he added.

As for the the announcement that faculty and trustees will meet once a year and issue a report, Harris called that superficial.

“This statement established that there would be a minimal amount of communication between the Board of Trustees and Faculty Senate because, up until very recently, there has been zero communication,” he said.

Harris said, in his opinion, the trustees have not had any public discussions or given any indication they are willing to address the faculty’s no-confidence vote.