MSU board to hold second special meeting in a week

Missouri State University is holding its second special meeting in less than a week amid a presidential scandal at the Springfield higher education institution.

The MSU Board of Governors is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. today for a closed session, according to a notice of the meeting.

Rowena Stone, secretary to the MSU Board of Governors, said the meeting this afternoon would be closed under three specific statutes:
• R.S.Mo. 610.021(1). “Legal actions, causes of action, or litigation involving a public governmental body ...”
• R.S.Mo. 610.021(3). “Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by a public governmental body ...”
• R.S.Mo. 610.021(13). “Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment ..."

The board's Nov. 8 special meeting was closed under statutes 3 and 13.

The first special meeting was held a day before MSU President Richard “Biff” Williams admitted to an act involving an obscene display of vegetables on the porch of a colleague at Utah Tech University, where he resigned as president late last year. The lawsuit from three Utah Tech officials charged with enforcing that university’s Title IX gender equity compliance alleges Williams and other top leaders at Utah Tech established a “poisoned well,” with alleged discrimination and retaliation against the plaintiffs surrounding Title IX protections, according to past reporting.

Williams has apologized to the MSU campus community, and the university board has backed him.

Williams reportedly met with the MSU Student Government Association yesterday, apologizing directly to students. An SGA representative declined to comment for this story.

Williams also is expected to attend the MSU Faculty Senate meeting tomorrow.

William Harwood, associate professor of political science and philosophy and president of the MSU advocacy chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has a long history of upholding Title IX, said members are concerned about the allegations of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Harwood submitted a statement by the chapter.

“We hope that this will spur MSU in appointing an organizational ombudsperson to further ensure that there are clear pathways for our MSU community to raise any and all workplace harassment complaints, that such complaints will be taken seriously and claimants will be protected throughout the process, and that those tasked with investigating them will be empowered at the highest levels,” the statement reads.