by Phil Campbell
fter little more than a year as president of Shelby State Community
College, Floyd “Bud” Amann has had his share of problems and controversies.
Several nursing students filed a lawsuit against the school, accusing
their program of unfair grading policies; their protests garnered
vocal support from a number of state legislators. Worse, student
enrollment has continued to slide, this past year dropping by
as much as 17 
percent. This shrinking attendance caused Amann to cut dozens
of jobs. Amann and his school made news again when he asked his
chief fund-raiser, Mose Yvonne Hooks, to resign. Hooks, a tenured
Shelby State professor, refused. Amann removed her from the position
and is now trying to find something else for her to do.
Amann, however, acts like a man who knows something no one else
does. In a recent interview with the Flyer, he brimmed with confidence,
predicting that while enrollment may dip even more, he believes
it will soon stabilize. While he warns that more cuts are coming,
he says he feels “pretty darn good” about the decisions that have
been made under his command. And he remains unabashed in the way
he handled the protesting nursing students.
Shelby State, he says, was at the point of “desperation” before
he arrived.
Last week, the Flyer asked him questions on the above topics and
more. And, just when we thought the interview was done, the Shelby
State president pitched to the newsweekly a story idea of his
own – the consolidation of State Technical Institute and Shelby
State. He’s all for it, just as long as no one accuses him of
leading the charge.
You took a pretty hard hit in enrollment this year. Any idea about
the reasons behind that?
I would like to be able to say that there was a specific cause,
so that then I could go fix it. As we began to uncover some of
the reasons behind our enrollment drop, and, specifically, which
groups were dropping, it turns out that it was a pretty much across-the-board
decline. And I think it had a lot to do with long-standing image
problems for Shelby State. It’s influenced by the very solid job
market, where people have other alternatives than going to school.
And I think that basically this college has not given the public
sufficient reasons to attend, as opposed to other alternatives.
So, it’s not a simple explanation, it’s one that’s influenced
by the business climate, the employment market, a long-standing
reputation of the institution, which has not always been positive.
It’s been affected somewhat by what I call negative press, albeit
it’s really been positive press on negative issues. I think that
the community, at least we hope, is beginning to realize we’re
about to change this institution to make it more effective, more
committed to student service, more concentrated on quality. But,
while we’ve been saying that, the message hasn’t really been heard
as yet.
And I think it’s going to take a little bit longer. This enrollment
drop … has been going on for several years now. And I’m not so
sure we’ve really bottomed out yet. To a certain extent, our enrollment
historically was artificially high. So that what you’re seeing
to a certain extent is some adjustment to the size of an institution
which can be managed effectively. And then from there, I suspect,
the enrollment can then take an upturn.
There’s no real simple answer. I wish there was.
When you say image problems, what are you specifically referring
to?
I think that it’s not necessarily a particular event. I think
to a certain extent it’s the fact the community doesn’t really
understand the role of a comprehensive community college in a
community of our size. If their image of our institution is shaped
by what they read in the newspaper, it’s not a positive one.
For students who come here and have a good experience, they become
some of our best advocates. Our alumni association is very strong
and has a great deal of support among those who are exposed to
Shelby State. But unfortunately there are those who formulate
their experience not by direct impressions but by what they read.
And also I think we face some of the similar issues of Memphis.
We anticipate an expansion of our southeast campus, which is at
south Mendenhall and Winchester. We believe that’s where the center
of the population of Memphis is really shifting in that direction.
We’ve been so crowded there, but we’ve not been adjusting our
courses to meet the demands. So we’re suffering from a little
bit of that enrollment shift out east.
You referred to the daily newspaper; are you referring to their
coverage of the recent controversies – the nursing program, Dr.
Hooks, enrollment…?
I think there has been a negative spin on the reporting about
Shelby State. It hasn’t been inaccurate, though. These things
are happening, and there’s an obligation to report it. But I think
the press does have an obligation to the college because, in many
ways, the reputation of the institution is shaped by how those
reports come out, what kind of spin it’s on.
So it hurts us. I think time will show that how the college responded
to these nursing issues was very appropriate. And, in fact, some
of the civil-rights complaints the students made are being thrown
out. Certain aspects of the civil suit the students filed are
being thrown out. A recent team of accreditors from the state’s
licensing department came here and gave our nursing program a
very high rating. When all of the smoke settles, and people begin
to look at the specifics, they’re going to see this is an excellent
nursing program that’s in the process of becoming better. And
I don’t mind a little controversy, but I just want a little fairness
in the reporting.
Were you surprised by the amount of politics that became entangled
into that issue?
Yeah. Yeah, I was. Although, to be honest with you, a president
of a public institution, is him- or herself a political animal,
or you wouldn’t be in this business. There are causes for a number
of interactions between myself and a number of elected officials.
It was my understanding that the state officials would be involved
at the state level, with TBR [Tennessee Board of Regents], and,
if you have a concern with a nursing program, that might extend
to all nursing programs. But I think that, heretofore, the officials
have been more involved in the management of the institution than
I’m used to. If anything, my tenure here has been to keep that
distance, which I think is very appropriate for an educational
institution.
I wish it hadn’t created the strain that appears there. I’ve made
not one negative public statement about any official. Yet the
impression that people have, is that there is acrimony between
myself and public officials. If there is, I’m not aware of it.
And this situation is not going to go away. This is Memphis. What
we need to make this institution strong is support from our state
elected officials rather than involvement and criticism. But it’s
a tough issue here in Memphis.
There was tremendous pressure to change the rules. And, in the
final analysis, we compromised somewhat by giving the students
the opportunity to take the exams over. And they refused. See,
we offered that opportunity to all students, not just the ones
who were protesting. And eight students did take the exams during
the summer of last year, and four of them have now completed the
program. I think it’s unfortunate that the none of the others
chose to do that, but everybody was given the opportunity.
Looking back at your tenure so far, would you have done anything
differently?
I’ve looked back at the major decisions we’ve made over the year
and I feel pretty darn good. Our decisions were appropriate for
the conditions, circumstances, and the issues. I’m not saying,
to be too arrogant, that we’ve batted a thousand, but I’m ready
to defend every decision we’ve made about reorganization, about
the nursing students, about some personnel changes, about a reduction
in force, about our financial-aid situation. I mean, there have
been some very heavy issues that we’ve addressed over the past
18 months. I’m very comfortable, and I think the Tennessee Board
of Regents and the chancellor are very comfortable with the way
in which they’ve all been handled. We still are an institution
that is confronting some image issues and some financial problems.
Now, we’ve made some bold moves. We reorganized and cut 59 positions
last year and 32 this year. It’s still not enough. We’re still
at a point where our staffing is out of whack with our enrollment
and our resources. And so there will probably be further cutbacks.
What one has to assess is how much stress an institution can take
all at once.
I look back upon this last “RIF,” reduction in force plan. I’m
not sure it was strong enough. I’m not sure we cut as many as
we should have, but out of deference to our employees, some of
whom have been here awhile, that’s a hard business to be in. People
are saying goodbye to good friends and colleagues that they’ve
worked with for years.
We are going to continue trying to bring some business acumen
into the management of the college. It’s just not been part of
the history. We’ve just kind of grown incrementally. If you look
at the employment pattern at Shelby State, in times when enrollment
went up, we hired people. When enrollment went down, we hired
more people. Whenever we’ve had a problem, we’ve hired more people.
And if you look at comparative numbers between staff here and
other institutions, we’re way up at the top, our salaries are
way down at the bottom, and our enrollment is somewhere in the
middle.
We need to bring our salaries in line with other institutions.
We need to bring our staffing in line with other institutions,
and be kind of more within the middle ground. But, in the past,
no one’s paid a great deal of attention to that. So, in many ways,
I suffer the consequences of being the bearer because we’re finally
addressing some issues that have been long-standing and need to
be addressed. But you end up being the one doing it. So you end
up getting some attention in that regard. I’m feeling general
support both from the Tennessee Board of Regents, the community,
and even the college.
I think the college was at the point of desperation upon my arrival.
Which made the change-agent aspect a little bit smoother, because
everybody kind of knew things had to be done differently. So I’m
very pleased with our track record over the past 18 months, although
I may have been remiss in letting certain things drag on longer
than they should have. But part of that was I needed to be comfortable.
I needed to be sure that the homework was right, that the data
was correct, so that I wasn’t seen as a person who was just trying
to introduce change for change’s sake or being somewhat arbitrary
or capricious about personnel changes. I needed to make sure that
it was acceptable to me, and that I could defend it. And so far
I feel pretty good about it.
The most recent controversy was Dr. Hooks. Why did you ask for
her resignation in the first place?
I have to be careful, because this is a personnel matter and I
don’t want to comment on individual performance, but I can say
that I was interested in moving the fund-raising activities of
Shelby State to a different level, and felt I needed a change
to move the college forward in that regard.
I did what was in the best interest of the institution. We’re
still [discussing] another assignment, and that hasn’t been settled
as yet. I don’t want to make any remarks that might affect those
discussions. I really wish this would be something that she and
I would just be able to settle ourselves, but it didn’t turn out
that way. It became public very quickly. Sometimes that very exposure
changes the nature of the negotiations.
The foundation, through no fault of Dr. Hooks, hasn’t really brought
in the kind of dollars that we needed here at Shelby State. We
need to do fund-raising differently. I’m speaking with foundation
board members at this point about other strategies, about garnering
private philanthropy and company support for Shelby State. The
fact of the matter is, there are not enough state dollars to support
our expenses. Students can only afford so much to come to school.
I felt that change was necessary to take our foundation to a different
level. …
There is something that you didn’t ask me that I’m eager to discuss
with you. That is the discussion about consolidating our efforts
in Memphis. Maybe you’re aware that the Tennessee Board of Regents
is either in the process of or has appointed a committee to look
into how the community might be better served by bringing State
Tech and Shelby State closer together. I really don’t know where
that committee is at this point, and, if I were you, I think that’s
pretty cutting-edge stuff. I suggest you research that if you
care to. I think it’s something your readers will be interested
in. You will probably predict that this is going to be controversial.
It certainly will be a very heavy discussion. Just like everything
else we talked about, there will be extreme positions developed.
I’m really glad that the Tennessee Board of Regents is looking
at this issue, and I don’t want to presuppose the outcome. But
I think we could probably work more closely together to better
serve the community. There are a lot of cities of our size that
have what we call a community college district. That is, one community
college serving an entire community with various campuses. If
you look at communities of our size, there are many more students
attending those colleges than we have here in Memphis.
For some of those reasons we talked about before, employment,
image, fewer people are attending the community college and State
Tech. The community I came from, the market share of the high
school graduating class was 32 percent of kids that went on to
the community college. State Tech and Shelby State combined don’t
have 10 percent. So, there are not enough students going on to
school to begin with. I’ll give you the most graphic example:
San Diego. The three community colleges serve about a 1.5 million
population in San Diego. Their enrollment is 52,000 students.
We’re 15,000, combined. I’m only pointing that out as an example
of what you can do as a single unit to try to meet the need out
there, as opposed to having to double the expenses.
We have two fund-raising efforts, two continuing-ed departments,
two presidents, two computer systems, two financial-aid officers,
and all that kind of stuff. I guess it makes me wonder if we wouldn’t
be able to use the taxpayer dollars more effectively and efficiently
by trying to bring these institutions together.
You’ve used the word “consolidation” and you’ve used the phrase
“partnering up.”
I’m trying not to use the “M” word.
Merger?
… and I’m not trying to predict what that outcome will be. There’s
a committee looking into it. I hope that I’ll be asked to speak
to that committee. And I hope that that committee will talk to
business leaders, because I’m hearing an awful lot of positive
comments about alleviating some of the confusion that exists in
this community about where our institutions are located and what
specific missions and charges are. I get called the president
of State Technical Institute. And people confuse our locations.
And it’s no wonder these institutions are not well defined for
the public.
I don’t want to be the champion of this, to be honest with you.
I don’t want to be the one who carries the day. Just like the
leadership role I have at this institution, it doesn’t work unless
the troops make it work. This consolidation is not going to work
unless the community itself is behind it. I can’t drag them into
it. They’ve got to arrive at this on their own, and it has to
be supported by all factions.
My understanding is that this is about the third occurrence. From
what I’m told, it comes up every few years. People ask, “Why do
we got two separate colleges here?”
Please help me in not having it seem to the reader that I’m the
one who wants to carry the day. I really think this needs to be
a broad-based discussion. And decisions will have to be made about
leadership, and all of that. I don’t want it to appear to be a
vested interest in any way. It’s not because Shelby State’s in
trouble, it’s not because we need to be taken over by anybody
else. It’s none of that. What it is, is taking a look at how we
define our institutions and how we best serve our community. If
the final result is that we need to bring us [Shelby State and
State Tech together] to do that, I’m open for that. In fact, I
would like that. But I don’t want it to be Amann’s plan. It’s
not my call. It’s really the Tennessee Board of Regents’ responsibility
to define our institutions. n
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