COLUMBIA, Mo. • Ongoing turmoil at the University of Missouri-Columbia over its affiliation with Planned Parenthood, the racial climate on campus and how the university treats its graduate instructors has led to speculation over how long Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin will keep his job.
The intrigue grew when the University of Missouri Board of Curators held an unexpected closed-door meeting on Wednesday to discuss “personnel matters,” without any additional elaboration.
In and around Columbia, critics have said Loftin is prone to making unilateral decisions and off-the-cuff remarks, sometimes catching the Board of Curators and Missouri System President Tim Wolfe off guard.
Loftin, who was traveling Wednesday, could not be reached for an interview. But he did say in a message that he had been unaware of the curators’ meeting until it was publicly announced.
Buzz about the bow-tie wearing chancellor’s future got louder when state Rep. Caleb Jones, R-Columbia, tweeted a rumor early Wednesday that the curators’ meeting was an attempt by the president and the board to fire Loftin.
But after emerging from the 4½-hour closed meeting, no one in the meeting would comment.
Much of the friction has come after Mizzou discontinued the clinical privileges for a Planned Parenthood physician and terminated multiple relationships with different Planned Parenthood affiliates last month.
On the latter issue, MU Health spokesman Teresa Snow said the agreements were outdated and rarely used.
But both moves were viewed as a way for Mizzou to distance itself from Planned Parenthood after the clinics became the focus of intense national attention following the release of doctored videos alleging the sale of fetal tissue.
State Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, acknowledged on Wednesday the speculation buzzing around Jefferson City and Columbia.
“I applaud the chancellor for being instrumental in getting the university out of the abortion business. He showed leadership on this,” Schaefer said. “If the board and the system is trying to get back into the abortion business, that would be very troubling to me.”
On Wednesday, the university announced that it had extended certain clinical privileges to three nursing students to work with Planned Parenthood on a limited basis unrelated to abortion services.
Along with the Planned Parenthood issue, the chancellor has come under fire for how he’s handled the issue of racism on campus.
Some students have complained that the chancellor hasn’t been more forceful in responding to certain incidents.
In September, student body president Payton Head said he was walking down a street when a group of men driving by in a pickup yelled racial slurs at him repeatedly.
Earlier this month, members of a black student group said they were confronted by a man at Traditions Plaza who used a racial slur. Group members were particularly upset by what they described as a lack of action by a campus safety officer who was present.
After the second incident, Loftin posted a video on his website condemning the incident and acknowledging that racism is “alive and well” on Mizzou’s campus.
Shortly afterward, the university announced that all incoming freshman, along with faculty and staff would be required to undergo training programs centered on racism.
State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, said she started hearing rumors on Tuesday of Loftin’s potential ouster. On Wednesday, she drove to Columbia to speak in support of the chancellor.
“I know that he’s probably in some hot water for how he openly confronted the issue of racism on campus. I mean, what university wants their chancellor to come out and say what he said,” Nasheed said. “I’m sure the board was furious.”
Nasheed said she wasn’t allowed to address the curators before they went into closed session, but she did speak to board Chairman Donald L. Cupps.
“He told me, ‘I know there are a lot of rumors about what’s going to happen in this meeting, and that they’re just rumors,’ ” Nasheed said. “I took that to mean they weren’t looking to take any action right away.”
Some critics also say Loftin bungled how the university handles health care coverage for its student teachers — graduate students who conduct research, grade papers and conduct research.
The university suddenly stripped graduate assistants of their university-paid health insurance two weeks before school started. The university blamed it on a new rule contained within the Affordable Care Act.
Other schools across the country, however, either interpreted the rule differently or took a wait-and-see approach. Mizzou’s handling of the issue prompted a loud outcry and a social media campaign criticizing the chancellor.
He later apologized and backtracked, restoring the benefits to Mizzou’s student teachers.
Nasheed said it remained unclear how strong his support among board members, and just how truthful the whispers surrounding his job security, really were.
Loftin has been Mizzou’s chancellor since February 2014. He had previously served as president of Texas A&M University. His current base salary is $450,000.
Samantha Liss and Dave Matter of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
