By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

The president of Missouri Southern State University’s Board of Governors said the panel will need time to review the results of Monday’s no-confidence vote in MSSU President Bruce Speck before it makes a decision on resolving the situation.

“Right now, the president is under contract, and we want to see the faculty and the president go forward,” Rod Anderson said Monday night. “Then we’ll duly evaluate at the appropriate time. It’s not something that we’re going to look at every month.

“Lord knows we’ve got issues that we need to stay on top of to keep this boat afloat. So no, there’s not going to be a change tomorrow. But timely reviews are probably appropriate.”

140 to 44

Earlier Monday, the faculty gave an overwhelming “no-confidence” vote against Speck’s leadership by a margin of 140 to 44. Almost 78 percent of the university’s faculty of 237 participated in the vote. The list of eligible voters included full-time faculty members with faculty senate representation, as well as coaches, department heads, and administrators who are designated as full-time faculty by the human resources department but who do not necessarily teach a full-time course load of 12 hours. The vote was not open to part-time adjunct instructors or to the support staff.

While the no-confidence vote is essentially a symbolic gesture that does not carry the binding weight of law or policy, faculty senate President Roger Chelf said after the results were made public that he hopes the Board of Governors will take notice and review the situation.

“We felt he is a failed leader,” Chelf said of Speck. “I think it’s time for us to sit back and take a deep breath, and look at the situation. (The board) is going on a retreat in December. I think that would probably be an appropriate time for them to discuss in private what they feel is an appropriate direction to take.”

Attempts to obtain comment from Speck were unsuccessful. He left the faculty senate meeting before the vote total was announced to attend a budget subcommittee meeting with the university finance team and members of the Board of Governors. Efforts to reach him in person after the meeting and on his cell phone also were unsuccessful.

“I know there’s a buyout clause in that contract,” Chelf said. “I know there are several departments that have had straw ballots whereby faculty said they would be willing to take up collections and pay cuts to help buy that contract out.”

Anderson said the board would not ask faculty for such a gesture, if the situation reached such a point.

“I think that’s somewhat cavalier, and that’s only one person (Chelf) saying that to a third party,” Anderson said. “That’s one way to make a point, but we wouldn’t look at that as an option. We’re not going to ask faculty to throw their salary into the issue.”

Background

Tensions between the faculty and the president began mounting in the spring and summer semesters of 2008, when Speck over time cut more than $1.3 million from the university’s operating budget. The budget for the Institute of International Studies, an administrative arm of Missouri Southern’s international mission, was reduced by 40 percent as part of those cuts. That decision prompted an outcry from students and from faculty members, and became part of a list of 23 grievances compiled by a senate ad hoc committee against Speck. That ultimately led to the no-confidence vote.