2008 Woodie Awards
Chancellor Bailey responds to students at open forum
Danny Mathis
Issue date: 2/27/06 Section: News
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In this open forum session, students had the chance to question the chancellor directly. Dr. Bailey began the meeting by discussing his impressions of the University in his first two months in office.
"There are only 26 institutions in the nation that have the range of programs that you have at UMKC," Dr. Bailey said. "In addition to having a wide range of programs, some of them are among the best in the country."
Bailey said this was the first thing that struck him about the campus, and he was surprised about how little known that fact was.
Bailey also addressed areas in which the University can improve.
"There's a significant part of the community that we're not serving… we need to reach out to other segments of the community," he said.
Bailey then took questions from the audience.
Students did not waste any time. After Bailey gave his assurances that he would look into parking ticket issues, the topic of SGA and the recent impeachment of President Marcus Leach came up.
"If I get petitions, I'll handle them," Bailey said.
Later in the forum another student asked about the impeachment. Pat Long, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said the petition for a campus-wide referendum contained the necessary amount of signatures. Student will vote on whether Leach will be reinstated. The SGA referendum will be advertised for two weeks prior to the vote.
Chancellor Bailey said he was worried about the increasing cost of tuition at UMKC. He plans to create a student advisory board to get feedback.
After the meeting, Bailey was cornered by a number of students who wanted to be a part of this committee.
Members of the debate team stood and said they were not sure if in the future the team will have adequate funding to continue.
Bailey was unable to answer the funding question, but Long said, "[This matter] hasn't dropped off any of our radar screens."
Near the end, the chancellor praised the students, and their desire to be a part of the meeting and involved in their university.
"You never gain anything through ignorance, only through knowledge," he said.
In his closing comments, Bailey thanked the students for their interest in the institution.
"It's okay to have complaints about an institution; it's not okay not to say anything about them [the complaints]," said Bailey.
The meeting exceeded its time limit, but students were still eager to speak. Bailey assured the students that he will schedule a similar forum in the next few months.
dmathis@unews.com
