University president Jesse Rogers said his Wednesday morning started off with an email — an anonymous email sent to all faculty and staff criticizing Rogers’ administration.

Rogers met with the Wichitan that same afternoon to explain his reaction to the letter and what his plans are moving forward.

How did your Wednesday morning start today?

JR: Well, it started with an email criticizing my administration so that always has to be a concern, but I’ve been extremely busy today as usual. I think there is nothing better than hard work to keep your mind off problem that exist and criticism.

What was your initial reaction to the letter?

JR: It is certainly never pleasant to be criticized, but one has to think of my background. I’ve was an academic vice president in 1977. I was the interim president in 1980 and I’ve been president for 11 years. I never dismiss criticism whether it is anonymous like this one or not because there are some valid things I can be criticized about, but I recognize that.

I also am criticized more severely for actions over the last 35 years. I have developed a thicker skin than most people think I have. I’m sorry that I have to have one, but one has to survive. The faculty is at the top of my list to take care of, but I can’t fix everything at one time. I think over time people will see that I will be successful in taking care of the university.

One never likes criticism, but certainly one in a leadership position has a lot of responsibility. They have to be able to get up in the morning, put one foot in front of the other, and do what you think is best. So, I can’t let the letter get me down and take my energy. I have to consider it, put it with everything else and work on it.

You mentioned there are some valid criticisms that people make about you and your administration. What are some valid points you saw in the letter?

JR: One of the criticisms that I looked out that is probably true is my style. Dr. Rodriguez was my mentor for 19 years. The letter said that Dr. Rodriguez used to walk around campus and find out how things were going. I have my ways of finding out how things are going on around campus. I will be very honest with you that I have a very different style than Dr. Rodriguez did.

I want to know the faculty and I want to know what’s on their mind. I met regularly with the Faculty Senate executive committee and we have long conversations. I expect the deans and the department heads to communicate my ideas and so forth with the faculty. I meet with the faculty once or twice a year a college at a time.

I am not a walk around the campus kind of a president. Probably, I know that would sort of help me get ideas out, but my style is to more communicate with the deans and the department heads. I think certainly one would like a president that is of that [Dr. Rodriguez] type. But I’ll say this, as a professor and when I was head of the department of chemistry, I would’ve found it very unusual for [the university president] to walk into my office. What I wanted from them was to be sure that I had enough equipment and enough faculty so that I could teach students.

I regret that people think I’m not visible enough, but basically that’s my style.

What were some of the criticisms that surprised you?

 JR: Some of the criticism basically criticized things that I believe in deeply and some of the criticism was for things that I am very proud of like raising admission standards for the university. There are a lot of faculty that wanted me to do that. We needed to do that to improve the institution and our reputation. We needed it for the morale of our faculty.

Some of it just wasn’t true. I have been an enormous advocate for courses over the Internet. When I was a young vice president, Midwestern was the first university in Texas to offer distance education courses. What I’ve always tried to say though is my preference is that students are in classrooms with real people. On the other hand, we can reach people who could not get degrees with distance education. So I have been a supporter of distance ed. In fact, I have asked for more support for distance ed for our adult completion program for health sciences.

The letter called you a “status quo” president. How did you respond to that statement?

JR: I felt that was a very unusual criticism considering the university has been given $60 to $70 million dollars in contributions. I interpreted status quo to be someone who keeps things as they are, but I’ve seen more changes in this university in the years that I’ve been here more than I’ve ever seen before.

I think I am anything but a status quo president.  In fact, I will probably take risks to make this university better that I’m not even comfortable with. In other words, I’m going to count on things happening right and act on them today knowing that I’m taking some risk. That comment kind of surprised me. I am a risk-taker. I have taken on expansion and new programs knowing that there were going to be risks.

Another criticism was that you only support the administrative side of the university and not the faculty. I think there were talks in the August Board of Regents meeting about the faculty getting a one-time salary boost. Is that happening?

JR: Yes it is. In fact it’s for both faculty and staff. It is the Board’s responsibility to see that we take soft money – money that has been given to us for just a couple years – and take from that a two percent boost. You can even call it a bonus that we give everybody in one check. It really is a message to the faculty and staff that I know what you’re doing and I appreciate what you are doing and here’s something to demonstrate that.

I don’t believe you can take mediocre staff or faculty and pay them to be good, but I do believe I have obligation to show them this university’s appreciation to keep the morale up. There is no better way to do that than giving a bonus. For those people whose two percent wouldn’t amount to $500, we’re giving them a minimum $500. That’s a nice little gift.

I’ve look at the raises we’ve given compared to other universities in our category and we’re staying right there with other universities too.

When was the last time faculty received a raise?

JR: We haven’t had a raise in a year, but we have lost $12 million in the last two years. The enrollment declines have cost us $2.5 million. The unfunded mandates, such as waiving tuition and fees for not only veterans, but also their spouses and children, has cost us an additional $1.2 million.

I certainly would never speak against the program. I want to do everything we can to help our veterans, but I think the state should fund the program for our veterans. In addition, the state has cut us $2.3 million. We have not had a reduction [in faculty] enforced. I’ve done everything I can to see that people keep their positions and feel safe in their positions.

The number of people in admin positions has increased over the years. How does that compare to faculty?

JR: Since 2002, we have hired 22 new additional full-time, tenure-track faculties. We’ve hired 3.5 full-time administrators to help me because the demands on universities for accountability have become enormous. We have to have a senior administrator by Southern Association rules to oversee the university’s principles for accreditation. It is an ongoing and costly process. With recruiting students, we need to catch up the newest strategies and communicate with students. It takes people to do that so we had to add a few administrators.

I’ve taken one administrator’s position and spilt it, then hired another, but I gave them both more duties to do. It’s really that I’m planning on growth.

The letter says funding from the state of Texas has gone down from 80 percent to about 17 percent. How much of that is within your control?

JR: None. Midwestern is not being picked on because I did not do my job or someone around me didn’t do his or her job. Every university has suffered those kinds of cuts. University presidents are not in a position to change those budgeting formulas.

There seems to be a misconception of what you actually do as university president. In the scheme of things, what is your role?

JR: The first thing is to keep this university physically safe to make sure we have the faculty and equipment that we need. Then there is private funding because state funding has gone down. I spend a lot of my time raising private dollars that build buildings, bring scholarships. The other big piece of my job is working with the Board of Regents and also the politicians in Austin. I also need to get out and meet our alumni and represent the university. It’s really is an endless list of things I have to do.

Since the letter complained about you not being visible on campus, on average, how often are you physically here?

JR: I don’t travel as much as other university presidents. I have to do some travel to go to school. I went to American Association of State Colleges and Universities to take courses. Last year, I did a two-day course for experienced presidents. It explained how to keep your presidency vital and moving and not becoming one of those things I’ve been excused of — to be status quo and just keep everything level.

By the way if you drive through campus on weekends, I’ve been here every Saturday and Sunday since early summer because of all the work that has come in and all of the necessary planning. My time is spent in Austin. I do very little traveling beyond that.

Why do you believe the person who wrote this letter sent it anonymously?

JR: It’s really hard it say. Certainly, we would all prefer criticism by someone sitting with me saying, ‘You need to think about these things…’ We would all appreciate that more. But we are living in a world of anonymity. I think it’s almost uncivilized that people can get on blogs under an anonymous name and say anything they want to about anyone whether it’s the truth or not. I’ve had that happen to me many of times. I think it shows the power of the Internet and social networking has really come up on us so fast that we’re now having difficulties deciding how to use it in a very profitable and civilized way. Today we live in a world of opinion and not in a world of fact.

You say that you would much rather if a faculty member has an issue to come to you directly, but I know at other universities it has been seen that are consequences to speaking your mind. If someone did confront you with issues with your administration, would there be negative consequences?

JR: I think if you talk to people who have known me for many, many years they will tell you that I absolutely do not strike out against anyone. I try to elevate people based on their performance and their interaction with students and the university. I would not take a negative action just because someone takes a criticism with me.

Is there room for improvement when it comes to your relationship with the university faculty?

JR: I think it can always be better. It does worry me. We are living in very difficult times right now and certainly I’ve not seen a time where my relationship with the faculty could not be improved. Whether I was the president of the university, vice president or department chair, there is always some kind of issue to decide and work on.

I always like to tell people to just give me a chance and wait. I really am thinking about this and I will get this fixed. Again, that’s why I would like criticism to come directly from someone. I would like to tell them that I’m proud of some of the things that you criticizing me for. I set out to do those things. Yes, we are constructing buildings when we do need more money to operate on, but we are building those buildings to be a better university.

This next question comes from a MSU faculty member. He asks, “Assuming that administrative salaries have increased by a higher percentage than faculty salaries during the same period, why are administrators paid so much more than faculty members, when faculty members do most of the important work of the university?

JR: That’s goes back to the history of universities. I’d ask why does Mack Brown make $5 million and I make $200K as hard as I worked. When I was a chemistry faculty member I didn’t make nearly as much money as I do as the president. There is a system. CEO’s make more money than the people in their corporations. One has to spend a lot of time and [needs to] have a lot of time to work his or her way into one of these positions. Yes, administrators at all universities I know make more money than the faculty.

Another faculty member asks, “How does our faculty salary compare to other universities our size?”

 JR: I’m working on a plan right now to change that. We’ve slipped some. When I was vice president we assigned the number of classes that the colleges could teach so we could raise salaries. We had absolutely the lowest average salaries in Texas and I worked to change that. Sometimes we slip and other times we’ll make it up. Our assistant professor’s average salary is very comparable to other universities. We try to hire at the average national salaries, but what happens over time is that the state budget gets low and for various reasons we lose money.

Compared to schools like the University of Texas at Brownsville and Angelo State University, our faculty makes considerable more.

Now that the letter is out and everyone is commenting on it, where do you go from here?

JR: I have to take it into consideration, and I will. I certainly regret that their attitude is like that, but I have to continue on with the long-term plans that will benefit the university. I wish people would realize the difficult financial time has done to us and what they have caused. Believe it or not, I’ve been working on a plan to answer some of the criticisms. I think it gets down to faculty wants to know, ‘Do you appreciate us as a faculty? Please show us by treating us well and paying us fairly.’ So what I have to do is consider the letter and not let it distract me.

I hope people will look at what happens and what I do opposed to what I say. Again, it’s part of my personality. I never feel like I can talk myself out of trouble. I can work my way out of it by making things happen and that’s what I plan on doing.