On Tuesday afternoon President Randy Dunn addressed members of Faculty Senate, Staff Congress and other attendees at an open forum where he discussed details in ad-hoc draft report.
The forum comes in response to last week’s meeting where board chairman Constantine Curris explained his perspective the board’s decision not to renew Dunn’s contract.
Dunn presented a powerpoint and addressed numbers from the University’s academic standing, enrollment and board/president relations since he began at Murray State. Some of the numbers Dunn presented in the forum included the increase of online enrollment by 150.3 percent from 2006-2012 and the fact that Murray State did drop in the Forbes Best Buy rankings. He said between 2008-2012, 81 schools were added to the Forbes Best Buy list, so it was foreseen that the University would drop in rankings.
Approximately two hours after the forum ended, officials from Youngstown State announced Dunn was a top three finalist in the presidential search. Dunn said he told Curris a year ago he would be looking at other positions after he refused to talk to the board about contract extension.
Dunn said he thinks there was selective use of data, particularly in the Ad-Hoc review committee draft report to represent his performance during his time at Murray State. He said his presentation was to give a richer, fuller picture of his performance.
“The president needs to be the 12th member of the board,” Dunn said. “Does that mean they get a vote? No.” He said communication between the two is crucial.
Other issues he addressed in the forum was the amount of contributions to the University. He said they will not be affected because of contract non-renewal. He said he also does not see the current situation affecting the provost search.
Dunn agreed that there was disagreement between him and the board.
“Disagreement does not equal disrespect,” he said. “I call on the board to release the letters; good and bad.”
“It’s still a gut-punch,” Dunn said in reference to the vote of the board not renewing his contract. “Do I think I’m a perfect president? Heaven’s no; because we have seen a slight in some of these numbers, we are challenged to keep enrollment growing. We have all kinds of things we are trying to work on to make the University better.