Perhaps it is not the proper sort of image to associate with a medical school, but they are dropping like flies at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, the proposed partner for Missouri Southern State University in developing a medical school in Joplin.
The firings began with the dismissal of longtime University President Karen Pletz, who worked with MSSU President Bruce Speck on the idea of a Joplin campus for KCUMB. The Kansas City Business Journal reports Steve Hale, KCUMB Internal audit/grant specialist has been fired. Including Ms. Pletz and Hale, six people have been fired as the result of the university's internal investigation, though no one is saying what it is being investigated.
No connection has been mentioned between the firings and the MSSU situation, but recent media reports have made it look very much like Ms. Pletz was keeping her board in the dark about numerous items, including the Joplin medical school.
18 comments:
It's been said elsewhere, and I certainly agree, that everything Bruce Speck touches turns to muck. I can't think of a single accomplishment that he can hang his hat on. He might say enrollment increases, but every college and university in the area is showing significant enrollment increases.
Exactly what are we getting from Speck for the $220,000 we pay him every year?
Whenever you blame Bruce for the mess we are currently in, you must rather blame the "three amegos", Dwight Douglas, Gary Nodler, and Bruce
The corruption that is obvious in the "three amigos" is probably just the tip of the iceberg. None of these three are smart enough or charismatic enough to come up with this mess all on their own. I question why nobody has really looked into who is really responsible for these stupid decisions? And, what else is lurking beneath the surface? It is amazingly apparent that come sort of Joplin area cabal is involved in setting the agenda and creating policies that enrich a few people at the expense of many. Ask: who is benefiting? Who is getting rich off these ideas? Who profits, either politically or monetarily, from these policies? Why is the Joplin Globe, the Carthage Press and the Neosho Daily News not investigating? And who is being hurt by these policies?
I can't read anything in that news report that indicates the fired president was keeping the board in the dark about something really big such as the MSSU proposal.
Maybe they weren't getting honest and accurate details (e.g. how much will it cost), but for now I think it would be most accurate to say that Speck and the fired president have a lot in common in not "getting it" (in her case, not getting that a DO is a unique and valuable thing that was in no need of elimination ... and that her school would never support her plans to destroy its very basis for existance).
Anonymous at 11:14 PM: I think you're giving them too much credit if you imagine they're "getting rich" off their schemes (although obviously Speck has a very sweet deal).
The emotional benefits of wielding power might be enough for them....
Speck is giddy at the thought of a potential 20% reduction in state appropriations, because it will give him the opportunity to do what he does best: cut, cut, and cut some more. I've come to the conclusion that this is the only thing he can do: axe programs. He certainly can't build anything or raise any money. He loves the power that comes with the opportunity to cut programs, as it enables him to play god on the MSSU campus: deciding who stays, who goes and which programs will die.
the one who has benefited from all this is Dwight Douglas. First, his enormous Napoleonic ego has been boosted because he has been de-facto president of MSSU, thanks to an incompetent board. Second, he used to work only part-time for Freeman, until he secured for Freeman the employee health insurance/care contract at the expense of St. John's. As a result, he now works fulltime for Freeman, and now he is pushing for the medical school for Freeman.
Who's benefited? The Little amigo! that's who... and Freeman, of course...
A good friend of mine used to work at MSSU, and he couldn't understand why it cost so much more to use Freeman hospital than to go out of state and use another in network hospital or clinic. Here's an example: bloodwork that he has to have on a regular basis would set him back $600 or more at Freeman; but if he had it done in his doctor's office clinic just across the state line, he paid a $20 copay. Same insurance. Same network. Different hospital. Also in the 15 years he worked there, he saw his health insurance benefit plummet, while his wife's insurance premiums (which he had to pay for) were becoming ridiculously high. Today he works at a different job, but it is similar in pay, etc. He pays less than half of what he used to pay for insurance premiums for himself and his wife, but has a much better policy through the workplace. Last year he had major surgery and had to take some very expensive medicine. His out of pocket expense was less than $500.
Freeman is making a killing of the poor people who work at MSSU.
The truth is, the medical school project is the last threat of hope for Bruce Speck, and he and Douglas know it. That explains why they are saying publically this is a done deal and are hiring architects, when behind closed doors they know this project is almost completely dead. It's all about tricking community leaders with deep pockets into donating for the school, and thus buying themselves a little more time before the inevitable occurs. I, for one, won't let Speck throw me under the bus when this plan (publically) crashes.
I've never seen so many cynical, conspiracy-theory laced comments,not to mention uninformed, in my life. Nodler, for example, has NOTHING to do with the med school, and little to do with what is going on at MSSU, so leave him out of the discussion just because you don't like Republicans. I teach at MSSU, and can tell you that enrollment has not just increased because of the economy, but many students are coming because of the DO school prospect.
I'd like to see some proof of the "corruption in the 3 amigos". Easy to make accusations without proof.
Lastly, since everyone in SW MO knew about the proposed DO school, how can anyone seriously believe that Pletz was hiding that from her board?? How ridiculous. She was canned for the MD/DO combined degree idiocy, not the DO school branch at MSSU. Get a clue.
3:46
Really? Students are piling on board because of a DO program that as of yet doesn't even exist? How many? And how do you know this? And where else were these alleged students thinking of going that the possibility of a DO program made them shift over to MSSU?
Let's say I'm a bit skeptical.
3:46 PM
Are you kidding? Sounds like a "Speckie" to me. First off, I haven't met one soul who is currently at Southern because of the proposed medical school. The thing isn't even supposed to open for at least three years.
And I guess people are thinking Pletz was hiding this from her board, to an extent, because the board apparently has no idea what's going on.
Right, we don't "like republicans" and that is why we don't care for Speck and his puppeteers. What BS. I don't personally care what stripe they are politically. If they are bad for MSSU, they are bad for Joplin. Douglas needs to go back to Neosho where he is king, and take Nodler with him. As for Speck, he can't leave town fast enough for most of us.
douglas is not "king" in neosho. he doesn't even live here. joplin... he's your problem now.
The Chart is reporting that 2.75 million has been raised. Is that raised or pledged? Just curious, but if they've raised that sort of money already that would be good for the medical school.
http://media.www.thechartonline.com/media/storage/paper630/news/2010/02/05/News/Speck.Fields.Questions.At.Faculty.Senate.Meeting-3865028.shtml
Wow! The Chart also reports that at the Faculty Senate meeting on 2/1, and in response to what institutions could do in tough economic times, Famous Bruce said: We can become private, we can close, or .......surprise! he floated a big trial balloon: We could merge with Crowder College....
Did Dwight tell you to do that, Bruce? or did Neosho boy Gary Nodler... Maybe both, since his (their) plan is to shoot for your job after he loses his bid for congress..
And what says the Faculty Senate?
Nothing new about Bruce's comments. MSSU has been operating much like a private college since its inception. First they will censor the Chart, then they will get rid of tenure and fire the dissenters. The best thing he said was MSSU could close. Maybe it should.
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