Artist's rendering of the MSU Library that was not to be..

The winter of 2014 has been brutal for Murray State University. Power outages, burst pipes, bitter chilling temperatures, massive increased energy costs have all worked in concert to hammer the physical infrastructure of the campus.

Invisible to casual observer is another chilling force that is invading the mental state of mind for Murray State University staff and administration.

It is institutional fear.

Now in late March, as the snow and ice have melted away, a continuing strong wind still chills the spirits on the MSU campus. Many key staff on campus fear that the institution of MSU is at the tipping point of higher educational survival.

These new fears reflect a feeling of losing the opportunity of being reborn as a regional economic power house or an institution that has missed so many opportunities in Frankfort that MSU is rapidly moving toward a future of constant state budget cuts and lost students.

Lost Opportunities:

(1) Changing Presidents

For some reason, only he knows, Constantine Curris threw himself a worm fit and threw out a perfectly good university president in Randy Dunn. Speculation around campus was that Curris and Dunn lost each other’s trust over Dunn’s desire to commit MSU to the building of a new multimillion dollar library. Another possible reason for Dunn’s removal was his support for a four year college to be built in Paducah.

(2) Weak Frankfort Presence

For all of 2013, MSU had no real presence in the state capitol. When budget meetings were being held or state educational leaders drawing up strategic plans, MSU was absent. In a State Capitol, where the Democrats hold the office of Governor and Speaker of the House, MSU held only Republican cards in this poker game. Representative Imes and State Senator Humphries are the only visible political asset going for MSU.

(3) No Strategic Regional Economic Plan

Having lost momentum and forward regional progress in 2013, MSU has no current strategy for dealing with the overall economic needs of the 18 counties and 25 communities within the service area of the school.

The new MSU President will come into office in July 2014. He will take at least six months to move into his comfort range as the 13th President of the University. This time table will put MSU right smack in the middle of the 2015 legislative session, full pledge campaigns for governor and an economic regional crisis for most of Western Kentucky.

MSU has 18 counties in far Western Kentucky as its service area. Major urban areas are Paducah, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Murray and Madisonville. The remaining 13 counties are primary rural. These are the small towns who are in danger of losing their Main Streets and economic foundations as a new 21st Century rewrites commerce and consumerism.

(4) Loss of Students

Now, with each new semester in September of the year, fewer students are showing up for the traditional college experience. MSU is getting stuffy and lazy in its approach to their students. MSU’s recent properties have been to build new brick and mortar buildings.

Structures like a new Science Building complex have a direct cost to the students. Raising debt on the backs of students is a sure way to stop students from coming back. Higher educational debt after a degree is secured is another road block for students to survive the college experience.

(5) Becoming a Backwater university

MSU is in danger of losing its luster and “coolness factor.”

The Murray town leadership is good with this. Many in Murray would welcome a university that “knows its place” in regard to the town. That would be to provide a constant supply of renters for the housing stock of wealthy individuals in Murray. These people don’t want a regional university. They want a university that is about Murray. In the end of this thinking, MSU reverts back to the idea 1964-65 model of a small college in a small town.

New Opportunities:

(1) New President Leadership

MSU has contracted with Robert “Bob” Davies from Eastern Oregon University to be the next president of the university. Armed with an annual $300,000 dollar contract, Davis will have the opportunity to run full speed forward for about 6 to 7 months before MSU will have to produce a tight inner team that can handle (a) aging professors, (b) the governor, (c) regional business powers (d) sports fans who will fight over any cuts to their agenda, and (e) conflicting urban and rural agendas for West Kentucky.

(2) New Mission or Vision

Many people think of MSU as their regional economic engine, or at least, it has the potential to become that force.

The new President will have a grand platform for designing a new mission for MSU. Inside this new mission will be a vision for how MSU will function and operate within the 21st Century. When Davies spoke on campus, he said that he will use his first 6 months in office to set short and long term goals as well as an over all strategic plan.

(3) Regional education restructuring

One of Davies greatest opportunity for change on the MSU campus will be the restructuring of the colleges and other units that now comprise the operational platform of MSU. Within this effort, Davies will have to deal with the aging population of tenured professors, who have been at the campus for 20 to 30 years,

(4) Regional Economic Strategy

All 18 counties of MSU service area have just been declared “distressed” by the Delta Regional Commission. The river counties of Fulton, Hickman, Carlisle, and Ballard are becoming a 21st Century little Appalachia where extreme poverty is settling in as a normal way of life. Davies, working with the full intergraded skills and knowledge of MSU can step up to the plate and force change for the better in West Kentucky.

In summary, the existing political and economic landscape awaiting the new president of MSU is very scary as well as very hopeful.

Leadership will be the key to moving the West forward. The question is, can the players that operate the university be willing to share power with this new president to reclaim the richness and glory of a strong West Kentucky?

Only time and events will tell how this story ends.