The Yeshiva University board of trustees issued a statement in support of President Richard Joel after the undergraduate faculty overwhelmingly passed a no-confidence resolution against him.

Board chairman Henry Kressel, in a March 13 letter accompanying the board’s message, called the Yeshiva College faculty’s vote “an unfortunate development,” adding that the administration has held several meetings with the faculty “to develop plans to enhance the quality of the educational experience at YU while saving costs.”

In a vote that is not binding on the board, 80 percent of the faculty voted no confidence to 3 percent confidence, with 17 abstentions, amid frustration over deep cuts in the curriculum and the announcement that some contract faculty will be let go. Some two-thirds of the faculty voted.

Professor Gillian Steinberg, a member of the Yeshiva College executive committee, told the New York Jewish Week that the vote was held after the faculty realized it could not plan the fall 2015 academic schedule since it did not know what courses and lecturers were facing the chopping block. Yeshiva University lost substantially from its heavy investments with Bernard Madoff. — jta