CITY OF HAYS

The Union Pacific Railroad will have two tie crews coming in to replace ties on the railroad.

One crew began work Fri., Dec. 3, at the Ash Street Railroad Crossing and continue east and on Monday December 5th, 2016 will start at 150th Street (near Yocemento) and work east to Ash Street. This job is planned to be completed by December 8th, 2016.

They will have another crew working at the train crossings at Commerce Parkway, Main Street, Elm Street and Ash Street beginning Friday, Dec. 9.

While they are working train traffic will be shut down. This could lead to 5-10 minute delays at the crossings. They will have flaggers at the crossing when it is necessary to temporarily shut down traffic.

Train traffic and signals will operate from the time they end work each day until they start on the next.

DHDC

The Downtown Hays Development Corporation on Monday announced the winners of the annual FrostFest Illuminated Parade, which had more than 40 entries.

The parade, presented by Eagle Communications and sponsored by Bob Schwarz Financial, took place Sunday on The Bricks in Downtown Hays.

This year’s parade theme was “A Storybook Christmas” and parade entries were judged on use of theme, lighting and creativity. This was the seventh year for the Nex-Tech Wireless People’s Choice award, which was voted on by parade goers via text message. Over 450 votes were received.

The 2016 FrostFest Parade winners are:

Nex-Tech Wireless People’s Choice:
1st place – O’Loughlin PTA, 2nd place – Rejuvenations, 3rd place – Bethesda Place

Animals:
1st place – Kansas Western Horseman’s Association, 2nd place – Doug Mermis, 3rd place – Fort Wallace Memorial Association

Business:
1st place – Carrico Implement, 2nd place – Rejuvenations, 3rd place (tie) – Elements of Massage and Dave Staab Tire and Service

Religious:
1st place – Bethesda Place, 2nd place – Trinity Lutheran Church, 3rd place – Christian Motorcycle Association

Schools:
1st Place – NCK-Technical College, 2nd Place – O’loughlin PTA

Other:
1st Place – Hays Public Library, 2nd Place – Pay It Forward, 3rd Place – Donna Fleishacker’s Christmas Buggy

The theme for the 2017 parade will be “St. Nicks on The Bricks.” It was submitted last year by Travis Grizzell during the annual FrostFest Theme Contest. Grizzell will be asked to serve as next year’s grand marshal.

By GARRETT SAGER
Hays Post

Frost Fest, the annual downtown celebration to kick off the Christmas season, will be Saturday and Sunday with a tree lighting, illuminated parade and a weekend of shopping deals.

The annual tree lighting event will be at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Union Pacific Station, 10th and Main, with carriage rides available starting at 5 p.m.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus will arrive at 5:45 p.m. by carriage, according to Sara Bloom, executive director of Downtown Hays Development Corp.

Mayor Shaun Musil will speak at 6 p.m. with the lighting of the tree to follow.

Breathe Coffee House will supply free hot chocolate and coffee to those in attendance all night.

Sunday is the highly anticipated illuminated parade, which is a huge celebration for the city of Hays and northwest Kansas. The parade itself has been featured several magazines, Bloom said.

The parade will start at 6 p.m. and has 45 different entries.

“It’s a good-sized parade with lots of animal entries, businesses, school, religious groups. You name it, we have lots of different entries,” Bloom said.

Several downtown businesses will be selling items such as coffee, hot chocolate, and hand crafted items during the parade.

The city of Hays announced Main Street will begin to be shut down at noon, requesting residents to mind the cones for safety purposes.

Held in conjunction with Frost Fest this year is Christmas Gifts on the Bricks, which is an event to encourage people to shop local.

“Whenever we can promote shopping local and shopping downtown, we do it. So we are going to utilize the mass of people that come in for Frost Fest to say thank you for coming in,” Bloom said.

Seventeen downtown businesses will participate in the Christmas Gifts on the Bricks. To see a full list of the participants, visit the Bricks in Downtown Hays Facebook page.

According to Bloom, when shoppers spend $100 or more at any of the participating businesses, they will receive $25 in Brick Bucks to spend at another qualifying business.

“You can get a lot of your Christmas shopping done in downtown Hays this way,” Bloom said.

Click HERE for more information on Frost Fest and downtown Hays.

By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

A Hays man facing charges in connection with the theft of an ATM in Hays had his request to attend an inpatient facility denied Wednesday in Ellis County District Court.

Assistant County Attorney Christopher Lyon said Stelieh Jordan Stegmeier was charged Nov. 9 with three felonies — non-residential burglary, criminal damage to property and theft — in connection with the March 22 theft of an ATM from Cerv’s convenience store, 2722 Hall.

According to police, at 1:30 a.m. March 22, someone broke a window out on the east side of the store, wrapped a chain around the ATM and used a vehicle to break the machine free from the floor.

Surveillance video of the March Cerv’s robbery

At Wednesday’s hearing, Stegmeier’s lawyer, Olavee Raub, submitted a motion to allow Stegmeier to attend an inpatient treatment facility in Winfield — Preferred Family Healthcare. Raub said Stegmeier has a history of drug use and has an admitted substance abuse problem.
RELATED: Hays man accused in ATM theft also will stand trial for garage burglary, truck theft

Lyon argued that, because Stegmeier is facing 176 month in prison if convicted, the state did not agree with the recommendation that he be allowed to attend the facility. Lyon said state and county attorney staff members were not aware of the facility, but they were told patients in the program were allowed to walk around and have a number of freedoms while in the program. The doors only locked on the outside, according to Lyon.

According to Lyon, Stegmeier allegedly has been involved in a number of other theft cases and could be facing more charges.

He added the best treatment for Stegemeier, who has been in the Ellis County jail since July, is to “stay supervised in the Ellis County jail.”

“My client has every motive” to be successful, argued Raub, and she said he has not ran from his problems.

District Judge Blake Bittel denied the motion because of the substantial charges Stegmeier is facing and potential jail time.

Bittel added he is not opposed to inpatient care but wanted more oversight over a person serving time in the facility.

Raub can file the motion again, Bittel said, if the facility can provide more information on the progress of the patient.

Lyon said the case is still in the discovery phase and the charges are merely an accusation, noting Stegmeier is innocent until proven guilty.

By GARRETT SAGER
Hays Post

The first in a series of stories examining the change of leadership at Fort Hays State University.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, an abrupt change in the leadership of Fort Hays State University occurred, as Dr. Mirta M. Martin announced her resignation from the office of president via an email to faculty, staff and students.

The news sent shockwaves through the community and FHSU families both near and far, as many were surprised by the announcement of Martin’s resignation, in which she cited “personal reasons.”

But, with discontent swirling on the campus in recent months, some saw the move as a foregone conclusion.

“I knew it was inevitable. But still, when it actually happened, it was unexpected,” said Carl Miller, FHSU Faculty Senate president and associate professor in the philosophy department.

Miller said he was almost certain that Martin’s presidency would not survive the events of recent months, but nobody anticipated a change would come this soon. Miller headed up a months-long internal investigation into the presidency, publicly speaking about that probe during a Kansas Board of Regents meeting on the FHSU campus earlier this month.

“I thought it was possible she would leave over the semester break, but the most likely scenario (was) her leaving at the end of the academic year,” Miller said.

A member of the Kansas Board of Regents reportedly was scheduled to be on the FHSU campus Monday for a meeting with Martin, but after her resignation, that meeting was canceled. A press release issued by the KBOR the day of the resignation offered no reason for Martin’s departure, but thanked Martin for her commitment to Fort Hays State.

According to Breeze Richardson, director of communications for the Regents, “the board does not anticipate making additional comments regarding this matter.”

Martin will serve as a consultant to the university. However, with Martin vacating her FHSU residence and relocating to her family in the Virginia area, it remains unclear the extent of those consulting duties.

Richardson said Martin will continue in the consulting role through June 30.

There is debate on the FHSU campus whether Martin’s departure was forced by the Regents, an idea Miller disputes.

“(The) Board of Regents tends to keep these things pretty quiet,” Miller said. “The Board of Regents is very conservative and does not force people out unless there is good reason. My best guess is she saw the writing on the wall and realized this was not a battle she was going to win.”

Among those who believe the KBOR laid down an unjust ruling in an untimely fashion was Yuri Yerastov, FHSU Faculty Senate secretary and assistant professor of linguistics.

“The resignation came the day before Thanksgiving, which is an indication that the resignation was forced,” Yerastov said. “I believe she was forced out. She seemed to be someone who would fight to the end for the right causes, but I believe that the Kansas Board of Regents and Carl Miller, the Faculty Senate president, forced her to resign.”

Yerastov said he has spoken with Martin since her resignation and said she is “heartbroken” over the situation. Yerastov blamed Miller for giving the KBOR misguided information that did not tell the whole story.

“Many of the criticisms were generalizations without any evidence supporting facts,” Yerastov said.

Yerastov points to one particular situation in which Miller presented to the Faculty Senate a letter from an unidentified alumnus from the Kansas City area that detailed 14 allegations against Martin.

Yerastov claims the document itself has never been seen by anyone other than Miller. He said faculty members have been asked to simply believe what Miller has said was true.

“Carl Miller would say, ‘If you knew what I knew about this document, then you would realize this is the right thing to do right now,'” Yerastov said. “That is not right logic to me.”

Yerastov strongly believes this was Miller’s way of ousting Martin at an improper time.

While Miller does not have the power to dismiss a president, but Miller did offer the KBOR the following during the Faculty Senate meeting in November:

“So my goal in doing these things is not to force Dr. Martin to resign. My goal in doing all of this is to give you all the evidence so that you force her to do so,” he said at the meeting earlier this month.

“My goal was to gather the evidence and present it in a way to be compelling to the university community, the Board of Regents, and to the administration,” Miller told Hays Post this week.

Yerastov also disputed one of the more public complaints against Martin — a letter signed by 100 faculty and staff members.

Miller delivered that letter, which outlined claims made by a number of faculty and staff members, to the Regents. The letter included allegations of “speaking repeatedly with heightened emotion, only supported by anecdote; a(n) impulsive attitude towards faculty members; threats to job security of faculty and staff if they failed to support her plans for the university; emotionally driven decisions on personnel and programs; cronyism in hiring practices; loss of autonomy and creativity; lying and backtracking of previously made comments; and lying about the financial situation at Fort Hays State University.“

Yerastov was quick to question those claims, saying he never personally witnessed such behavior from Martin. Instead, he pointed to the potential of sexism and racism playing a role in an anti-Martin crusade.

“(Being emotional and impulsive) are interesting accusations,” Yerastov said. “It’s a very common stereotype to think of women as emotional, and it is further a very common stereotype to think of Hispanics as being impulsive. What I see here is the voicing of deeply entrenched stereotypes. People did not like having a Hispanic woman from the beginning. I believe many of those accusations stem from a deep-seated racism and sexism. … She was never given a chance.”

Miller denied racism or sexism were factors in the investigation into Martin, the university’s first female president as well as the first Hispanic president in the Regents system.

“Those that say we held some ill will toward her because she was a woman or Hispanic are simply misinformed and wrong and I cannot believe those accusations would exist and hold no validity,” Miller said. “A lot of information was gathered, enough to be alarmed. It wasn’t that anyone was opposed to her because she was Hispanic or a woman. This was simply to discover the truth.”

In fact, Miller said he was excited about the hire of Martin, because it brought in a breath of fresh air.

“All the people that I have worked with were excited about her arrival, wished her well and had high hopes for the future,” he said.

But Yerastov said he has personally witnessed sexist comments directed at Martin while she was present in the room at both Faculty Senate meetings and American Association of University Professors (AAUP) union meetings.

Yerastov paraphrased a quote from an AAUP bargaining unit member that he said came out of a two-plus-hour meeting with Faculty Senate members, Martin and AAUP bargaining unit members.

“The first reason we cannot trust Dr. Martin is that her husband does not live with her,” Yerastov claimed the bargaining member said.

“We live in the 21st century,” Yerastov said. “It is beyond sexist to make statements like that and is not even legal.”

Miller denies hearing sexist comments made about Martin.

Yerastov pointed to an institutional racism on campus, noting said he has heard anecdotes of a Hispanic provost in the 1990s being mocked for his English-speaking skills and harassed.

“This is the same playbook that is very similar to what we have observed with Dr. Martin,” Yerastov said.

Looking into President Martin
Prior to opening his investigation into Martin, Miller said he had nothing but pleasant interactions with Martin.

“When I began this process two months ago, I was under the assumption that everything she said was true, that she was a good manager, and that she was treating people with respect because my encounters with her, she was very polite with me and I assumed she was that way across the board with everybody,” Miller said.

Most of the faculty, he said, had a similar perspective because they were unaware of what happens behind closed doors and at meetings. But once they began collecting the stories and corroborating those stories from multiple people, Miller said real issues started to appear.

“From the beginning, we encouraged people to write to the Kansas Board of Regents,” he said.

Yerastov still believes the truth has not been told and that it was a small group of faculty members who shared their grievances and won — a contention Miller disputed.

“It wasn’t just a few people that were disgruntled. There was more than enough evidence given to us and corroborated by others to back up the claims to which we knew there was an issue,” Miller said.

Miller said many factors come into play when trying to grasp the complete story of Martin’s departure and the players involved.

There are public things on which Miller is free to comment, he said, such as how the financial statements that show administration spending has increased by $1 million a year. That increase, he alleges, is largely due to Martin hiring former colleagues, creating positions for them and using her position to get her “friends” around her.

However, a lot of the documentation is based upon a person’s willingness to come forward, which is a challenge, Miller said.

“One of the biggest challenges is that the stuff we know to be true we cannot share publicly because it may identify someone who is nontenured or people in positions from which they may be removed,” Miller said, adding that while the information is not public, it is in the hands of the Regents. “We’re not making any of these claims up. The Kansas Board of Regents are in possession of everything, so if there was pressure from them, it was because of all the information they have in their possession.”

Evidence had been gathered over the last three months, and even started before Miller opened up his own investigation, he said.

“Prior to my own investigation being opened up, an FHSU alumnus wrote a letter to the Board of Regents, detailing 14 separate instances of mismanagement and abuse of power,” he said.

While Miller said he was able to find sufficient evidence of lack of leadership and unprofessional acts by Martin in the two months, he said it was actually the act of an alumnus that sparked the Regents’ own look into the situation at FHSU.

He said the document included a list of people who could verify the allegations. Miller declined to provide a copy of the letter, citing the wishes of its author.

Miller said the KBOR hired a lawyer and began contacting the people listed in the document and, according to Miller, they were able to verify through those sources a number of items on the list from the alumnus.

“So, really, the Board of Regents have been looking into this long before we even began looking into it,” he said.

According to Miller, he did not begin looking into Martin until faculty members asked him to look into a proposal regarding caps and overloads.

A course cap is the limit of students that can be in a single class. The FHSU administration had floated a loose proposal that would, if implemented, raise the cap sizes, which would lead to a larger student-to-faculty ratio.

Overload courses are classes taught by professors outside of their contract with universities, which serves as additional income for faculty members.

Martin requested that overloads be limited, and instead, give those classes to adjunct professors making less money than faculty.

Martin’s administration listed three reasons why limits on overload classes were needed, Miller said: to save money, save jobs and to be a good steward of state resources.

At the request of his peers, Miller began looking into the caps and overload proposal and claims he found misinformation given out by the administration, claims that were untrue and arguments that did not hold up under scrutiny.

While the proposal was meant as a way to save money, Miller said no research or calculations had actually been done by the administration. After the calculations were completed by the Faculty Senate, Miller said the university would only save about $1,000 per overload class.

Miller interpreted the “save jobs” portion of the justification as a veiled threat that cutbacks would be made if the change wasn’t, noting Mike Barnett, FHSU Vice President of Administration and Finance, has said the change it is not necessary to save jobs.

Yerastov claims this is more misguided information by Miller and that it was more a presentation of a possible idea rather than trying to implement the caps and overloads policy right away.

However, in a recent meeting, several faculty members claimed Martin did indeed speak of this policy change happening as soon as January. According to Miller, it was described more as an edict that the policy would be implemented in January.

Miller also alleged there had been several reported instances of Martin backtracking on comments, which caused him to begin to ask new questions.

“If this is true, in this case, then is it possibly true in other things that we believe? So then we began digging deeper,” Miller said.

He began soliciting information from several department chairs throughout the university, faculty members would slide papers under his office door of lists of information, a whole department gave him a list of 19 different things to look into, a faculty member wrote an 11-page summary detailing grievances — and then Miller started compiling his own list, which was four pages with 45 different items.

“We had emails, signed documents, signed statements and financial ledgers, so, in the end, we concluded that there was no doubt that this stuff was happening, that it was real, and that the university would be better off if that type of leadership was not here,” Miller said.

The survey
In October, Dr. Gary Brinker, who acted as principal investigator for the Faculty Senate, developed a survey to be sent out to the faculty that covered university policies as well as class caps and overloads. Brinker serves as director of the Docking Institute, but was serving in his capacity as Senator when he developed the survey. (Story clarified, 12/1/16)

While questions arose about how the information gathered in that survey was presented to faculty and the Regents, details are unlikely to be made public.

The survey has since been determined by an internal Institutional Review Board to have had a conflict of interest. The IRB has placed a gag order on the survey, which means the data contained therein likely will never become public and those involved are prohibited from discussing it.

Divided campus
Martin’s departure has left deep divisions in its wake.

“It is true the campus is divided, and somehow we need to overcome that,” said Yerastov.

Miller said the university will be fine, and that FHSU will be able to recover from the turmoil that has enveloped the campus in recent months.

“We’ll strengthen our relationships and mend the friendships that were broken,” Miller said.

What is next?
Barnett will act as the university’s acting president until the KBOR can name an interim president. Barnett, who grew up in Atwood and earned his bachelor’s degree from FHSU in 1979, joined the university in 2004.

“Most of us are excited that Mr. Barnett is the acting president, and we think he’ll be a steady hand at the wheel in this time of transition,” Miller said.

KBOR will next meet Dec. 14 in Topeka, with an interim president possibly being named. In recent transitions in Kansas, the person chosen as the interim will serve for a year while the KBOR conducts a national search to fill the position.

Martin, whose cellphone and email were shut down almost immediately after the announcement, was unable to be reached for comment.

On Nov. 22, Ellis High School inducted 16 juniors and nine seniors into the local chapter of the National Honor Society. Requirements to get into NHS are a 3.5 GPA, leadership in seven organizations within the school or community, accumulation of 40 hours of community service, and a positive character evaluation by teachers.

The following students were inducted into the National Honor Society:

Seniors: Lindsay Augustine, Kassi Brown, Allie Frickey, Jessica Gamez, Dalton Hensley, Ashton Johnson, Derek Pfeifer, Lexie Rome and Joshua Smith.
Juniors: Blakely Bittel, Kelsey Brack, Abby Burton, Samantha Crawford, Kaylyn Foster, Kyrsten Frickey, Aiden Johnson, Drew Keller, Jaylinn Pfeifer, Haley Reiter, Sierra Schmidt, Natalie Schoenberger, Geoffrey Soneson, Dawson Sproul, Ali Weber and Shelby Werth.

Back Row (L to R): *Lindsay Augustine, daughter of Tim and Lori Augustine; Ali Weber, daughter of Curtis and Mary Kay Weber; Haley Reiter, daughter of Allan and Lisa Reiter; Natalie Schoenberger, daughter of David and Audrey Schoenberger; Kaylyn Foster, daughter of Dawn Kinderknecht; Aiden Johnson, daughter of Kip Johnson and Celeste Johnson; Abby Burton, daughter of Corey and Amy Burton; and Kelsey Brack, daughter of Tiffany Lehman.
Middle Row (L to R): *Ashton Johnson, daughter of Kip Johnson and Celeste Johnson; *Lexie Rome, daughter of James and Sandra Rome; *Jessica Gamez, daughter of Domingo and Martha Gamez; *Allie Frickey, daughter of Brad and Stacy Frickey; Shelby Werth, daughter of Rodney and Cristi Werth; Jaylinn Pfeifer, daughter of Sheldon and April Pfeifer; Sierra Schmidt, daughter of Dick and Shannon Schmidt; Kyrsten Frickey, daughter of Brian and Michelle Frickey; Blakely Bittel, daughter of Blake Bittel and Kristi Bittel; Kassi Brown, daughter of Jason and Nanette Brown; and Samantha Crawford, daughter of George Crawford and Kimberly Andries.
Front Row (L to R): Geoffrey Soneson, son of Rob and Donna Soneson; Joshua Smith, son of Steven and Susan Smith; Dawson Sproul, son of Chad and Jennifer Sproul; *Derek Pfeifer, son of David and LuAnn Pfeifer; *Dalton Hensley, son of Kent and Shelly Hensley; and Drew Keller, son of Michael and Vanessa Keller.

*denotes second year member

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Bosselman Energy announced Monday it will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new facility in Plainville.

Bosselman Energy has relocated its Plainville facility to 200 North East Sixth Street. The facility includes a 12,500-square-foot building with a shop, a warehouse and office plus seven bulk fuel storage tanks that hold over 100,000 gallons of refined petroleum products.

The entire community is invited to the grand opening celebration to enjoy sandwiches and refreshments.

The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 9.

“This opening is bittersweet, as we announce the retirement of Jeff Turnbull and the promotion of Quentin Meyers to the position of general manager. Jeff was kind enough to stay on with us through this process. He was planning to retire in October but, fortunately for us, he stuck around a little longer to complete the project,” said Fred Bosselman, CEO of Bosselman Energy.

Much like the location on West Mill Street, Bosselman Energy will continue to operate 24-hour credit card fuel dispensers, but the company has made some improvements. Those include offering Diesel Exhaust Fluid, as well as upgrading the credit card readers with chip-reading technology to provide extra consumer protection. The card readers accept all major credit cards and fleet cards. There are dispensers for gasoline, clear diesel, red diesel and Diesel Exhaust Fluid.

“We had really outgrown our former facility; we needed the space and got the opportunity to update everything in this move,” Bosselman said.

The new location has more room for trucks to navigate the plant. The company purchased the land in 2015 with the intention of developing a new site. The company said is a news release it hopes the new facility will jumpstart development in the area.

The facility includes a 12,500-square-foot warehouse with an in ground dock that will allow unloading with forklifts to make handling lubricants and deliveries easier and safer, a drive through truck wash bay, and 2,000 square foot of offices on 5 acres of land.

The fuel storage and loading facility is state-of-the art with bottom loading equipment, complete with overfill protection to ensure employee safety by eliminating the need for drivers to climb on top of the truck. This facility can hold up to 100,000 gallons of fuel with 6-12,000 gallon fuel tanks, and 1-30,000 gallon propane tank.

Werner Welding and Construction LLC out of Codell and Westhusing’s out of Stockton were the main contractors on the project.

“It’s been great working with these companies,” Turnbull said.

RUSSELL — Two people were injured in an accident just before 9 a.m. Monday in Russell County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Lexus BTM driven by Abdulaziz A. Alysulaymi, 27, Los Angeles, CA., was eastbound on Interstate 70 four miles west of Russell.

The vehicle drove onto the right hand shoulder.

The right front corner of the Lexus hit the corner of a disabled semi, which was legally parked on Interstate 70 and had its emergency flashers on and reflective triangles deployed.

Upon impact, the right corner of the car was removed and the car went under the trailer and broke the axle away from the semi’s trailer.

The vehicle then crossed eastbound lanes of Interstate 70, turned south, and came to rest against the eastbound guardrail in the eastbound lane.

A passenger in the Lexus — Ahmed J. Sindi, 23, Warrensburg, Mo. — was laying down in the back seat and was ejected.

EagleMed flew him to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

Alysulaymi was transported to Russell Regional Hospital.

The semi driver — Edward P. McPhillips, 61, California City, Calif. — was in the driver’s seat waiting for a wrecker, when the accident occurred. He was not injured.

Sindi was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

The accident caused a portion of eastbound I-70 to be closed down temporarily Monday morning.

Fort Hays State University President Mirta M. Martin announced her resignation as president of the university, effective immediately.

Martin, who was named the ninth president of FHSU in 2014, made the announcement in an email to students, faculty and staff Wednesday afternoon.

Mike Barnett, FHSU vice president for administration and finance, will serve as the university’s acting president until the Kansas Board of Regents can select an interim. The Regents are next scheduled to meet Dec. 14 and 15 in Topeka. Barnett, who grew up in Atwood and earned his bachelor’s degree from FHSU in 1979, joined the university in 2004.

“The Board thanks Dr. Martin for the commitment she has made to Fort Hays State University, and offers our best wishes for her future endeavors,” Zoe F. Newton, Regents chair said in a statement. “We are grateful for the contributions she has made to the higher education system in Kansas.”

The following letter was distributed to FHSU students, faculty and staff Wednesday afternoon. The university is preparing an official statement on the announcement. Check Hays Post for details as they become available.

Dear Fort Hays State University community,

I am writing to inform you that as of today, Wednesday, November 23, 2016, I am stepping down for personal reasons from the position of President at Fort Hays State University. As called upon, I will serve as the Consultant to the President. As of this writing, Mike Barnett, FHSU Vice President for Administration and Finance, will serve as the university’s Acting President until the Kansas Board of Regents can name an Interim.

There are so many things about Fort Hays State University that I have been honored to take part in, and so many opportunities for this university to continue to grow and be successful.

I will offer my full support to transition this historic institution to new leadership, and remain deeply appreciative of the opportunity I was given to make contributions to the higher education system here in Kansas.

Wishing you all the best,

M3

Mirta M. Martin, Ph.D.
President
Fort Hays State University

———–

Martin was appointed the ninth president of FHSU in 2014.