Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
McPhee: Asset or liability for MTSU?
MURFREESBORO --Sidney McPhee is the best president Middle Tennessee State University has had in a long time, and a sexual harassment controversy won't change that, a key donor says.
''He's doing wonders for the school, for students, for faculty,'' said Paul W. Martin Jr., who reeled off McPhee's recent accomplishments: working with the state's congressional delegation to in $2.6 million in federal funding; reviving MTSU's relationship with a graduate who's well-known in Hollywood; raising academic standards; and raising money left and right.
''Everywhere you look, he's turning over rocks and making things happen,'' Martin said. ''It would be a tragedy to lose him.''
McPhee's critics beg to differ.
They point out that the president admitted in December to sexually harassing a former administrative assistant, Tammie C. Allen.
In a complaint filed in October, Allen accused McPhee of repeatedly touching her sexually and making sexually charged remarks --such as calling his penis a ''seven wood'' --during golf outings, office meetings and trips to out-of-state football games over the previous 14 months.
While he denied those claims and said Allen was motivated by anger over her exclusion from an office golf team, McPhee acknowledged spending time with her ''in off-campus and after-hours situations'' and creating a hostile work environment. The Tennessee Board of Regents suspended him without pay for 20 days and cut his $186,170 salary by 36;10,000 for a year.
Allen later filed a civil lawsuit in Rutherford County against McPhee, MTSU and the state, saying the Board of Regents didn't sufficiently investigate her allegations. Allen, who now works in MTSU's development office, declined to comment Thursday.
The critics feel Allen's suit could hang over the university for a long time, keeping MTSU in the public eye for the wrong reasons. Moreover, they say, McPhee, 48, has shown signs of instability and shaky principles in recent months. They think he has discouraged criticism of himself and MTSU, and they're disturbed by his apparent suicide attempt before Allen's complaint went public.
''It's huge as far as the reputation of the university goes,'' said Joel Hausler, the educational leadership professor who has been McPhee's most vocal opponent. ''I think it will eventually start to take a toll on people who want to come to the university or donate to it. And it sends a terrible message to students: If you have enough power, you can get away with anything.''
Martin's and Hausler's comments frame the debate about McPhee's ability to lead MTSU effectively more than two and a half years after taking office.
Some see a man who made a mistake but otherwise has been an aggressive and impressive president, proving he belongs at the helm of a school that needs help from the many friends he has made.
Others see a man who they think is lucky he still has his job and who has become a distraction for their school --now the biggest undergraduate campus in the state --as it strives to get bigger and better.
Waiting on the courts
Most of the people interviewed for this story said they support and believe in McPhee, but some of those supporters said his plans for long-term leadership might be out of his hands now.
''I'm afraid if (the lawsuit) goes to trial and is on newspaper front pages every day with the gory details, it will have a very deleterious effect,'' said Ransom Jones, a Murfreesboro businessman who has led and still serves on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. THEC coordinates the budgets and academic programs of the Tennessee Board of Regents and University of Tennessee systems.
''There will probably be pressure for him to resign for the good of the university,'' Jones said.
State Rep. John Hood, D-Murfreesboro, said Allen's lawsuit presented a new challenge for McPhee and MTSU.
''I was hopeful the issue had been resolved and we could go forward,'' Hood said. ''I think the lawsuit further clouds the situation. "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š¦ The longer it drags out, the more harmful it's going to be to the university an
d to him personally.''
State Sen. Bill Ketron, a Murfreesboro Republican, said he has ''the utmost confidence'' in McPhee's leadership but ho
pes the lawsuit will move quickly through the courts.
''I guess only time will tell,'' he said.
Many people say it would be wrong to judge McPhee before the lawsuit plays out. The board of the Rutherford County chapter of the NAACP unanimously supported McPhee, an African-American, in a recent vote. The chapters president, the Rev. Dwight Ogleton, said it was an easy choice, citing McPhee's extensive community involvement and strong fiscal management of MTSU.
''The record speaks for itself,'' Ogleton said.
Ogleton attended the March 8 meeting at which MTSU's Faculty Senate decided not to hold a vote of confidence in McPhee's leadership.
Larry Burriss, an MTSU journalism professor and administrator who is president-elect of the Faculty Senate, said McPhee's questioned activities did not affect the university's operations.
Whereas former University of Tennessee President John W. Shumaker resigned under fire last year for his uses of state dollars, McPhee's interactions with Allen ''were of a private nature,'' Burriss said.
''We need to separate private life from public performance. "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š¦ I don't see how his actions affect my classroom or my travel budget. That's what I'm concerned about.''
Questioning his judgment
Hausler and his colleagues charge that McPhee told a group of honors students, then the Faculty Senate, in speeches since the controversy broke that critics of his decisions and the university should leave MTSU. They say the remarks betrayed a disregard for the fundamental principles of any serious university.
''What does that say for academic freedom, for First Amendment freedom?'' English professor Ted Sherman said during the Faculty Senate discussion of McPhee's leadership.
McPhee, who is known for sometimes rubbing employees the wrong way with his blunt style, said Tuesday that his comments had been misconstrued. He said he was referring to people who constantly complain'' but was not trying to silence the complaints.
''If you can't find one positive thing about your environment, perhaps it's in your best interest to look for a different one,'' he said. ''But there was no attempt to tell folks they cannot or should not criticize the university or me.''
Debbie Gower, an associate professor of elementary and special education, said during the recent Faculty Senate meeting that McPhee had spoken to the student and faculty groups at ''a time when he was still unsure of himself.''
''I have watched that leadership emerge again in a very positive and forceful way,'' Gower said.
But Hausler questions McPhee's psychological balance after an apparent suicide attempt last fall. McPhee checked himself into the hospital with an undisclosed medical condition Oct. 14, the day the sexual harassment complaint became public knowledge.
McPhee declines to discuss the issue. Marion County Sheriff Ronnie Burnett confirmed McPhee was taken by ambulance to Grandview Medical Center in Jasper, Tenn., about 110 miles southeast of Nashville, about 10 a.m. that day after pulling into the parking lot of a fireworks store off Interstate 24.
Burnett said McPhee told him he had been at Running Water Recreation Area, a park near the fireworks stand, and had ''thought about hurting himself, but he changed his mind.''
''He said he was having trouble at work,'' the sheriff said.
The MTSU president was barefoot and wet after entering the water at the park but had changed clothes when he got out of the water, Burnett said. He was ''a bit shaky when he got out of the car'' but walked to a stretcher under his own power.
After the ambulance left, Burnett went to the park. He found two empty prescription pill bottles bearing McPhee's name. Burnett said he did not know what kinds of pills McPhee might have taken, and no incident report exists because Burnett simply happened to be in the area and helped the paramedics who were called to assist McPhee.
''There was nothing filed officially,'' he said.
Hausler said that the incident, and the fact McPhee returned to work about a week later, ''indicates to me he's very unstable'' and that the Board of Regents should have made the president take medical leave. McPhee previously worked with the regents at their central office.
McPhee disagreed with Hausler's assessment of his condition.
''My health matter is nobody's business,'' he said in an interview in his office. ''It only becomes an issue if I'm unable to function and run this university. I'm in good mind and spirit and body. I'm healthy, I'm at work, and I'm getting the job done.''
But he shouldn't be at work in the first place, according to some professors.
''A faculty member guilty of sexual harassment would have been fired,'' chemistry professor Linda Wilson wrote in an e-mail to faculty senators before their meeting. ''As a role model for over 20,000 students, his behavior should be beyond reproach. The Board " erred in not asking for his resignation.''
Trying to move forward
Admirers say McPhee seems to be moving on, regaining whatever footing he lost immediately after the controversy broke, when he spent more time in his office and seemed less decisive in meetings. They say he is talking to MTSU supporters and cultivating potential donors as intensely as before.
''I feel good about how he looks and feels,'' said Charles Manning, chancellor of the Board of Regents system and McPhee's boss. ''He seems like the aggressive person he's always been.''
Martin, an East Tennessee entrepreneur who was the first graduate of MTSU's honors program, and his brother Lee gave MTSU $2 million in 2000 to help build the new Honors College building. They made the gift on the condition that the university would raise the same amount by December 2001. Martin credits McPhee with beating the deadline by raising about $1 million that had still been needed when he took office four months earlier, succeeding James Walker.
More recently, McPhee and MTSU's development chief, Joe Bales, worked with the state's representatives in Washington, D.C., to get the university's biggest direct federal appropriation ever: $2.6 million for the School of Nursing and other projects.
Martin said McPhee knew that Martin had an important friend in Congress: Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. McPhee asked Martin to write to Young.
''He takes the time to take inventory of his assets,'' Martin said. ''He doesn't take credit for everything. "â┚¬Ã…¡ÃƒÆ’”�šÃ”š¦ How he figured out I knew Bill Young is beyond me, but he did.''
''It looks like he's done a good job of getting any funds that might be available for MTSU,'' agreed Howard Wall, owner of Wall Development Co. in Murfreesboro and a 1963 graduate of the university.
Tom Jackson, a member of the Board of Regents who lives in Nashville and supports McPhee, said he attended a recent MTSU basketball game with the president, and ''it was unbelievable, the number of people coming over to our seats and talking to him.''
For his part, McPhee used the third person while saying he's gained strength as a leader from his trials.
''There are many folks who realize that Sidney McPhee has gotten the job done, and Sidney McPhee will continue to get the job done, and that he's always been a very focused person,'' he said. ''When you are in these public positions, there are always distractions, and good leaders really use those distractions to become more focused on moving their organizations forward. And that's exactly what I'm doing.''
Controversy time line
Oct. 6, 2003: Tammie C. Allen, an administrative assistant to Middle Tennessee State University President Sidney McPhee, files a sexual harassment complaint against McPhee.
Oct. 14: Fearing publicity, Allen withdraws her complaint. On the same day, McPhee checks into a Jasper, Tenn., hospital after an apparent suicide attempt at a Marion County waterfront park. He issues a statement saying he has ''not violated my wedding vows'' and that the allegations had nothing to do with ''my official duties, misappropriation of taxpayer resources or other malfeasance.''
Oct. 17
: McPhee e-mails the MTSU community, saying he has been through ''a few tough days'' but declining to be more specific about his hospitalization. He pledges to be back on the job after ''a few days of vacation and rest.''
Dec. 5: Chancellor Charles Manning of the Tennessee Board of Regents announces that McPhee --while denying Allen's specific allegations --sexually harassed her by spending time with her outside the office and creating a hostile work environment. Manning suspends the MTSU president for 20 days without pay, cuts his pay by $10,000 for 2004 and requires him to attend training sessions. McPhee accepts the punishment and apologizes, saying he has been guilty of ''a lapse in judgment.''
Dec. 18: The Board of Regents releases the original complaint and McPhee's response. Allen chronicles 14 months of office encounters and trips during which McPhee allegedly touched her sexually and made sexually charged remarks. McPhee admits to slow dancing in his office and playing golf with Allen but denies the allegations, arguing
that she filed the complaint out of anger.
Feb.
13, 2004: Allen sues McPhee, MTSU, the Board of Regents, Manning and the state. She alleges McPhee falsely denied her accusations and that the Board of Regents did not investigate aggressively enough. Allen, who now works in MTSU's development office, asks for unspecified damages and indicates she would like her old job back.
March 8: After dozens of professors call for a vote of confidence in McPhee's leadership, MTSU's Faculty Senate votes 38-11 not to hold such a vote while Allen's lawsuit is pending. A motion to have a campus-wide referendum on McPhee dies for lack of a second.
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This n-gger needs to go. This n-gger's supporters need to go. It's getting pretty hard to find a YT who will say anything bad about a n-gger, no matter what the n-gger does. Grow a spine people. Had this clown had been white, he would have been gone a long time ago. I know it, you know it, the whole damn world knows it. Your sucking up to this n-gger makes me nauseous.
T.N.B.
