Embattled Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck says he is at the university to listen and serve.
"I'm here to be available and I want to be engaged with the faculty, engaged with the staff, engaged with the students," Speck said. "If anybody wants to see me call my secretary, Sharon, and make an appointment."
The recent controversies come as no surprise to Speck who said he was "not looking for a presidency where you can settle in and get comfortable. I would like to think that I would have been a president who first of all, would have brought people together.
"I would like to believe that when I left I would have friends."
The most important thing, Speck stressed, was an open relationship with faculty and staff.
"If you don't consult with faculty, if you don't consult with staff, if you don't consult with people then you can come up with this brilliant idea and it can have all these flaws," he said. "A president can only bring so much to the table. You really have to tap into the creativity of the people on the campus."
Unfortunately for those who are in the war zone called Missouri Southern State University, Bruce Speck made those statements at a public meeting on campus in December 2007 before he was hired. The quotes are taken from MSSU's campus newspaper, The Chart, from an article written by Amye Buckley, currently a reporter with the Neosho Daily News.
At no time in Miss Buckley's story did Speck mention anything about being Charlie McCarthy to Dwight Douglas' Edgar Bergen.
4 comments:
I'm sure that Speck's friendship with Dwight Douglas will continue. In that regard he can chalk up a success. Otherwise, his 'friends' on campus can be counted on one hand. This isn't about friendship or money. It's about leading the university through difficult times without alienating those who could have been his strongest advocates. He was welcomed by the campus and given support. He quickly showed his true colors and began his vindictive rule by implementing change without involving relevant parties in discussions and blaming everyone but himself when things went wrong.
Speck's leadership has been a miserable failure.
I think Speck has done a remarkable job as our President!
Okay, Dwight Douglas, pretending to be MSSU Sophmore. Give it a rest!
I don't know if MSSU Sophmore (and I would guess the misspelling is deliberate) is Dwight Douglas, but I do wish the Joplin Globe would check its anonymous comments. It does appear that most of the pro-Bruce Speck and anti-faculty posts come from the same person.
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