Friday, March 19, 2010

Speck administration stonewalls media efforts to uncover truth about medical school plan

It appears that Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck's administration has set up roadblocks in an effort to deter the campus newspaper, The Chart, from obtaining copies of e-mails between Speck and fired Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences President Karen Pletz.

The e-mails are public records.

The Chart filed a Freedom of Information request asking for copies of the correspondence between Speck and Pletz, and between Speck and Pletz' successor, Danny Weaver. Chart reporters were told that the incredible amount of work it would take to put together the material would cost hundreds of dollars, obviously putting it out of the range for the newspaper (and the public, for that matter).

Fortunately, the Joplin Globe has stepped forward to pay the cost, though the Chart reporters have been told it could take weeks for the information to be put together.

It must be an extremely antiquated e-mail system Missouri Southern has when it cannot find e-mails within minutes by searching for the sender or the recipient.

Since the firing of Pletz, it has become apparent that the former KCUMB president was on her own as far as her dealings with Speck and MSSU officials and did not bother to tell her university board about the agreement.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We've known that Pletz was on her own for quite some time, Randy. What the Chart should be asking for is public record emails between Bruce and Dwight Douglas. And not just regarding the medical school. Go back a while and you'll find out who was the real president of MSSU the last two years.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that the KCUMB board is on record as knowing about the scheme, just not having much info about it.

What that means going forward, except for the obvious delay as they do a lot of housecleaning, is unclear.

Probably nothing good, these sorts of things don't happen without champions, but Randy's statement:

Since the firing of Pletz, it has become apparent that the former KCUMB president was on her own as far as her dealings with Speck and MSSU officials and did not bother to tell her university board about the agreement.

Is just not supported by the facts ... that he posted to his blog....

Anonymous said...

Hey, 6:32, (DD?) don't you think Speck/DD/BoG should have ensured that KCUMB was fully on board before authorizing $250,000 to be borrowed and spent on the project--especially in light of the critical budget situation? How much is committed? Now Speck says when this falls through, MSSU will go find another school to partner with. How's that search going?