Their lawsuit was dismissed in federal court for technical reasons, but allegations in the petition filed by African American employees at Austin Peay University in Tennessee against university officials, including current Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck, makes it increasingly hard to understand how this man could have been the only person interviewed for the most important position at MSSU.
Portions of the lawsuit have been detailed in the past in The Turner Report:
In the lawsuit, which was filed in the U. S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, a former Austin Peay employee claimed Speck made "covert racial" remarks directed at her.
The lawsuit said that Speck, who served as vice president of academic affairs at the university, insulted two of the plaintiffs, Jacqueline Wade, director of the university's African American Cultural Center (AACC) and Nancy Dawson by saying
"he 'was tired of your arm-twisting and resistance to my decisions.'He also made clear that he would not tolerate Dr. Wade’s and Dr. Dawson’s 'pushiness' and 'uppityness.' Dr. Wade was offended by the latter comment as 'covert racial denigration.' "
At the time, Dr. Wade was fighting the administration over cuts to her staff's budget. The lawsuit says, "Dr. Wade 'limped along' without adequate staff and funds. She felt that none of the co-curricular programs directed by Caucasian directors suffered the same budget and staff cuts."
In the lawsuit, Dr. Wade says she was racially harassed by Dr. Speck on another occasion as she battled for her job, harassment which led her to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A further examination of documents filed in that lawsuit shows that even though the lawsuit was dismissed, allegations were leveled at Speck that should have sounded a warning signal to Search Committee Chairman Dwight Douglas and to the Joplin Globe, if either bothered to examine the record.
The lawsuit contains the following allegations, which should be considered especially troubling in this time of economic hardship:
At all material times, APSU President Hoppe and other APSU administrators and faculty members, including Bruce Speck and Joe Filippo, have defrauded Tennessee and federal taxpayers and government agencies when they engaged in self-dealing, looting, and other financial chicanery and frauds at APSU to: (a) unjustly enrich themselves, their spouses, family members, paramours, and sex partners; and, (b) subsidize their lavish lifestyles and perquisites, including the stocking at APSU facilities of intoxicants, hard liquors, and other luxuries for the benefit of APSU President Hoppe, other APSU administrators and faculty members, including Bruce Speck and Joe Filippo, and their spouses, family members, paramours, and sex partners.
In particular, APSU President Hoppe diverted and is diverting substantial public funds and resources to subsidize her lavish lifestyle, including university-provided housing, which she converted with taxpayer funds into a recreated “Southern Plantation” mansion that is packed with luxurious furniture and fixtures, including extremely expensive antebellum era wallpaper depicting “plantations, slaves, and red savages”. The mansion and its staff and budget have also been used and are being used for the private benefit of: (a) Ms.Hoppe’s husband, a retired administrator of the public Tennessee university system; and, (b) Hoppe family, friends, business associates, vendors, and other persons associated with or related to the Hoppes.
It's hard to imagine Speck having women willing to be "paramours and sex partners," but the rest seems on target. Enriching himself at the expense of taxpayers? Yes.
ReplyDeleteLet's loot his office! Find the liquor!
Now, now, everyone. The Brucester is entitled to the same rights as anyone else: He is innocent until proven guilty. To know how innocent he really is, you have only to hear him try to discuss the simplest question of finance or accounting.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, he has been outraging students, faculty and his direct reports for two years with his stubborn ineptitude, and the Board still thinks he poops roses, so they're never going to accuse him of anything worse than failing to plunk a med school down on the prairie for the benefit of the their various employers.
PS: I might wish he would keep a bottle in his desk, and enjoy a pull on it now and then. It might make him human! Till then, Bruce; these aren't the droids you're looking for.
Actually, Bruce Speck is very religious and does not drink - not at any public event that I've seen him at anyhow. (Yes, I mean the ones where alcohol was being served.)
ReplyDeleteJust FYI.