The grandchildren of Emporia State’s longest serving president, Thomas W. Butcher, say they were “shocked” by the recent dismissal of 33 faculty members and the cutting of many academic programs.
“I felt sick. Just sick about it,” said Betty Butcher Charpentier, a 1967 BSE graduate and granddaughter to the former president. She currently lives in Kansas City.
On Sept. 14, the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) passed a new policy that led to the layoffs of 33 faculty, regardless of tenure status and the announced discontinuance of multiple academic programs.
“I didn’t believe it at first,” said John Butcher, ESU bachelor of science in education graduate and brother to Betty who also resides in Kansas City. “I thought it was some misinformation or something but no.”
Gwen Larson, director of media relations, didn’t answer an email request for administration comment.
On Sept. 28, the university sent out an email to campus that said there will be reinvestments in academic programs announced throughout the year because “actions speak louder than words.”
“Our family has really been involved with the university for a long time and we’re just very concerned (about) what we’re seeing here,” John said.
Thomas Butcher was the eighth president of Kansas State Normal School (now ESU) from 1913-43, making him the longest serving president in the university’s history, according to the official ESU website.
Butcher received his undergraduate degree from KU in 1894 and his master’s degree from Harvard in 1904 before becoming president of Central Oklahoma State Normal School for two years before studying in Berlin for a year, according to the ESU website. He then returned to the United States to work as a superintendent in Oklahoma before serving as president of Kansas State Normal School.
While he was president, Welch Stadium, the sunken garden, Plumb Hall, the Memorial Union (built in memory of the 21 Emporia students who died in World War I), and more were built, according to the university archives online database.
Additionally, during his presidency, Kansas State Normal School became the first normal school the North Central Association recognized and accredited, according to the ESU website.
In 1929, a training school to allow students to gain experience was opened on campus and in 1954 it was renamed to Thomas W. Butcher Children’s School, according to the university archives online database. The building was torn down and a new Butcher school was built in 1961.
Betty studied in this building when it still stood and said it was “wonderful.”
“It was just the state of the art school to observe and student teach under,” Butcher Charpentier said. “They had these rooms where you could sit, and the students couldn’t see you, but you could look down and see everybody working.”
Now, the Butcher Education Center is scheduled for demolition in May. John said he has not heard whether the name will be honored on campus in another way once the building is gone.
The questions around the future of the Butcher name on campus aren’t the only things the Butchers are having a hard time understanding. They say the university is not being transparent in the reasons behind any of the recent decisions being made.
“One of the things that I’m really having a problem with (is) this is the lack of transparency,” John said. “And just being able to really follow what’s going on and (a lack of) data out to the public.”
Even the hiring of the new president, Ken Hush, was “unusual,” like the other “opaque” decisions, John said.
The search for the 18th president of ESU was a closed search with no finalists or any additional information about the candidates being announced.
“Usually they had all the candidates, a lot of times they (would) have public discussions that you could hear their answers to questions,” John said. “And this was just like, here’s your new president.”
Betty added that their mother, also an ESU alumna, who met their father on campus, used to go to all these discussions.
“This isn’t a private corporation,” John said. “This is a publicly owned institution by the taxpayers of the state and (for) it to be so quiet with no input is just it just doesn’t feel right.”
John said many alumni feel the same way he does and would even “fight if they knew what to do.”
A lot of people love the university, John said, and that the campus community “shouldn’t feel isolated.”