Following last month’s controversy surrounding UL president Kirsten Mey, the UL Student Life has voted no confidence in the 60-year-old following an emergency Student Council meeting this week.
The controversy erupted late last month when a letter from Professor Mey admitted to UL staff that an independent review found the university overpaid €5.2 million for a student housing development in Rhebogue.
In a statement released by the UL Student Life, they expressed their disappointment in the UL president. “Student Council expressed their anger and frustration at the ongoing management of finances and overall poor governance at the university.
“Student Council, which is made up of over 50 student representatives, voted unanimously to express no confidence in Professor Mey’s leadership, UL Student Life calls for prompt, transparent, and fair solutions that assure students are in no way impacted by the university’s mismanagement of finances.”
Mey, who has been president of the college since October 2021, took sick leave in the wake of the shock announcement and has received widespread criticism for her role as president during this process.
Fine Gael’s Paul Kehoe has said that “serious questions remain unanswered about why UL paid more than €11 million for 20 homes at Rhebogue, 3km from the campus, leaving the university now in deficit to the tune of over €5 million.”
UL staff have also voiced their distrust in the current president. In a letter penned by Unite, the sole union at UL representing just under 50% of its 2,000 employees, convenor Eoin Devereux stated that “this is a shameful waste of scarce resources which might have been used to better our university and the student experience.”
He also stated that Unite’s members “no longer have any confidence in President Kerstin Mey” and said the “ways in which the University of Limerick is managed needs to be radically overhauled.”
