The board chairman praised Speck for not doing anything stupid like giving raises to employees.
From Speck's press agent, the Joplin Globe:
Board chairwoman Sherry Buchanan said she and the rest of the board are “very proud” of the work Speck and his administration have done during the past year.
“Dr. Speck has met the board’s expectations during a very difficult year for the university and the Joplin community,” Buchanan said in a prepared statement.
Those difficulties, she said in an interview with the media later Thursday night, included a decline in state funding and a decrease in student enrollment, which was attributed to the May 22, 2011, tornado. She praised Speck for his “tough decisions,” such as not giving pay raises and eliminating or not filling positions on campus when finances were tight.
The Globe article includes the following statement:
The board interviewed community leaders, Missouri Southern faculty and staff members, and employees who report directly to Speck. It also considered written evaluations of Speck from individual board members and from those who work directly under the president, she said.
Comments, anyone?
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Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado can be purchased at its website:
35 comments:
The Board just showed how out of touch they are to the happening on MOSO campus. I fear for the future of this campus. People are leaving in droves and those that are still there are either close to retirement or have kids who are or will be college age soon.
The Board of Governors only comes to campus once or twice a month, and they only talk to the President's Council, so they are completely unaware of the tremendous amount of disgust and lack of respect for Dr. Speck. The community knows, however, as there are frequent comments to the tune of "What in the heck is going on out there?" High school seniors are now looking at MSSU as a university of last resort; go there only if they have no other options.
The place is in trouble, and it's so unfortunate (tragic, really) that the Board would have blinders on.
The article states that the Board interviewed community leaders, faculty members, etc. But who did The Globe interview? Now obviously faculty members are not going to say anything negative about Speck to the paper out of fear of potentially being dismissed, but the paper could be talking to students as well as that fellow who is too often ignored these days, the man on the street. In short, what does the "average Joe" think about MSSU and the job its leaders are doing? That certainly should be worthy of at least some consideration. Rick Nichols, Leavenworth, Kan.
I think all these "the Board is out of touch" comments are missing the boat. I think that, unfortunately, the Board knows *exactly* what is going on.
Essentially, Speck is doing precisely what the Boards wants him to do. The goal - (1) slowly convert the faculty into mostly contingent short term positions. (2) Beef up programs with training that feeds immediately into very local employment needs. (3) Slash the remaining programs and staff, and convert what programs remain into fully supporting roles to serve the programs in (2).
Oh, they know *exactly* what they are doing, and Speck is delivering what he was told to deliver.
So, in other words, Anonymous 9:11 AM, the Board is trying to convert our university into a community college?
When the evaluation process incl udes only those individuals that have a financial and/or political reason for wanting to keep Speck there, it is a failed evaluation process. As to the Globe, I understand there is an agreement in place between Speck and the publisher that they will not investigate Southern or publish anything that Speck and/or BOG members do not approve. So I can't see the Globe trying to get answers to any of the problems there. And I, too, hear that MSSU is now a school of last resort, yet the Board is unconcerned. I recently saw a video on the history of Missouri Southern, with Speck puffing up with pride about MSSU's accomplishments. Too bad they are all PAST accomplishments because Speck has done NOTHING since his employment to better the standing of the university in the area. I also heard that there is a novel making the rounds that is obviously about Southern. In that novel a member of the board told the newly hired president of the local university that regardless of what his contract says or what he does so long as denigrates the reputation of the previous administration, he is guaranteed at least seven years with the university. That appears now to be very true indeed. As much as it saddens me as an alum and retired employee of Southern, when athletics and making a quick buck overtakes quality education, it may be time to walk away and pray that someone at the state level will move in and demand changes in upper administration. It's sad that a few selfish, obstinate and often ignorant people are allowed to slowly destroy a once vibrant college and a true point of pride for the four states.
JuCo--
Yep. Not an actual 2 year college, but a 4 year college that is really a community college.
Look, "the Board is clueless" is not realistic or believable. The guy has been there for years. The Board is well aware of what he is doing. The only explanation is that this is what he was told to do. It makes sense. MSSU has, over the years, painted itself into a corner with the whole "cheap, easy, convenient" tagline, trapping the university with a very local population that (a) has little money, and (b) isn't all that stellar, academics-wise.
So given that demographic reality, what do you do? You dial back the costs by reducing the "non-essential" programs that more prestigious universities have the luxury to offer. Instead, you beef up "dental hygene" and "cosmology" or whatever, and you look to make partnerships with medical schools. Anything that immediately meets the need for very local business.
However, to do this, faculty are in the way. So you must break them. You break them in all the ways he has been doing so far, but long range, you simply reduce their tenured ranks. Once you have a small but manageable # of tenured people, there just aren't enough people left to oppose you.
Hello, MSCC...er, MSSU.
Anobn 9:11
I wonder if the powers that be at MSSU are considering the future of Joplin. I fear that the animosity some locals seem to have toward faculty members could lead people in the community to applaud or turn a blind eye to the dismantling of faculty. The end result will be a weaker community for generations. I have always assumed that my high school age children would attend MSSU as I did. I no longer feel that way. I have already begun encouraging them to think about other universities. I don’t understand what the Board is thinking or where their loyalty lies.
Why does anonymous 9:15 think that MSSU should only consider Joplin. There are many students and alumni besides Joplin. The detractors of Dr. Speck seem only worried about themselves...and I suspect many are on staff. MSSU affects many people and many people pay the bills.
I wonder if anyone finds it VERY odd that the Globe story Turner links to at the top has ZERO comments.
ZERO? Really? Not too long ago any column on Speck would generate dozens of angry comments on both sides.
Now ZERO? Is the Globe "managing" comments on MSSU now?
Anonymous - did you send a comment that was not printed?
You are implying the Globe is managing comments. Tell me someone whose comments were managed, or are you just creating a problem where there is none?
Anon 11:07
Perhaps you have a reading comprehension problem. I didn't say that the Globe *was* managing comments. I said that it is very odd that no comments have appeared, and one possible explanation would be that the Globe is managing comments.
Another explanation is that no one cares about the issue, or that no one reads the Globe (anymore).
People very seldom comment on any Globe stories any more, because they now require you to post via your Facebook page.
Here are ten things to remember about the Bruce Speck presidency at MSSU:
1. He was a finalist for five other university presidencies but always lost out when it came to the interview/meeting stage.
2. He got the MSSU presidency only because the other finalist dropped out.
3. He was nearly fired by the Board of Governors BEFORE the faculty vote of no-confidence.
4. The faculty voted 76% no-confidence in 2009.
5. The one time he tried to accomplish something, the medical school partnership, ended in utter failure and embarrassment.
6. He has had SIX different academic vice presidents in his 4+ years at MSSU.
7. He is the antagonist in a "fictional" book, entitled "Vote of No Confidence."
8. He has personally raised absolutely no money for MSSU.
9. He has brought MSSU much public ridicule and contempt.
10. He's here for another three years!
Keeping this clown around is a HUGE mistake. Talk to the faculty. I would suspect the no-confidence level now registers in the 85+% range. The Board is full of folks who know nothing about expanding a University's outreach and fundraising capabilities. speck has hired yes-men and yes-women in many key positions. I am ashamed I attended and graduated from this once thriving university. I have stopped giving $$ money because of Jo Jo a Go Go. MSSU will soon be irrelevant, if it isn't already. Sad
MSSU 1987 Grad
I have been a professor at MSSU for most of my professional career. It really saddens me to have to say this, but if I were giving advice to a friend regarding where their child should go locally for a quality college education, I would honestly have to tell them to look at PSU. It's not just that we are having a real leadership crisis at Southern, it's that the only people capable of addressing the problem clearly have no interest in doing so.
Perhaps the vote of no confidence in the president should have been a vote of no confidence in the Board of Governors.
Someone at the state level in Jefferson City needs to launch an investigation into the total university. I can not understand how that you can not grant raises to those who are deserving of one yet you can remodel Hearns Hall, install a new 5 MILLION $ chilled water system, pave parking lot areas, replace all the glass windows in the dorms (god knows they needed it)and continue to lessen the money you spend on the students. Without the students nobody would be here including Speck and his posse.
Bruce Speck is doing what the Board of Governors want him to do -- to manage MSSU in an era of declining budgets to keep a regional university running and to graduate people wanting a four-year degree without massive student loan debt. Thus Speck has been rewarded for doing as he is told and that is as it should be.
There simply isn't the money to expand programs and faculty at what is a fourth-rate college. So the programs which remain are for the purpose of keeping the average young person in this area and to teach him a skill necessary for the area. These are not the years of the 70's to the 90's when money was thrown at MSSC and concrete was poured every year.
MSSU is being run conservatively by Speck, and thus Speck is rewarded for doing as Speck is told. That is the reality of the matter. Whining about it doesn't change anything
To Good job, Bruce!!!: In an era of declining budgets, how do you explain Speck's decision to ramp-up football and pour millions of dollars into stadium renovations? No one attends MSSU in order to watch football, except for the players themselves.
It can't be denied that the community and four-state area now view MSSU as having significantly declined in quality. I've never heard a Speck supporter (if indeed there are any outside of the Board) try to make the argument that MSSU is better now academically.
To Pernicious ... What decision has Bruce made to "ramp" up football? What "millions" are you referring to that Bruce has "spent" on stadium renovations? The fact is that no state money has been or will be used on stadium renovations. Any money that is used for any athletic facility will all be donated. So to say that Bruce has decided to "pour millions of dollars into renovations" has absolutely no truth or proof to back it up.
It really irritates me when academia or those that are completely ignorant to just what goes into athletics, complains about money that gets put into that department. There isn't a single department or organization on campus that can claim they give nearly 9-10 percent of its annual budget right back to the university every year as it is with athletics.
There are nearly 400 student-athletes on campus that most likely wouldn't be going to Southern if they weren't participating in athletics. So that's some seven percent of the student population that comes directly from athletics.
So please, stop complaining about athletics or using them as your excuse when you're unhappy about Bruce, because there are far more departments on campus that bleed money that you need to be looking at.
Perhaps it was a mistake to take a vote of no confidence in the president. Perhaps it's time to take a vote of no confidence in the Board of Governors. But perhaps it is also time to give up the fight, and let everyone submit a letter of resignation and see which ones are accepted. But this all must be done before the start of Fall classes.
It's too bad that so many posters cite percentages and numbers and unverified information just to make their argument. They think that just by saying these things or citing these numbers everyone will just accepted because they said so and it's on this blog. Not so.
That's why their arguments are just water off a ducks back. It doesn't soak in any more.
To Anonymous 1:29: The MSSU Athletics Department has seen budget increases since Speck became president. The academic departments have been cut. The Athletics Department has also been given additional personnel (promotions manager, business manager, assistant coaches, etc.) while faculty positions have been eliminated.
Football, alone, is a million dollar drain on the university's budget. A majority of the 400 student-athletes are on scholarship.
Pernicious didn't say that state dollars were being spent on stadium renovations. He/she just said millions of dollars. About a year and a half ago, Speck and the Foundation launched an $18,000,000 capital campaign to renovate the entire stadium complex and build a baseball stadium. There has been no such campaign to raise money for academics, such as sorely needed science labs in Reynold's Hall. All of the fundraising work is geared toward Athletics, most of it on football. These are the facts.
MSSU is run as good as can be expected in an era of budget shortfalls and myriad "for profit" schools taking advantage of the young people going into a non-dischargable debt because they cannot get any jobs.
Yes, MSSU is in decline, as are all government and private entities in a nation in decline. Bruce Speck isn't in a situation like Julio Leon was when money was being thrown at regional colleges and concrete was being poured every year. Rather Bruce Speck is being told to work with declining revenues yet keep the local 'university" able to attract local students and keep them here in the area.
Managing decline so that it doesn't slide into collapse is what Bruce Speck has done and done efficiently, with a minimum of drama, even given the whiners who still believe in "big-government" unicorns and that what comes out from under the mythical unicorn's tail is pretty colored candies as opposed to what usually comes out from a living process.
Bruce Speck is doing exactly what his bosses on the Board of Governors told him to do: Cut costs because of declining revenues and to keep the regional state university running as best can be done. This job doesn't take brilliance but rather an eye to what needs to be done and a determination to do whatever it takes with a minimum of fuss. Perhaps Speck talked turkey to the regional grownups at the Joplin Globe and Chamber of Commerce and they seen the light. Hence Speck controls the message.
This blog owner and most of his whining readers are unable to understand reality or actually anything other than their wants of the moment. MSSU is actually pretty well run and Bruce Speck and his bosses know what they need to do and have the confidence necessary to simply do it. But here on this blog you whiners can enjoy your own little world, wherein Bruce and the rest of the grown-ups are simply real big meanies.
Glad the AD, loyal minion, was able to chime in with the exact number of student athletes. I guess we'll never know if athletics returns money to the institution each year since the actual budget is cloaked in mystery.
The truth is athletics has been given more money and is a bottomless pit. If you view the department's financial data you will see they have the exact same expenses as revenue each year, which makes it look like they break even. However, the athletics department is allowed to count its budget from MSSU as revenue, so in reality the school spends millions on athletics and the department loses most of it.
First, I have no doubt that some of the above posters are right - the BOG hired Speck to break the faculty and to reduce MSSU (a long time sinking ship) to a "Community College Plus" that pushes local job need programs and reduces all other programs to support staff.
However that said, this is not a sustainable path for this or any seated university. If local job needs + internet classes will become the "new normal", then MSSU will find itself more and more competing against community colleges and the University of Phoenix. News flash: no seated university can match the costs of such outfits, which means as a business plan it is a failure. More students will go to Crowder and then finish up at U of Phoenix.
After all, if MSSU continues to think that further dilution of their brand via their new genius strategy is the "way to go" - why would a student pay the extra costs?
The MSSU BOG and Speck are not too bright. Eventually MSSU will die a very slow death, and by the time it finally ceases to exist (or simply reverts back to MSCC), no one will care or even notice.
I am both saddened and disappointed that the situation at MSSU has been allowed to continue for so long and become such a negative situation. Who should be contacted at a state level to investigate, and why have they not been? Please explain to me why there is new signage all over the campus for things that don't yet exist (the athletic complex...)but employees are not getting even cost of living raises, and instructors are being subtly, or not, encouraged to leave, but not being replaced? Who is concerned about the academic quality of the institution, which is quickly declining? As a graduate, I am upset and embarrassed for my alma mater. It has become a state-wide joke among the academic community. I and most of my friends who are alumnus refuse to contribute any more funds when we are called and asked for money. I will not aid in the decline of the institution.
Is it possible that Missouri Southern (my school as well) should never have sought University status to begin with. Dozens and dozens of college got university status, almost all claiming that being a university would give them an advantage over the others. It turned out to be a wash.
In these hard times, Missouri Southern shouldn't try to be something it cannot be. Take a look at the U. of Mo. It is suffering as well and must give us extras--like the university press. Just everyone should settle down, do your job and give kids the best education you can. Things will get better.
There is indeed a place for a Missouri regional college as part of the State of Missouri system. These "for profit" schools merely rip the students and the government off right now. When it comes down to it, there is no reason why altogether-Internet universities can't predominate. Mass Institute of Technology puts up its course work and this guy named Khan teaches collegiate level material for free.
Even MSSU and Crowder College have Internet classes right now. There simply is no use for "expanding the bubble" until it pops and there is a collapse.
I was against making MSSC into a "university" years ago. There is a need for a four-year regional college to take in the community colleges' graduates and to essentially offer a four-year degree. The rest of the University of Missouri system should offer graduate programs and the UM at Rolla run an engineering school.
Does MSSU/MSSC offer a "good enough" academically program for what it is meant to do? I say yes. Walmart and other corporations used to hire here all the time. The most brilliant students are not going to go to this local regional four-year college. However, for the mass of average students there should be a regional four-year college to offer mid-level management and introductory jobs with minimum expense for the good of local students wanting or needing a graduate degree.
In most cases a college degree no longer means much of anything any more, other than that you are in the top half of the population insofar as taking tests is concerned.
Bruce Speck is simply managing decline in a new reality, and trying to avoid collapse. MSSU is not a real university and it isn't no Ivy League school. But then again, Ivy League is no longer Ivy League either.
As a retired professor and having enjoyed my 32 years of teaching, during an expanding and improving period under the guidance and excellent leadership of Dr. Julio Leon, I still hope for a restored future for MSSU. Our four children attended and graduated from the University, and all of them moved on into professional areas for which they were well prepared. Additionally, we sponsored and invited a foreign student into our home for four years, who also graduated, giving credence to Dr. Leon's vision for our international mission. During this time, Mrs. Vivian Leon promoted and directed a very successful MSSU International Piano Competition which brought us world-wide recognition and a reputation for excellence. Let us not forget these accomplishments, but use them as inspiration for an optimistic view for the University.
I understand hard times call for changes, but under what business model do you degrade the quality of a successfull product while raising the price and expect to make more money? Ridiculous.
Here are a few thoughts.
This argument has degenerated from actual issues of importance into a battle of faculty vs. administration/board.
The biggest fact here is the board early on made, as a condition of Speck's continued employment, a decree that he improve his relationship with faculty.
That hasn't happened.
The medical school thing was a bold move, and in a way he should be applauded for thinking outside the box.
The true problem is that Speck cannot lead people. He is secretive, vindictive and insecure.
The failure at MSSU is that there are two necessary branches of the university at each others' throats.
Everyone is scared, no one innovates and all just hope to hang on until another position comes up.
Speck can't LEAD. He is like an ancient Pope, handing out red hats and creating Cardinals to keep his power.
AMEN to that!,except for the medical school. It was a local doctor's idea, not Speck's, and since board chair Douglas wanted to be in good graces with Freeman Hospital, he ordered Bruce to pursue it...
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