Wednesday, August 16, 2006

By Julie Mack
jmack@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8578

Enrollment is continuing to decline.
Finances remain problematic.
Relationships with the faculty and the community are frayed.

In the end, Judith I. Bailey was fired Tuesday as president of Western Michigan University because the Board of Trustees felt she was failing in three critical areas established as top priorities when Bailey was hired three years ago, board President James Holden said.

``When you look at the hard numbers, we've missed our enrollment targets; we've missed our cost targets,'' Holden said at a press conference Tuesday. ``I see no reason that an institution as great as Western Michigan University should be having problems so dissimilar from other public institutions in the state.''

The press conference followed a tense board meeting in which the board voted to dismiss Bailey for breach of contract based on ``unsatisfactory performance.'' The motion for dismissal was supported by five members -- Holden, Sarah DeNooyer, Bill Martin, Ken Miller and Larry Tolbert. Trustees Dennis Archer and Peter Aseritis, both of whom participated in the meeting by conference call, abstained on the vote. Trustee Dan Pero was out of the country.

Archer and Aseritis did join the others in unanimously approving former WMU President Diether Haenicke as the university's interim head.

Bailey made her discontent clear, reading from a two-page statement in which she listed WMU's accomplishments during her tenure, from athletic successes to a 36 percent increase in research funding.

``I believe that Western Michigan University deserves a president who has the skill and commitment to lead the university through this difficult period,'' she said. ``I believe I am that person. There are those who disagree.

``I have a contract with the university. I expect that contract to be honored.''

The board motion immediately ended Bailey's presidency. She'll be paid her salary through the end of the month and provided health care through the end of the year and housing and a car through the end of October. Bailey said after the vote that she plans to serve as a tenured professor at WMU in accordance with her contract.

Holden said he had hoped for a ``more gracious'' ending to Bailey's presidency, saying he and Martin met with Bailey a week ago to discuss a buyout of her contract. Bailey was offered a year's salary -- $269,100 -- plus a transitional period of health care, housing and car allowances and vestment in a WMU pension. Holden estimated the value of the package at about $400,000.

Holden said Bailey wanted the board to fulfill the terms of her current contract, which was extended by one year in December and runs until June 30, 2009. Paying off that contract would have cost WMU more than $1 million, Holden said.

It became clear Monday, Holden said, that Bailey would not agree to the board's buyout offer. At that point, Holden said, it was clear the board would have to declare that Bailey was in violation of her contract, ``the drastic action'' he was hoping to avoid.

``I feel what we offered was fair and equitable,'' Holden said. ``I can't recommend to my board that we make this problem go away by paying out a million and change. That's not fair to everyone else at the university who's had to go without raises or make other sacrifices.''

The board met in a closed-door session before the vote, without Bailey present. What was scheduled to be a 45-minute meeting lasted almost two hours.

``There was no hesitancy'' among the board members, Holden said. ``Still, there was a lot of discussion about whether there was a better alternative, a better way. We debated the timing and the dollar amount.''

Although Pero wasn't present and Archer and Aseritis abstained from the vote, he said all three support Bailey's dismissal. He attributed the abstentions to the fact they were not physically present at the meeting.

Although Bailey's contract has been terminated, Holden said, he was still willing to negotiate a settlement with Bailey or her lawyer.

"If she's willing to be more reasonable, we're willing to talk," he said.

He said he would prefer to avoid a lawsuit.

"I'd rather pay her than the lawyers," he said.

During the press conference, Holden was asked why Bailey was being dismissed now when she received a positive job review and contract extension just eight months ago.

``There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then in the state and the university,'' Holden said.

He pointed to four developments on campus since then:

Bailey's handling of a plan to reduce the number of graduate programs. The proposal was met with a storm of criticism from students and faculty members who said the process lacked sufficient input from them and that the criteria were unevenly applied.

Bailey ultimately instituted an appeals process, and many of the programs were preserved. But the net result, Holden said, was undergoing a ``painful, painful'' process, without ``delivering on the dollar savings we had hoped.''

The administration's latest budget, presented to the board in July, tapped into the university's reserve accounts for a second year in a row for a total of $14 million over the two years.

Projections of another 5 percent drop in enrollment for 2006-07, even as Bailey made enrollment growth a priority. The university's enrollment has declined from about 29,200 in 2003, the first year of Bailey's administration, to 26,239 last fall.

``We see that as a real problem on the revenue side, and we need to turn that around,'' Holden said.

What Holden described as an ``unprecedented'' survey conducted in February by the WMU Faculty Senate that indicated the faculty's deep dissatisfaction with Bailey. Eight-three percent said they lacked confidence in Bailey's ability to lead WMU, and more than 74 percent said Bailey failed to communicate and collaborate effectively. Sixty-five percent said they didn't believe Bailey has ``clearly defined and articulated goals'' for WMU.

Holden said he understands leaders need to make difficult decisions that leave some people unhappy. But, he said, it's important to have the ability to present decisions in a way that those affected say, ``I don't agree, but I understand.''

Miller addressed the issue of Bailey's tense relationship with the faculty and the community. ``Despite all the accomplishments she's listed, we still find ourselves in an environment damaging to the community and university,'' Miller said.

``I continue to see the effects of this divisiveness on the university community, this town. We need to take some kind of decisive action to turn this tide. ... Support (for Bailey) was never universal from the beginning, and it's become even less so.''

Holden said Western's problems are not solely Bailey's fault but that the university needs to change direction.

``We're not performing to the excellent standards we expect'' for the university, Holden said.

``I take no pleasure in this,'' he said. ``Dr. Bailey has been here during a difficult time and she tried her darnedest to do her best. But the board must take this action now.''