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Longtime Missouri lawmaker who championed SMS name change dies at 80

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A former Missouri lawmaker from the Ozarks who led the effort to rename Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield has died at the age of 80.

Missouri State University – Image courtesy of MSU

Springfield television station KY-3 quotes family members as saying former State Rep. B.J. Marsh, R-Springfield, died from COVID complications.

“Great guy, always up beat, never saw him in a bad mood,” U.S. Rep. Billy Long says. “And always humorous which you know I’d appreciate. Generous to a fault.”

B.J. Marsh served in the Missouri House from 1988 to 1992 and then again from 2001-2009. He filed the SMS name change bill annually, a bill to change Southwest Missouri State University’s name to Missouri State University. Then State Sen. Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, fought the bill every year. Senator Jacob, whose district included Mizzou, filibustered it several times.

The bill from Marsh and then-State Rep. Mark Wright, R-Springfield, passed in 2005, and then-Governor Matt Blunt signed it into law. The name change reflected Missouri State’s enrollment of tens of thousands of students, along with higher admission standards.

Marsh also served briefly on the Missouri Tourism Commission.

Congressman Billy Long, R-Springfield, tells Missourinet that Marsh also had the best political sign location in Springfield, and was very guarded on who he would let put up a sign. Long remembers a humorous courthouse discussion, that happened recently.

“I usually had to con him into it (putting up a sign). Last time it was in the (Greene County) Courthouse as we were both voting absentee,” says Long. “I said something like ‘Well there’s B.J. Marsh, the guy that won’t let me put up a sign.’ It was loud enough everyone heard so of course he said ‘well sure you can Billy’ then when I didn’t get it up right away he called me three days in a row wanting to know why it wasn’t up. He bugged me so bad we finally went over in a rain storm and put it up.”

KY-3 reports B.J. Marsh also worked as a high school sports referee in the Ozarks.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Mizzou classes, exams going online after Thanksgiving

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-from university press releases

Missouri cases through Nov. 8, 2020

The University of Missouri is temporarily shifting most of its in-person undergraduate and graduate courses to remote learning for the last three weeks of instruction, including final exams, following Thanksgiving break.

The move is to help the region manage a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Mun Choi, MU chancellor and UM System president said in a press release, “While our experts say that MU students have not presented a direct burden to the local hospitals because they have not needed hospitalization, we are all are members of the broader community. And as the community strives to gain control of the virus, a temporary thinning of the student population is helpful.”

Boone County alone added 1,101 cases in the past seven days, as compared to having 8,040 total since the pandemic began.

“Having capacity at our area medical facilities, including our hospitals, is an important piece of our plans to ensure student health and safety,” Choi said. “This temporary shift will ultimately support our community and help ensure the right resources are available to support our students.”

The university also announced it will share resources as they are available to support the community’s needs, including contact tracers, case investigators and medical professionals.

Officials plan to open the 2021 spring semester on Jan. 19 with face-to-face instruction.

 

President Choi: the mask,distancing rules are working at Mizzou; egregious violations result in expulsion

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The University of Missouri has expelled two students and suspended three for violating COVID-19 safety policies. In a press statement, the actions were described as “flagrant…willful and knowing actions that threatened the safety of the campus and the broader Columbia community” including requirements that COVID-positive individuals isolate and comply with social distancing requirements.

Choi answers questions from Sikeston Republican Holly Rehder during Tuesday’s hearing.

Mun Choi, UM System president and MU chancellor, described this and the system’s COVID-19 policies in his testimony before the Missouri House Special Committee on Disease Control and Prevention.

Eleven student organizations are currently under investigation for violations of the university’s coronavirus related policies. The school reports that as of Sept. 11, approximately 470 student violation cases have been referred to the university’s Office of Student Conduct and Accountability.

Choi reported that since enacting stricter mask and social distancing rules, the Columbia campus has had a decrease in its active caseload, with a 51 percent drop from 683 cases between Sept. 5 to Sept. 14.

“We like that trend,” Choi told the panel.

This semester, he said, no Mizzou students have been hospitalized with the coronavirus. If a residence hall student contracts COVID-19, they can isolate at one of the 300 hotel rooms paid for by the university, with free meals delivered or meals reimbursed.

‘Many of our students choose to isolate on campus,” he said, “This is one of the best places for students to be because we have the necessary hospital capacity to take care of students and our community.”

Choi said that for now, the choice for in-person classes, with strict guidelines, keeps the school and staff financially safe.
He mentioned the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, which has gone to distance learning and faces $169 million in lost revenues and furloughs of 850 staffers.

“As the leader of this campus at Columbia and president of four universities, I just can’t imagine — and I find it heartbreaking to be able to say– to staff members that this is a time for layoffs and that health insurance will not be provided and to say that during a pandemic,” Choi said.

Choi told lawmakers that many students who have contracted COVID-19 have chosen to isolate in Columbia.

“But I want to make this very clear, if at any time during our 7:30 (a.m.) daily meetings with the medical experts and the public health experts we find that the pandemic is turning for the worse, or the experts tell me that it is time to pivot– we will pivot to remote learning immediately,” Choi insisted. “Our decisions are not made based on finance, but the best medical and public health input.”

 

Mizzou announces additional inclusion policies, welcomes new diversity head (AUDIO INTERVIEW)

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University of Missouri leaders last week announced a series of actions to address inequities and inclusion, including

  • mandatory cultural competency training,
  • bystander and civil discourse training,
  • supervisor training to address acts of discrimination and
  • a thorough review of the MU Police Department’s “use of force” policies and de-escalation tactics.

In August, the university will launch a “Bias Hotline” so students, faculty and staff can anonymously report acts of discrimination or racism.  Since student protests and the resignation of the school’s president in 2015, Mizzou has redirected its policies and staffing to focus on repairing race relations and improving diversity. This includes inviting scrutiny from the American Council on Education, which released its second report on the university’s progress since 2015.

“This work is never complete, but we are committed to doing the hard work necessary to become a better Mizzou.” President and Chancellor Mun Choi said after the report and a panel discussion presented online last week.

The newly-hired Vice-Chancellor of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Maurice Gipson will oversee much of this work. He says Mizzou’s program is uncommon because of the “stable infrastructure” it now has in place.

“With this type of capacity, over 30 fulltime staff members and another 30 or so part-time, having an infrastructure that large just speaks to Mizzou’s commitment,” Gipson told Missourinet.

Gipson was in a similar position at Arkansas State University before coming to Mizzou. He says providing off-campus experiences were an important part of his success.

“Making sure that our students have these transformational experiences which they are engaged with people they are less familiar with or go and engage with students from around the country, I think that helps them become better global citizens.”

His vision is that everyone who wants a college education should be able to achieve one. He was the first in his family to go to college and was from a poor family. He saw college as a way to level the opportunities for any student.

“If you want to have just a conversation just about race and ethnicity, then we are not going to have a productive and fruitful conversation because diversity is so much more than that. An issue that is very near and dear to me is making sure that we can pull our students out of some of this cyclical poverty,” Gipson said.

“If you want to pull students out of cyclical poverty, a college education is a way to do that.”

LISTEN to the interview with MU Vice-Chancellor of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Maurice Gipson (15:04)

UM leadership to take 10 percent pay cut, starting in May

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University of Missouri System’s president, vice presidents, chancellors, cabinet members, and deans will be taking 10 percent salary cuts, starting May 1 and to last until at least July 31.

Dr. Mun Choi (Photo courtesy of Peter Morenus/UConn)

System president and chancellor Mun Choi says major sources of funding will “remain under stress for some time to come,” as the university copes with the impact of the current public health crisis.

Other senior leaders and administrators throughout the university will also be asked to take a similar pay cut. The universities are deciding how to make 15 percent cuts; options include layoffs, unpaid leaves, restructuring and strict cost containment.

Choi says budget planners are working on a 60-to-90 day timeline, with the expectation that the Fiscal Year 2021 budget will be revisited at the beginning of July. The system expects a $180 million budget shortfall as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

UM universities will postpone in-person commencement, consider virtual ceremonies

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Information from a UM system statement

All four UM universities have postponed in-person spring commencement exercises, promising that each university will celebrate graduates, online or in-person in the future.   All students who completed the requirements for graduation will still get their degrees.

“We know how disappointed our students, parents and families are that we won’t be able to hold our commencement ceremonies in May,” said Mun Choi, president of the University of Missouri System. “Hundreds of UM faculty and staff take part in these ceremonies each year, and it brings us great pride to celebrate our students’ accomplishments alongside them and their families. This May, we will have to adjust how we celebrate to ensure the safety of our university communities.”

University leaders will share details of their commencement ceremony plans with students and families in the near future.

 

Mizzou professor shares history of famous Notre Dame Cathedral damaged by fire

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The most-visited monument in Paris has been heavily damaged today by fire – during the Notre Dame Cathedral’s busy Easter time tourist season. Mizzou art history professor Anne Rudloff Stanton says she’s in shock that a massive fire has burned through the 13th century landmark. She hopes Paris will rebuild the historic Cathedral.

Mizzou Art History Professor Anne Rudloff Stanton

“It’s one of the primary historical structures in Paris and probably one of the three most famous churches in Europe,” she says. “It’s not just the building that is being lost. I’m reading the stain glass windows are gone. There might be some danger to a lot of the treasures that are held in the Treasury, which include old reliquaries, sculptures and many works of art. It’s a tragedy.”

About 13 million people visit the Cathedral each year and mass was still being offered there on Sundays. Renovations were underway at the church.

Rudloff Stanton, who has visited the Cathedral twice, recalls the smell of the building – the old stones, the centuries of incense from church services and sweat from summer visitors.

“They provide a particular kind of perfume of the past when you’re inside,” she says.

Rudloff Stanton remembers the relics of the Passion of Christ. The pieces were from the Crown of Thorns and the Holy Nails claimed to be from the crucifixion cross of Jesus. She says the relics had been brought into France by Louis IX in the 13th Century and were held at an important Medieval structure, called the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

“Some of them are now in the Treasury at the Cathedral of Paris. I very much hope that they were not lost in this fire,” she says.

The Cathedral was also damaged during the French Revolution in the early 19th century when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor at the Cathedral of Paris.

“He cut this huge chunk out of one of the entryways so that everything would fit through that opening for his grand entry into the church,” she says.

After Victor Hugo published The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Rudloff Stanton says the French began to consider the Cathedral as an important aspect of their cultural heritage.

The Cathedral is one of the primary monuments in the development of French Gothic architecture. She explains the building’s pointed arches and flying buttresses inspired the design of several Midwestern churches.

“There are a lot of buildings in a medieval and often a gothic style in Missouri in the late 19th and 20th centuries. There are structures in St. Louis,” she says. “For many Americans, particularly I think in the Midwest, the style of the great European churches built in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries is really what a church looks like – the pointed arches, spires and things like that.”

Rudloff Stanton says old European buildings are made of massive timber structures to support the roof and vaults. Former Deputy Director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, Gregg Favre, explains why Medieval structure fires are tough to fight.

The cause of Monday’s fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral is unknown.

Mizzou’s link to Major League Baseball history

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Phil freakin’ Bradley…former Mizzou star and soul crusher. (photo/MLB.com)

Back when I was growing up, it was O.K. for our generation to hate professional athletes. It’s such a strong word now and with Fantasy sports, we no longer just pull for teams as much as we used to.  Now we cheer for players, and most of us mature by the time were 21 and we respect the games we watch and what the athletes do.  However, in my teens, it was certainly ok to say you hated a player if they had success against your team.

Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons…HATED them.  The Bad Boys constantly beat down Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the playoffs before Jordan could exact some revenge.  Wayne Gretzky, yes the Great One…HATED him for being the best hockey player in the world.  The Edmonton Oilers regularly knocked out my hometown Blackhawks from the playoffs.  Any guy on the Green Bay Packers…HATED.  Phil Bradley of the Phillies…yep, HATED.

“What?  Phil Bradley?  Who?”

30 years ago to the day my childhood team, the Chicago Cubs, was finally making the jump to modern baseball by installing lights at Wrigley Field.  It was the last Major League ballpark to host all day games.  August 8, 1988, was the day many of us fans were waiting for…watching the Cubs play night baseball at home.  That first game featured the Cubs hosting the Philadelphia Phillies.  Oh, there was plenty of hate towards the Phillies well before that night…Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose they topped the list.  However, that Monday night in August the hatred was for Phil Bradley.

Bradley, the first batter of that game sent a 2-1 Rick Sutcliffe fastball over the bleachers in left field onto Waveland Avenue.  The excitement, the energy, and the buzz in the ballpark that night zapped with the first batter of the game.  This isn’t how it was supposed to go.  Not a member of the hated Phillies.  They shouldn’t be the first team to hit a homer under the lights at Wrigley.  That should have been a Cub.  That should have been Ryne Sandberg or Andre Dawson…not Phil freakin’ Bradley.  I hated Phil Bradley!

However, the baseball gods sided with me that night.  As if to say “That’s not how it’s going to happen,” heavy rains descended upon Wrigley forcing a delay and ultimately forcing the umpires to call the game.  That’s it!  It was officially, unofficial and Phil Bradley’s name would not be in the record books for hitting the first home run at Wrigley Field under the lights.

Skip to 7:40 to watch the moment Bradley crushed my soul.

Instead, in a cruel twist of fate, the first official home run under the lights at Wrigley Field belongs to the New York Mets and Lenny Dykstra on August 9, 1988. See, now you can understand where I’m coming from.  Unless you’re from Queens…everybody hates the Mets and well, you know, it’s Lenny Dykstra…enough said. (I did get the last laugh, the Cubs won their first-ever home night game, 6-4)

It was until many years later when I started working at Missourinet, that I learned of the impact that Bradley had at the University of Missouri.  He was one of the most decorated athletes at Mizzou, lettering in football at MU from 1977-81, and in baseball in 1970-80-81.

Bradley quarterbacked the Tigers to three bowl games. He was a three-time Big Eight Conference “Offensive Player of the Year” and set the conference total offense record at 6,459 yards which stood for 10 years. In baseball, he starred as an outfielder on MU teams that won the Big Eight championship in 1980, and went to the NCAA Tournament in 1980 and ’81. Bradley was drafted out of MU by the Seattle Mariners. He reached the Major Leagues with Seattle, in 1984, and played with the Mariners through 1987. He was named to the ’85 American League All-Star Team, and that season hit his career-high 26 homers. He spent 1988 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and one-and-a-half seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, before being traded to Chicago.

I caught up with Bradley at the MLB All-Star game in St. Louis and told him how he crushed my summer dreams in 1988.  He laughed and said he vaguely remembered the home run.  I described it for him as it was etched in my memory.  I enjoyed our few minutes together in front of the third base dugout inside Busch.

I no longer hated Phil Bradley.

Mizzou settles lawsuit with Carolina coach Dawn Staley for remarks made by Jim Sterk.

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The University of Missouri has settled a lawsuit brought against its Director of Athletics, Jim Sterk, by South Carolina Head Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley for $50,000. One half of the settlement will be paid to Staley’s non-profit foundation, INNERSOLE, and the other half of the settlement to her attorneys.

“Following a very spirited and intense game I attended in late January between the nationally ranked Missouri and South Carolina women’s basketball teams, I made comments in a local radio interview that were construed to suggest that Coach Staley promoted the negative experiences of racial epithets and spitting,” Sterk said. “I do not believe Coach Staley would promote such conduct, and I sincerely apologize to her for those comments.

“I accept his apology and I appreciate the contribution of $25,000 to INNERSOLE, a not for profit organization I co-founded that provides new sneakers to children who are homeless or in need,” Staley said. “I’m glad we can share in support of this worthy cause and I look forward to moving past this with a continued spirited but positive competition amongst our programs.”

In accordance with University policy, the lawsuit settlement will be paid by the University since Sterk made his comments in good faith while performing his duties as a University employee.

However, Sterk is still standing by his claims that Mizzou players were harassed by Carolina fans.

“Immediately after the game, several of our student-athletes and staff shared with me experiences they encountered before, during and after our game at South Carolina, including incidents of being spit on, a racial epithet, and other derogatory comments,” Sterk said in a statement released by the University of Missouri. “Those actions have no place at any sporting event, and I’m truly sorry that our student-athletes and staff had to endure that type of treatment.

“My concerns about those incidents continue.  I appreciate that the Southeastern Conference takes seriously the reports of our student-athletes about inappropriate language and actions directed at them, as well as their efforts to engage in a review of game management issues with South Carolina, which I understand is ongoing.

“All of us, Mizzou and South Carolina included, have obligations to promote a respectful environment for all student-athletes to compete in. It is my sincere hope that we continue to encourage appropriate behavior at all college sporting events.  We must condemn that type of negative behavior wherever it might occur and take steps to ensure that no team has to endure type of hostile behavior moving forward.  I hope that efforts following the January 28 game will move us toward those goals.”

SEC mourns the loss of former Commissioner Mike Slive

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Mike Slive (L), poses with Bernie Machen, Brady Deaton and Mike Alden at the announcement that Missouri would join the SEC (photo/2011)

The Southeastern Conference is mourning the loss of former commissioner Mike Slive.  He died Wednesday at the age of 77 in Birmingham, Alabama.  A cause of death has not been revealed.  Slive retired in 2015 after 13 seasons at the helm in which he helped elevate the SEC to unprecedented success.  He was fighting prostate cancer when he stepped down.

Slive played a major role when the league expanded and added Mizzou and Texas A & M.

“We are pleased, and we are proud to welcome you to the family of the Southeastern Conference,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive told hundreds of Missouri students and alumni at the campus union. “We know that homecoming is a special tradition here at Missouri. So let me say to the entire Missouri nation, ‘Welcome to your new home.'”

Missouri joined the league on July 1, 2012.

Quote from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey on Slive’s death:

“Mike Slive literally changed the world through his life. He was a friend before we worked together. He was a friend when we were colleagues. He remained a friend in his retirement as I succeeded him as commissioner. Today we all lost a friend. We will miss him for his work and especially for his compassion. Our prayers are with Liz, Anna, Judd and Abigail.”