The bloodbath at Missouri Southern State University continued with the announcement Thursday that 20 staff members, some with decades of experience, were being fired or as President Dean Van Galen phrased it in a letter to staff and faculty "their employment will formally end on June 30."
The latest round of firings came less than two months after Van Galen and university officials gutted the faculty, eliminating more than 20 non-tenured teachers and offering buyouts to tenured faculty members.
The cuts included all teachers in the theater program, though university officials insist they are not eliminating theater just combining it with the music program. (Perhaps the students can just act naturally and belt out songs.)
Reportedly, Southern officials have also made steep cuts to the science program.
The elimination of the jobs comes at a time when university officials have purportedly circulated proposals for new building projects, including one seven figure proposal for a building that would house the department that seeks new donors for the university, something that apparently is needed to provide more room for phone banks.
"The current budget reduction model will result in the continuation of all academic programs. While there are organizational changes to our campus, our top priority remains maintaining the quality of our student learning and success."
Van Galen failed to cite any studies that would indicate that getting rid of those pesky teachers and staff members ensures student learning and success.
The letter sent by Van Galen and university officials to staff and faculty members is printed below:
Dear MSSU Staff and Faculty: Today was incredibly difficult for our Lion family. A number of staff were informed, in person, that their employment will formally end on June 30. Our thoughts are with those impacted, both directly and indirectly, by these decisions. With input from CEBAT [Campus Enrollment and Budget Advisory Team], we have worked hard to develop ways to support these employees in the days and months ahead, but it will still be difficult for everyone. All staff that are separating from the university have now been informed. The appropriate President’s Cabinet member and supervisors will have follow-up team meetings to discuss structure and duties within the next week. As you know, there is a need to significantly reduce future university expenses as we develop the fiscal year 2023 budget – beginning July 1. Over the course of this academic year, as members of the President’s Cabinet, we have strived to listen, to be informed by the work of CEBAT, and to come to the best decisions for the future of Missouri Southern.
Budget development steps that have already been announced include implementing ideas that came from the campus survey, administrative reductions, a voluntary retirement incentive program, and decisions to not fill some open positions. However, it is still necessary to take actions that impact the employment of some non-tenured faculty (announced earlier) and staff across campus. We understand that there will continue to be questions and work to be done as Missouri Southern changes and prepares for the future. We will do our best to continue to engage and communicate with campus. Your patience, involvement, and support for your fellow Lions is appreciated during this difficult time. Sincerely, Dean Van Galen, President Brad Hodson, Executive Vice President Lisa Toms, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Rob Mallory, Director of Athletics Julie Wengert, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Rob Yust, Vice President for Business Affairs Heather Lesmeister, Director of Communications and External Relations
23 comments:
The science department? The home of Nixon Hall?
I'm one of the faculty who was let go.
We were told in the attachment of an email - not even in the body of the email, just in an attachment.
When the formal letter came via USPS, it included the note that none of our PTO would be paid out, and as such, they hoped we would consider donating it to the community pool. (You know, for the folks who still have jobs.)
The entire thing has been grisly and handled with minimal sensitivity.
How about they stop spending money on stupid projects and construction? Why are there so many executives?
How many VPs can you fit in there? Might need a few more useless "chiefs" to be useless while no one teaches the kids. But lets be honest... Its more about gender bending nonsense than learning math and science these days.
The music department has been utterly destroyed in a matter of 2 years. What once was an advanced program for the area has devolved into 13th grade band and choir.
No wonder students from here have trouble getting employment after graduation.
This is just continuing the trend that started around 2015 of releasing teachers who were winning national awards and insisting they weren't "qualified" to teach at MSSU. The administration has consistently lied to faculty, and department chairs and deans have failed to stand up for their faculty, which is their JOB. Liberal arts education in Joplin is dead, buried, zombified, and re-dead.
So now a music department is suddenly going to become theater experts and be able to provide quality instruction in acting? I am utterly ashamed and truly sorry that I encouraged my daughter to attend.
Guys, it's not even a music department. In January 2020, there were 14 full-time music faculty and three full-time theater faculty. After the firings, the cuts, and the forced retirements, there will be five full-time faculty for the entire "music and theater" department.
Speaking as a student going currently this is the most out of touch statement I can imagine. We have openly racist, inept, and in agreeance with what you said bloated leadership positions. This school has one faculty member who optionaly takes on the job of diversity training who is underpayed, while the school defends racist and sexist actions of professors, and very openly paying female adjuncts worse. Also a professor leaked the budgets to students in class one time to show the pay deficict when they shouldn't have even had access to the whole school budget. But then again all faculty and atudent information was in a big unencrypted file they would let students look at to change their passwords, of which you could see the passwords of anyone alphabeticaly near you, and see the file path, no wonder our school fumbled everyones information. The grooves run deep in the problems this school faces and you equating it to one group of people you dislike that this school doesn't actually fund programs to make people care about them, shows that your connection to this school is incredibly limited and a vineer of bigotry guides your idiotic thoughts.
Two go positions are being eliminated, one via retirement. I know of no science faculty being let go, and I am recently retired from the biology department. The only administrator that I for sure know lied to faculty was the former vote old academic affairs. Nixon Hall is the home of the math department, Reynolds Hall is home to the sciences. Get facts straight before posting.
Yikes! I was faculty at MSSU from 1996-2008 and loved my time there. But it was always a very top-down place where students, faculty and staff had whatever rights the administration allowed.
But the declining enrollment at places like MSSU is a national trends, and it's hard to imagine how the school can fight it.
I guess the two football stadiums and millions spent on the gym and rec centers went untouched. Don't forget that massive bronze lion that probably cost six years worth of someone's salary. Imagine a college built for a specific degree field that tightly manages money? I can't.
As my daughter searches for the right college to attend, MSSU has showed us all that it is not it with thier actions here. Good job tanking one of the very few good things this area had going for it.
I went to a "top school" from Joplin R-VIII as I will always think of it and the funding for facilities vs. operational costs is as far as I know a problem for every school. Most donor money is earmarked, and with MSSC, excuse me MSSU having an administration that's not exactly trustworthy, giving them unrestricted money is folly. Buildings get people's names immortalized, and no doubt give the administrators running the show concrete things to point to that they accomplished, which you can't say so much about graduates.
Tuition money by the way is prized because for private schools and perhaps Missouri state schools it's not restricted. I would expect money donated to hire and retain faculty and otherwise help instruction would also have troubles finding its way to its intended target.
Although I don't know if the people running MSSU are trying hard to get those sorts of donations. I'm afraid nothing is likely to cure the problem of immoral administrators with little oversight, especially with so many colleges in the country and so many of being rather small and lacking in prestige. It's one reason Joplin for example found it hard to find a mayor, a school superintendent, and a president for the college all when the tornado hit who who weren't thugs.
Larry Cebula has a point about declining enrollments nationwide, there's demographics plus as of late COVID behind that, although how is local competitor PSU doing?
Unknown said...
I guess the two football stadiums and millions spent on the gym and rec centers went untouched. Don't forget that massive bronze lion that probably cost six years worth of someone's salary. Imagine a college built for a specific degree field that tightly manages money? I can't.
Ok - lets get some facts here with this statement. I'm not sure what the two football stadiums comment is about as everything at the stadium has been donated, turf, scoreboard, endzone facility - all privately funded with no student cost. The bronze Lion in front of Billingsly was with donated private funds with some funds coming from the Student Senate as well - the plaza built around the statue was funded by the University - so that is correct.
I can understand hammering the University because of the major void in leadership and disfunction at the Executive level, but the things listed above are just not accurate. If you want to criticize go for it - it is richly deserved, but be accurate.
Thanks for providing that info and your comments - you nailed it.
Good comments and questions. Virtually all schools have dropped in enrollment in the past several years due to demographics and Covid. Here is the enrollment decline for the following schools from the Joplin Globe and the school press announcements:
Missouri State University - Springfield: down 2.3%
Crowder College: down 5%
Pitt State: down 6%
MSSU: down 13.6% and down a total of 22.2% from Fall 2020
So MSSU's enrollment dropped more than twice that of the next worse school.
not sure how there will even be a radiology dept next semester. if you have applied, reconsider.
Mmm MSSU Transitioning to Community College level or worse? Seems it's more important to put up more buildings at the cost of student paid for education. From what I can see they need to fire the person(s) who's job is fundraising, ditto for the recruiting dept. Kids and parents aren't willing to go into a 40 year debt for a piece of paper that will earn the student less money then if they went to a trade school and learned to weld, electrician or plumber. I paid $7,500 in interest on a $2,500 loan in just 10 years! And I never even was able to land a job in my field. I made more money hanging drywall!
https://rturner229.blogspot.com/2014/12/bond-set-at-100000-for-accused-killer.html
Anonymous 10:01 pm said...
Two go positions are being eliminated, one via retirement. I know of no science faculty being let go, and I am recently retired from the biology department. The only administrator that I for sure know lied to faculty was the former vote old academic affairs. Nixon Hall is the home of the math department, Reynolds Hall is home to the sciences. Get facts straight before posting.
If you are retired, then you are out of the loop. I currently work in Reynolds Hall. Math lost one due to taking the retirement incentive and a second one for budget cuts. Biology lost two, and Chemistry lost two. That is in addition to other attrition over the last two years. We have gone from needing to remodel to build more office space for new hires to multiple empty, unoccupied offices. Get facts straight before posting.
" From what I can see they need to fire the person(s) who's job is fundraising, ditto for the recruiting dept."
Happens to be the same person, the Executive Vice President is in charge of both Admissions (recruiting) and the Foundation (fundraising)...
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