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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18481573&BRD=1838&PAG=461&dept_id=104621&rfi=6

Efficiency is goal of proposed MVSU shuffle
By: Tim Kalich, Editor    06/15/2007

Mississippi Valley State University President Lester Newman says the proposed shuffling of his administrative staff is designed to make the operation "more responsive and efficient."

Newman is asking the state College Board in July to approve his recommendation to eliminate the university's provost position and reshape the duties of four of his top staffers - the biggest reorganization at Valley in more than five years....

...Meanwhile, a group of MVSU faculty has rallied around the embattled president, pledging to work with Newman to resolve any differences and, according to a separate prepared statement, "stop the negative press generated by the recent imbroglio at Valley."

Newman has been on the hot seat since February, when a group of faculty members cast a vote of "no confidence" in the president by a margin of 33-1, criticizing Newman for his management style and alleging widespread disorganization at the university. In April, a faculty advisory committee created by Newman voted 9-1 to recommend that the College Board remove the president. The College Board has not acted on that recommendation.

The restructuring of the administrative staff was not prompted by recent faculty complaints but rather has been in the works since at least last fall, said Debbie Montgomery, the university's public relations director....

...Montgomery said the changes would result in some savings, but it would be premature to discuss them until the reorganization gets the OK from the College Board....

...Tuesday, Newman was invited to meet with a group of faculty at a session organized by Samuel Osunde, chairman of the Department of Communications and a defender of the president.

Osunde said all of the university's roughly 120 faculty members were invited, and about a fifth of them attended.

The meeting was not publicized outside of the faculty because "we were trying to meet like a family," said Emmanuel N. Amadi, an assistant professor of criminal justice....

...However, Michele Crescenzo, a faculty advisory committee member who voted in favor of recommending Newman's removal, said this morning from Starkville that this was the first she had heard of Tuesday's meeting.

"Everyone that I know is away for the summer, so how can they have a faculty meeting that has any legitimacy?" she said.