I want to stress that this is at this stage a rumor I have heard from multiple sources: At a meeting with divisional leaders, department heads, and other suits today, Jack Kay resigned as Provost. Now, a) I assume this is true, but I don’t know for sure if it is true, and b) I have no idea as to how/why this is the case, and no one I have talked to about this so far seems to know either.
Still, that’s the reason for a site like EMUTalk.org, right?
Anybody know anything?
Heck, if my division was asked to swallow *half* of the budget deficit (now around $11M total, with the changes in Snyder’s budget), I’d resign too!
Provost Jack Kay resigned because he was going to be forced, if he did not resign, to inflict inexcusable budget cuts on the Academic/revenue producing Division of the university. I think he was left with no honorable choice except resigning.
That’s my take on it. Based on no inside information, but instead on putting 2 & 2 together: the budget cuts are being handled in secret, with our $24 million athletics program basically off the table, but with the revenue- and education- producing portion of the University, being forced to take the lion’s share of the cuts.
Provost Kay told the Faculty Senate some months ago that DAA would not have to bear the lion’s share of cuts; and it appears he was unable to carry out that committment, due to his higher ups. So, he resigned. No Provost worth anything would have stayed on the job under these circumstances.
These cuts to Academics will inevitably do great harm to the University’s ability to attract, educate, and graduate students. Some of us think these activities are core to the university’s mission.
Did he resign or was he forced out? Is there a difference? If you’re handed an impossible task, that will assure your own failure if you try to carry it out, isn’t that the same as being forced out? Prior provosts here would have carried it out — but no prior at EMU was worthy of the title, Provost.
Jack Kay was the first and only Provost EMU has ever had worthy of the title, or worthy of the faculty’s and the staff’s respect.
Can’t log onto the Provost’s blog. Mark maybe you can shed more light on athletics. Athletics is really being held harmless? No cuts? The Board of Regents should cut at least 5 sports. Might save about $2.5 million. The black hand of the Ypsi Mafia strikes again!
Alum,
What I hear is that yes, athletics will get no cuts, at least none greater than its new dollars for capital expenses and recurring costs. My sources are both within the athletic dept and from outside of it, and they approve of my reporting what I just said, in those exact words. But yes it’s not confirmed beyond all doubt – that is official, approved budgets.
Last time, in 2007, big cuts were made at EMU, in academics, the athletic dept. wouldn’t ever confirm it had gotten increases in its budget. Not even after the budget was published. I think it got something like a net 5% increase, at the same time that EMU closed the Writing Center.
I agree the regents should cut a few sports, or more, Alum. There is no justification for EMU’s massive subsidy – by $20 million or more – of a form of entertainment that A) has no market value, B) can’t show any sizable audience that values its existence, and C) survives only by taking money out of students’ and taxpayers’ pockets.
I would reconsider my position if EMU could produce a serious study showing broad benefits to the student body by having our Division I status, but no such study exists, it appears. Instead, EMU athletics survives based on claims of dogma (which is a set of beliefs held but lacking proof).
Jack Kay has integrity.
EMU never publishes photos of their empty sports complexes or video of how many parents leave the stadium after the band finishes at half-time. I digress.
Hello,
I’m not sure if everyone received the e-mail Walter Kraft, EMU’s VP of communications, sent around, but if not, we have a short blog post regarding this matter.
http://easternecho.com/index.php/blog/eic_blog/2011/04/emu_provost_jack_kay_to_step_down_in_june
Also, we will continue to follow this story as it develops.
I saw that email from Walter Kraft too. It’s curious. Sometimes, “personal reasons” mean just that: personal reasons in someone’s life. Sometimes, “personal reasons” are not personal at all. I guess we’ll have to see what comes of this next week or so.
I do think that the way this is playing out lends some credibility to the idea that Kay basically said “I’m not going to stand for this, I quit.” Which then means that he will become one of the most highly paid professors at EMU, which is not an all bad thing for him, I suppose.
I heard that the board pushed Kay and Byron out for not making cuts and consolidations as they ordered.
As an old-time alumni observer, the board pushing out anybody who doesn’t play ball with them is basically standard-operating procedure. My momma always said you got trouble when you got scorpions in the sandbox. I do believe Mr. Wilbanks and Mr. Stapleton possess the stingers. From what I’ve seen and heard, neither has much interest in the academic mission EMU offers. They just keep wanting to sift away money down the poop chute on bad football. Just very silly men. Wonder how much the president was pushed, pulled and cajoled on this matter. Painfully obvious she’s not captain of this here ship. I fear pirates have commandeered the sloop.
I prefer “cockroaches in the sugar bowl” to “scorpions in the sandbox”. Much better fit from a descriptive standpoint don’t you think?
It sure would be nice if our new governor would step in and stop this madness. What a waste of taxpayers and tuition dollars. Is there a procedure in place to remove corrupt regents? I’m sorry, but these jackasses gotta go. And by corrupt, I think it’s pretty obvious by the decisions being made that the board could care less about the long term viability of EMU. They are not acting in EMU’s best interest. It’s too bad EMU lost a good leader too. Dr. Kay will be missed.
EMU Lifer,
Your suggestion to get the One Tough Nerd on the horn is an excellent one. It’s well past time to de-lice the rat’s nest. Might be helpful to dial 911 to that new NCAA guy as well. He seems a might interested in cleaning up corruption in the area of athletics, according this here article. Perhaps mismanagement of funds, mixed-up priorities, etc., qualifies.
http://www.usatoday.com/SPORTS/usaedition/2011-04-01-ncaa01_ST_U.htm
Well, two overall thoughts here:
* I think that all of the commentators here so far have taken it as a given that Jack Kay was doing a “good job.” I’m not sure that’s true, exactly. I personally hadn’t had a lot of interactions/run-ins with Jack one way or the other that sent me negative vibes, but I am quite sure that several of my colleagues in different parts of the university are at least relieved that Kay is done. And along these lines, if Kay was not doing as good of a job as he should have/could have been doing, it could have just as easily been Sue Martin and/or other people on the executive committee at EMU who pushed him out.
I mean, I agree that the BoR are way too involved in the day-to-day running of things at EMU, but I don’t take it as a given that they’re the ones behind this and that the story here is “another good man was forced out by the evil BoR.” I suspect it’s more nuanced than that.
* It really could be for “personal reasons” in Kay’s life and/or career. In making the official announcement, Walter Kraft said that Kay “will have a further message on his decision early next week,” so maybe we will have a little more information on this then.
Whether the person was pushed out by another group and whether you thought they were doing a good job are pretty much orthogonal (unrelated). Although almost every rumor contains elements of the “not making cuts enough” explanation, I’m a little skeptical. He seemed to be moving pretty quick.
Although I may not agree completely with the tired dogging of athletics, I will agree to the fact that Wilbanks and all completely micromanage the University and something should be done about this, but really, if the then-governor does nothing regarding the president’s house scandal, do you really think they are going to do something now? I hardly doubt it. Plus, Wilbanks, I’m sure will have some sort of control or say whether he is on the board or not. Do you think that Mike Hawks’ appointment was coincidental? They will just continue to get the “good ole boys” on that board and will continue to do things the old way and run Eastern into the ground.
And a source of mine did tell me athletics will be getting some cuts. Again, I don’t know the validity of this rumor or how these cuts will come about but we shall see.
Also, I haven’t been able to find anything current, but if you follow the link below, check out section 19. The pdf is the operating budget of athletics for 2009-2010. I plan on keeping an eye out in the June meeting for documentation similar to this.
http://www.emich.edu/regents/meetings/meeting062309/index.php
Also, check out section 12 of the Feb 2011 regents meeting:
http://www.emich.edu/regents/meetings/meeting021511/index.php It states that athletic donations make up almost $600,000 so far this year. If the University only brings in on average 5-7 million a year (based on the annual report) I highly doubt that they are just going to say good by to half a million dollars.
Think about it Kaz. The current budgetary issues and various reductions in programs and departments are much more serious than what went on with the house. And EMU did pay a dear price for their transgressions. What was it, about 12 years they had to wait for PH to be funded? And on top of that, we’re talking about 15 or so state supported universities that are wasting taxpayer and tuition dollars on athletics. I’ll leave UM and MSU out of this, as I beieve they do very well in football revenue. Let’s just say on average that each one of those 15 schools lose 6 million a year on athletics. That’s a fairly conservative estimate I think, so it’s $90 mil total. That’s a boatload of cash. Watching the Nerd operate thus far, I don’t think he’ll be able to pass up the opportunity to do some grandstanding with this issue.
And how is it rational to keep athletics intact because they fundraise $600k through the development office? That only leaves them $19.4 mil short of breaking even.
I agree completely with this, this issue cannot be ignored. In a time when the state is looking in every area of the budget to try and save money that we do not have, this is a HUGE flow of revenue that at the least needs to be put under scrutiny. I am not expecting legislators, the governor, or any university management to take the extreme view I have of shut it down completely. I do however want and expect them to audit the athletic expenditures of the publicly funded universities. The governor’s budget proposals have caused controversy over much less than $90 million in the past, so I do not see any way that he could resist going after that money.
Looking at what has happened so far with state funding of schools, though, maybe he already is hinting for schools to look at their athletics budget with the cuts that have already been suggested; if this is the case, I think it needs to be a little more overt. Probably is not though.
There seems to be no sign of Michigan taxpayers being eager to subsidize the costs of Division 1 athletic programs at state schools, yet clearly tax dollars, millions, are used for that purpose. It seems that if the money wasn’t spent on this form of entertainment, the actual tuition rate could be decreased, even after the 15% planned cut in state appropriations. Clearly the Governor and the legislature could well order the universities to cease spending taxpayers money on such expensive non educational activities.
Jack Kay was forced away from the University not due to ‘budget cuts,’ per say, rather, because Susan Moeller (president of EMU’s AAUP) had an issue with Provost Kay from his start.
Jack Kay has been nothing but friendly to the Faculty and for “Education First” initiatives, more-so than most of the failed bureaucrats inside of Welch Hall. You will never hear it in print.
If Susan Moeller has such an issue with budget, she herself should take a pay cut from her inflated, unnecessary six-figure income.
Oh, I seriously seriously doubt that, Anonymouse. If anything, I would think Moeller’s opposition to Kay (and I am not sure she was exactly opposed to Kay, though she wasn’t happy with some of the efforts to cut programs) would help keep him in the job. Or let me put it this way: while I don’t know exactly what the situation is with Kay, I’m pretty confident that Kay was not forced out by the EMU-AAUP.
Oh, and I edited a rather “unsavory” part of Anonymouse’s comment, too. No need to drag this below the gutter, folks.
@Anonymouse: I think you may be overestimating the power of the AAUP presidency. While the AAUP may occasionally disagree with the administration, they certainly don’t have hiring or firing power.
Patrick K. – you are exactly right. The AAUP, the faculty union, does not make hiring or firing decisions for the university president or the BOR! However, it is funny to imagine either the Regents or the University President ceding this power to the AAUP!