MIRACLE: MUSIC TEACHER ONE MOMENT, COLLEGE PRESIDENT THE NEXT

How Larry Stanley became college president when he had absolutely no qualifications for the position

Dr. Beth Lewis, who became College of the Mainland president on January 1, 2013, has recommended that political science professor David Michael Smith (aka Red David) be fired. (‘College of the Mainland President Recommends Marxist Professor Be Fired’ / BGB May 25, 2013)

On Wednesday, I attended the Board of Trustees meeting at the college. The last time I attend a COM trustee meeting was in 2002 when several civic leaders and I tried to keep Red Davis from getting tenured. Our pleas fell on deaf ears and now, 11 years later, they want to fire the guy they tenured.

When I approached the administration building Wednesday, I observed a demonstration of about a dozen students led by Red David’s wife. They were carrying professionally made signs in support of her husband. The demonstrators, as well as former COM students, addressed the Board, with most claiming that the effort to fire Red David constituted a violation of his First Amendment right of free speech.

Now the board is in a quandary. Beth Lewis apparently has done an outstanding job since she became president at the beginning of the year. If the Board approves Red David’s firing, he will certainly sue the college. He’s already done that twice and both times the college settled with him. If the trustees vote not to fire Red David they will by all appearances be saying they have no confidence in Dr. Lewis.

Red David began his teaching career at COM in 1998. One would have to go back 15 years to see how he got hired in the first place. Red David was the beneficiary of a miracle that occurred in 1983, a miracle that I can only describe as: Music Teacher One Moment, College President The Next.

In the early years of COM, there were several avowed Marxists on the faculty and they were very influential with the college administration and the Board of Trustees. The leader of that group was Larry Smith, a social sciences instructor. When a new president locked horns with the Marxists, he ended up getting fired because Larry was tight as the bark on a tree with Roy Engelke, chairman of the college's Board of Trustees. And now comes proof that miracles really do happen.

In 1983, Larry Stanley was a music teacher at the college. He had previously been chairman of the fine arts department. Roy Engelke personally contacted me and asked me what I thought of Larry Stanley being made president.

Now before going any further, I must explain why Engelke would seek out my opinion. Until the outbreak of the first Iraq War, Larry Smith and I had been close friends, despite our ideological differences. Because of my friendship with Smith, Engelke also considered me his friend.

Anyhow, Engelke told me that he had offered the job to Larry Smith. He said that Larry had turned down the job offer because he thought he was too controversial. (Larry Smith had, on several occasions, riled up some of Galveston County’s civic leaders.)

Engelke said he then asked Larry who he would recommend as president. Smith then recommended Larry Stanley.

And that’s how, in 1983, Stanley became COM president. Engelke persuaded the Board of Trustees to appoint Stanley president, thereby bypassing the standard college and university practice of a nationwide search for qualified presidential candidates.

Stanley was not in any way qualified to be president – he had no executive experience whatsoever, having served only as chairman of the COM fine arts department.

All during Stanley’s term in office, it was common knowledge that Larry Smith was the de facto president. The joke among COM employees was that Stanley wouldn’t take a leak without Larry Smith’s permission.

Here’s an example:

__The first Iraq War was vociferously opposed by Larry Smith and his fellow travelers. Shortly after the war started in 1990, Stanley scheduled a meeting of all COM employees. Because of the war, I went up to Staley before the meeting and asked him to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. When he refused, I asked him to let me do it. With a firm ‘no’ he added, “This is not the place for that! I know what this is about and I’m not going to let you upset Larry Smith. Now sit down!” Translation: I wouldn’t be able to get Larry Smith's permission because he refuses to pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

Stanley’s appointment as president, when he had absolutely no qualifications for such an important position, was truly a miracle. And that’s how in 1998, two years before Larry Stanley retired, Red David was hired by de facto president Larry Smith.