Faculty members at Missouri Southern State University voted no confidence in the president, Bruce Speck, on Monday, calling him a “failed leader.” The resolution passed by a vote of 140 to 44. In response, Rod Anderson, chair of the university’s Board of Governors, told The Joplin Globe that the board would “duly evaluate” the situation. “Lord knows we’ve got issues that we need to stay on top of to keep this boat afloat,” he said. “So, no, there’s not going to be a change tomorrow. But timely reviews are probably appropriate.”
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4 Responses to Faculty Members at Missouri Southern State U. Vote No Confidence in President
willynilly - November 3, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I realize that it is probably not prudent to do so; but, it would be very informative to the readers if The Chronicle would include within the story whether the faculty or the employee group taking the “no confidence” vote is unionized. That information makes a world of difference. If the faculty at MSSU is unionized that signals to the broader public that this president is likely doing a very fine job given the greatly restrained decision choices he has due to reduced resourses of all kinds. The public should keep in mind that unionized groups, by their very nature, take a firm “us first” position in the distribution of institutional resources. It is the Trustees and the presidents responsibility to ensure that resourses are equitably distributed across the entire instutition.
amigomoso - November 3, 2009 at 7:06 pm
No, the faculty are not unionized at Southern. If we were, things might have been very different. Your assessment of Dr Speck’s performance, without a shred to inform your assessment, bespeaks your inability to judge his conduct of the past year and a half, or that of the faculty and staff who have roundly rejected his failure of leadership, his inept management, his disingenuous public utterances, and his profoundly un-presidential comments and actions.We welcome lively informed debate of the issues involved, but failing that, this is probably an inappropriate soapbox for just any crackpot dogmatist who comes along.
willynilly - November 4, 2009 at 9:01 am
amigomoso, I presume you are employed at MSSU. I do hope so, lest these comments are wasted on some ill-informed, uninvolved poster. I will proceed on the basis that you are employed at Southern. Your inability to read with understanding and your complete failure to comprehend what you thought you read are disturbing and indicative of a whole new set of problems that may exist at Southern. Now, having said that, let me go back and gently interpret for you what I wrote. Please go to my third sentence and read it as many times as you need to in order to gain full understanding of my point. Let me help. It states, “IF THE FACULTY AT MSSU IS UNIONIZED” I then proceed to offer an opinion, based on long actual experience, of what might be really going on at a unionized Southern. Now suppose, it was a fact, that Southern is not unionized, what do you see following in my comments that could possibly lead you to conclude, in any way, that my opinion would be the same. Thank you for pointing out to me that MSSU is not unionized, but please brush up on your discerning reading skills and your understanding of inferential language leading to either/or conclusions. I wouldn’t want to see you publicly embarass yourself again – unless you insist on doing so.
wisernow - November 5, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I am curious, as was willynilly and other readers, about the circumstances at MSSU. That induced a blast of ill will. If amigomoso is a faculty member of standing at MSSU, it seems that few presidents could survive there. Facts on both sides please.