UMKC releases statement on Gov. Nixon’s call for inquiry

The University of Missouri-Kansas City released a statement Thursday in response to a letter Gov. Nixon has written calling for the state board of curators to examine rankings the business school has received. Here’s the statement in its entirety:

We completely agree with Gov. Nixon on all the key points in his letter to Mr. Downing:

• that the people of Missouri deserve to know that claims we make about our academic programs are founded on trustworthy, accurate information;
• that the issues raised by the Star’s article are fundamental to UMKC’s integrity;
• and that this situation calls for a thorough review of the promotion of the Bloch School and the studies and rankings on which that promotion has been based.

In particular, we agree with the statement by the governor that “such a study has not been conducted.” Indeed, it certainly has not been conducted by the Kansas City Star.

We have not violated the public trust; we say this with confidence, based on multiple reviews of these issues conducted in academic circles long before the Kansas City Star became involved – reviews that found these criticisms to be without merit. We contend that it is the newspaper’s one-sided reporting, and not the acclaim that our programs and faculty have earned, that is truly misleading. The newspaper chose to ignore the extensive evidence we have provided to them of both the previous investigations into these charges, and of the many highly regarded world-class programs at the Bloch School that are not connected to these complaints in any way.

We welcome a thorough, objective and unbiased review of this situation by independent, knowledgeable experts. If such an investigation is performed by people who both understand academic processes, and have no stake in the outcome, people will not have to take our word, or the newspaper’s; they will have a truly independent evaluation in which they can have confidence.

This story was originally published July 31, 2014 at 4:19 PM with the headline "UMKC releases statement on Gov. Nixon’s call for inquiry."