In a series of remarkable statements (to add to his already growing number) Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck told KOAM's Mike Corcoran that anyone thinking a no-confidence vote from the full faculty is going to lead to his resignation is going to be disappointed.
Speck says he will not resign, and as usual, failed to take the blame for any of the controversy surrounding his brief tenure as university president. The problem, he says, lies with others who can't get used to the "change of culture" at the university.
He also notes the Board of Governors has extended his contract for two years, so he is here to stay.
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I hope this idea of interviewing newsmakers and putting longer segments on the web becomes the norm for KOAM, Interviews like these are a public service.
13 comments:
I just listened to the entire 10 part Speck interview. I was hoping that he might take some personal responsibility for the faculty dissatisfaction, but no. It's everyone else's fault but his own. In one of the segments Speck theorizes that two years of not getting a raise is really what is behind all of this. Regarding his Occasional Thoughts emails to the faculty, Speck just said he won't send them out anymore, but the faculty will lose out because they won't know what he's thinking. He also takes a couple of pokes at former President Leon. No surprise there.
Oh. My. God.
MSSU hired an absolute clown. Correction, Dwight Douglas hired an absolute clown. Seriously. This was the best candidate?
Crowder College and NEO A&M have far better presidents. Hell, the former and current Joplin R-8 superintendents and the Webb City superintendent are better educational leaders than this moron.
This idiot wants to stay here until he retires?!?! Please, Board of Governors, retire him soon!
We would be better off with some one who used MSSU as a stepping stool. Speck is using us as a toilet stool!
Judging by the comments here and elsewhere, people are just predisposed to hate this guy. I don't really see anyone denying that the school was basically run into the ground by the previous administration. I think everyone expected a new president that could perform miracles and they got something of a dud in Speck. I don't figure he's totally incompetent as many of you seem to feel. He was handed a difficult situation that few people could have improved according to faculty expectations. Some of the blame needs to lie with the impatient faculty here. What a spoiled bunch of whiners.
To anonymous 10:10
Thanks for weighing in there, Mighty Dwight.
What a douche.
In the Speck interview on KOAM, he points out that not a single faculty member attended Monday night's audit and finance subcommittee meeting of the Board of Governors. He says if faculty are truly interested in the welfare of the university, they would have attended this meeting. BUT WE WERE TOLD NOTHING ABOUT THIS MEETING BEFORE IT OCCURRED. Speck did not send out a campus-wide email announcing it, so how could we have known?
Anonymous 10:10
That's just it. The school was not run into the ground by the previous administration. It was in pretty good shape until Douglas and Speck chose to advance their cause by creating a "fake" financial crisis and "reacting" to it.
Then the problems started because Bruce is incompetent to start with.
We are not stupid and can see clearly what is happening.
Anonymous 5:36, didn't you hear him, it was in the Globe, somewhere buried in the Globe. That's where faculty are to find their news about the U. In the Globe! My guess is that 20% or so of faculty were at the Faculty Senate meeting (or had been there for 2+ hours) when this other meeting began. Administration leaves Senate meetings early.
when will the public figure this one out. speck was brought in to clean house at the request of the board. he doesn't care about the community...he knows he will be here three years and then gone. if you really want to know what will happen, then the globe needs to get a copy of his contract to look at the "buy-out" clause...which i guarantee will pay him a years salary for severance.
If the Boards fires him, they have to pay six months of his salary.
Professional staff received the following poop today. Note the use of "collegial:"
The MSSU Staff Senate seeks your opinions, questions and feedback about issues related to the University and its operations, particularly pertaining to staff related functions.
A form established by the Staff Senate and available at http://www.mssu.edu/staffsenate/commentform.htm is designed to give you a means to provide information - positive, negative or simply informative. While you may provide your name, this form allows you to submit comments anonymously, it is the Staff Senate's desire that members of the MSSU staff not abuse this opportunity and requests that submissions maintain a collegial attitude when providing information or comments to the Staff Senate. Please be as specific as possible when referring to MSSU policies, procedures, events or circumstances.
Staff members may also submit comments, suggestions or questions to Staff Senate members in an unmarked envelope via campus mail or by contacting any Staff Senate representative.
A listing of Staff Senators is available at http://www.mssu.edu/staffsenate/staffsenators.htm .
It should be noted that when Bruce Speck was hired he was the only candidate for the job. Of the three final candidates two took positions at other universities.
No one will ever know what the others were like, but we'll always wonder how exactly they picked this guy and why the board essentially fired Leon. (Yeah, they did, really - it was a forced retirement.)
Randy, I just wanted to agree with your commendation of KOAM. They are doing a true public service. It is always better to have more information available for the public than less, something the MSSU Board of Governors should think about.
Time and time again, Bruce Speck likens MSSU to a business. Then shouldn't we get a highly qualified MBA to run the university rather than a highly incompetent former English professor?
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