University President Bruce Speck hasn’t missed an opportunity lately to tell people Missouri Southern finished as a runner up for the Sen. Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization in 2004 and point out that Pittsburg State University was one of five winners this year.

At the Nov. 21 Board of Governors retreat and later with two Chart reporters, Speck referenced the PSU honor.

“Wow, now we’ve got a competitor in our backyard who, first of all, got the award we didn’t get, and now, that much further down the road, what does it mean to have an international mission?” Speck said to The Chart this week.

Using that type of logic, our football program should be shelved since it’s been beaten by PSU 15 straight times.

The obvious question is this: why would our president brag in every interview about Pittsburg State’s first-place award? Shouldn’t the administration be touting our programs instead?

If the administration doesn’t like the international mission, it should just say so. Don’t insult us with faulty logic.

We love our international/study abroad students and student-athletes all the same. We support our athletics teams, and we support the mission that makes our campus diverse. Imagine if we cut funding to athletics based on the teams’ won-loss records. They would scream bloody murder. With good cause.

If finishing as runner-up four years ago while PSU took first this year is a sign that Southern’s international mission is failing, then what about 300 faculty members and students who packed Cornell Auditorium this fall voicing support? And what about the Faculty Senate resolution supporting the mission?

Southern’s international mission has set us apart from other state colleges and universities. It originally helped garner much-needed additional appropriations. It was once featured on the front page of The Kansas City Star. Just sayin.’