Representative Vic Miller is from Topeka and is the Minority Leader in the Kansas House of Representatives. He’s also an Emporia State graduate.
Last Thursday he addressed ESU’s student government. According to the Kansas Reflector article reprinted in the Emporia Gazette, Miller “regaled members” …with tales of his early 1970s escapades on campus – while lamenting the school’s elimination of tenured staff and programs last year.”
Miller shared stories about topics such as “the streaking phenomenon” and his participation in a state-wide “Senate Operations Committee” he claimed was a powerful lobby at the Statehouse. He went on to suggest “If students had a similar lobbying presence today….they wouldn’t have seen the debacle last fall.”
Miller claimed programs eliminated included English, journalism, history, and debate. He was correct about the debate being eliminated which is an unfortunate casualty; the others were simply realigned creating what is being tabbed as the “ESU Model.”
My point today is the University’s efforts to make its programs more efficient and better suited to its student’s needs are anything but a debacle!
To emphasize my point I will share about an event I attended Thursday evening where EUS supporters, faculty, students, and a member of the Kansas Board of Regents spoke positively about the ESU Model.
Most impressive were the thoughts offered by ESU’s student government president Bella Price and her vice president Hailey Kisner. They both spoke in glowing terms about the ESU Model and shared for the first time student leaders have been invited to be a functioning part of the university’s leadership team. They used words like transparent and inclusive to describe the leaders at Emporia State. They said it was pretty neat to speak with the school’s President every Monday morning!
Bella and Hailey certainly were not describing a debacle!
Vic Miller has been a respected leader in Topeka for many years, but his words last week here in Emporia were from someone who had not done his homework!!
And finally – if Representative Miller wanted to use debacle in his speech he might have taken a look at the Kansas Legislature – especially as it pertains to their funding for higher education in Kansas over the past few decades. That my friend is a debacle.
I’m Steve Sauder hoping I’ve given you something to think about.
