John Jasinski, one of three candidates to become next president of Missouri State University, said Feb. 26 he was not kept on as president of Northwest Missouri State University because in 2015 he shut down a campus fraternity.
According to a news story that appeared in the St. Joseph News-Press in 2015, there had been investigations into two alleged sexual assaults at the TKE house in Maryville.
Jasinski spoke to a group of about 60 Springfield community leaders today at the Old Glass Place, 521 E St Louis St.
Richard Ollis, a former Springfield City Council member, asked Jasinski why, in his opinion, he was not retained after 13 years as president.
Jasinski, in his remarks, mentioned that he presided over the shutting down of two fraternities. In one of the two closings, he said, there was a fraternity member who was upset, graduated, joined the Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents and then led the movement to oust him.
The regent he apparently is talking about is Jason Klindt. Jasinski did not mention Klindt by name. The Hauxeda reached out to Klindt for comment via email, but did not hear back by publication deadline.
Jasinski became president at Northwest Missouri State University in 2009. His contract was not renewed in 2022. By all indications, his tenure at Northwest was marked by successes in enrollment, finances and fundraising.
His last day at Northwest was June 30, 2022, and his first day as MSU provost was July 5, 2022. He was hired initially as interim provost, and then promoted to provost.
‘I made a tough choice,' Jasinski says
“I kicked out two fraternities,” Jasinski said at the event in Springfield Feb. 26.
“I made a tough choice,” Jasinski said. “Those two fraternities were the largest at Northwest. They were the oldest and they gave more money than any other group.
“We had to make some tough choices. That's what leaders do, right?”
Jasinski said a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity later became a member of the Board of Regents.
Klindt is senior director of external affairs at Evergy, an electric company in Kansas City. He also was a spokesman for many years for Republican Congressman Sam Graves, of the Sixth District in northern Missouri.
Klindt earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree at Northwest.
The Maryville Forum, in a May 2022 story, reported that Pat Haar, a former chairman of the Northwest Board of Regents who left the board in 2019, spoke on behalf of Jasinski. He said Klindt was the man behind the plan to let Jasinski go.
In 2022, two regents proposed that Jasinski's contract be extended five years. Their motion was defeated on a 4-2 vote. Klindt and three other regents voted against extension.
The morning meeting of community leaders in Springfield was by invitation only. It was hosted by Brent Dunn, MSU vice president for university advancement.
Hauxeda CEO David Stoeffler was invited and recorded Jasinski's response to the question from Ollis.
The question would have been asked weeks ago, but MSU intervened and encouraged all three finalists — including Richard “Biff” Williams, former president of Utah Tech, and Roger Thompson, vice president for student services and enrollment management at the University of Oregon — to not talk to the media.
All three had agreed to be interviewed by the Hauxeda, but canceled after key MSU staff members advised them not to do so prior to their public appearances at the Missouri State University-West Plains campus and at the Plaster Student Union Theater in Springfield.
Two investigations into two alleged sexual assaults
Jasinski mentioned two fraternities in his talk. One was the Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter, which is the one connected to Klindt.
According to a Nov. 24, 2015 story in the Maryville Forum:
“Tuesday’s announcement comes after two separate criminal investigations into alleged sexual assaults, which reportedly took place at the TKE house, located at 555 West Ninth Street, during the past calendar year.
“The first incident occurred in March when Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice filed first- and second-degree felony rape charges against then 22-year-old Abraham Flores Acosta, who has since been booted from the fraternity.
‘The second incident took place over Halloween weekend when Maryville police investigated a similar incident and questioned a suspect. No arrests have been made.“
In July 2018, the university suspended a different fraternity, the Phi Sigma Kappa chapter. According to a July 13, 2018 story in the Nodaway News Leader:
“Northwest Missouri State University has suspended its Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity chapter for a period of two years, citing violations of the University’s policies against hazing and alcohol, among other risk management violations.“
