In a candid interview with The Eastern Echo, Eastern Michigan University Provost and Executive Vice President Jack Kay addressed concerns regarding his recent resignation and explained why the decision was made.
The April 21st announcement follows almost two years of service as provost. Kay was appointed to the position Aug. 1, 2009.
Kay stands by his statement of it being for personal reasons.
“I delivered the notice to the president on April 21 and since I had been talking with the president, there really wasn’t a reaction on that date because we had been talking about my decision and that sort of thing,” he said.
The “incredible time demands” also played a role in Kay’s decision.
“If we were living in an age of greater resources of more carefully defined policies that
would help with program review, then yes, maybe the decision would have been different, but at this point, I’ve really decided to spend time with my family,” he said.
Kay said his love for teaching and research swayed him.
“Right now that appeals to me a bit more than administration appeals to me. I think at this point, it’s time someone else try to advance academic affairs at the provost level.“
Theories such as Kay being forced to resign have floated around. Those speculations couldn’t be further from the truth, Kay said.
“First of all, people haven’t brought me those theories,” he said. “They haven’t asked me about them, so I’m really not even sure which ones you’re talking about. Someone told me that on EMUTalk.org there was a statement made I left because I refused to engage in the budget actions.
“That’s the type of rumor you can’t put to rest. People will think what they think. Being forced … that’s not how I see it. People are always going to have those sorts of thoughts. I can just say that I reached this decision on a very personal level.”
Kay said the theories “can’t possibly be true” because the budget work will have to be completed by the end of June.
“Clearly, I can understand how people might think that but as an administration we’re engaging in a very careful, deliberate process. The budget doesn’t become the explanation for why I leave,” he said.
Kay said as far as athletics being examined for possible cuts, “everything is on the table.”
“I think a very careful look is being taken at everything,” he said. “It’s not just athletics, its every auxiliary that the university has.”
Kay said he hasn’t had the opportunity to analyze speculated imbalances between athletics and academics at the university.
“I’ve been so involved in looking at how we can develop a budget with academic affairs to help improve, not only to sustain, but improve our programs, that I haven’t done a careful analysis of if there is an imbalance and that sort of thing,” he said.
Kay also said his decision was not correlated to the recent controversy surrounding the program review.
“First of all, I want to say there is not a direct correlation between the problems we have faced with program review, and I think people know the AAUP did file a grievance indicating the process as they saw it was not being followed properly and the faculty senate passed a resolution asking that the program review be placed on hold until the beginning of the next semester … those are facts,” he said.
“Those things did occur,” Kay said. “As was explained when we responded to The Echo in terms of the program review, I personally think that we followed the appropriate process.”
“When we discovered the thirty days would not include weekends, we came back and said okay we count 17 days until the end of the semester and then there are 13 days or whatever until the start of the semester, so that’s what we used for the review process. That still wasn’t satisfactory to the Faculty Senate or the AAUP. So, we’re continuing to work on a strategy.
Did that result in my deciding to leave? No, not at all.”
Kay said the program review process has been met with a lot of resistance.
“Absolutely, lots of it,” he said
Kay said if he had the opportunity to change one thing during his time as provost, he would have done the review differently.
“Hindsight is so easy,” he said. “I look back and say, ‘well if I would have done this differently, then this would have happened and it would have been better for everyone.’ So sure there have been things that I would have done different.
“For example, the whole program review, I really wish I hadn’t relied so much on the details
of the thirty day requirement and the policies and processes,” Kay said.
“I wish I would have involved more faculty earlier on in the process so sure that’s something I wish I would have done differently. I think it may have resulted in a better outcome, but I’ll own what I’ve done and that’s why I say I don’t think I’ve done this job perfectly. I’m not sure anyone does any job perfectly, but nonetheless, I’ll own what I did. I will say I can defend the decisions that I’ve made but they all didn’t work as well as some of them did.”
Instead of focusing on the negative, Kay said he is hopeful more individuals begin to focus on the shining spots of the university.
“Let’s concentrate on the positive,” he said. “That’s the story we want to tell and I think that’s the story people want to hear. We have a great student body. We have a faculty that is passionate about teaching, research and service. I think sometimes we dwell too much on the negative and this is a great place.”
