Floyd begins tenure as president

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Closing a University of Missouri campus was never considered a viable way to deal with budget cuts, new University of Missouri President Elson Floyd said Monday.

"I don't think it ever was on the table," Floyd said during a news conference Monday, his first day as chief executive of the four-campus system. "I think it was an example of the magnitude of the cuts being faced by the university."

Floyd's predecessor, Manuel Pacheco, said last summer that closing one of four campuses was an option if the state made further cuts to the University of Missouri's appropriations. Floyd, however, downplayed a possible closing.

"We are one university with four campuses," he said.

Floyd, 46, was hired by the University of Missouri Board of Curators in November. He had spent the last four years as president of Western Michigan University.

Floyd succeeds Pacheco, who retired last week after five years as the University of Missouri's president.