CL, 2/13/07


http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070213/OPINION01/702130343/1008/OPINION

The 'W': Alumni dispute sets a bad precedent

The ongoing dispute between Mississippi University for Women President Claudia Limbert and members of the W's alumni association has led to bad blood between factions of the Columbus institution....

...administration seized computer hard drives in the alumni association offices and later released e-mails...

...has to be a better way to run a railroad...

-- Edited by info at 06:28, 2007-02-13

Commercial Dispatch, 2/13/07

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/02/13/local_news/local02.txt

Faculty urge MUW to return to negotiations

By John Mott Coffey
jcoffey523@aol.com
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 10:51 AM CST

JACKSON - Mississippi University for Women faculty members are urging university President Claudia Limbert to resolve her differences with alumni leaders and not sever ties with them....

...The dispute between Limbert and alumni leaders is hurting MUW's reputation, according to the Faculty Senate.

“The relationship is generating adverse publicity for MUW. ... The relationship negatively affects recruitment and retention of faculty and students,” states its resolution....

...Limbert is being asked to put aside past incidents of alumni bucking her and the MUW Foundation and to focus on reconciliation efforts made in the past year.

However, she says a small circle of dissidents against her still control the alumni association and must be purged. They stand in the way of having “a healthy and participatory alumni association,” she said....

...Noting they're deadlocked in disagreement, Limbert said it's pointless to try to negotiate with MUWAA leaders on how the university and association will be affiliated....


...MUWAA leaders' attempt to have Limbert fired is cited as another reason for MUW ridding itself of the current alumni group and starting a new one.

However, MUWAA President Betty Lou Jones said the group has not tried to push Limbert out.

“There has never been an official act by The Mississippi University for Women Alumnae Association to ‘oust' a president. Individual members of any group have the right to exercise ‘freedom of speech' and to express their personal opinions,” Jones said....

Commercial Dispatch, 2/14/07

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/02/14/local_news/local02.txt

Alums rally at Capitol, urge talks

By John Mott Coffey
jcoffey523@aol.com
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 11:46 AM CST

JACKSON - Mississippi University for Women alumni said they hope the governor, legislators and the university's governing board will push school MUW President Claudia Limbert back to the negotiating table and halt her plans to disfranchise the current alumni association.

An estimated 100 “W” graduates gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday to meet with legislators and make their case against Mississippi University for Women's plans to end its 117-year-old affiliation with the association.

Limbert plans to create a new alumni organization allied with her.

The state Board of Institutions of Higher Learning is meeting today and Thursday, but it's not getting involved in the dispute, said spokesperson Annie Mitchell. IHL has said Limbert is in charge of MUW's affiliation with the alumni association.

However, “the IHL board is eventually going to have to step in, and hopefully this will get their attention,” MUW Alumni Association President Betty Lou Jones said after she and her followers rallied at the Capitol. ...

Commercial Dispatch, 2/15/07

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/02/15/local_news/local03.txt

MUW posts report, talks with IHL of lawsuit possibility

By John Mott Coffey
jcoffey523@aol.com
Thursday, February 15, 2007 11:13 AM CST

JACKSON - Mississippi University for Women's governing board met in private Wednesday with MUW President Claudia Limbert and discussed potential litigation sparked by her feud with alumni.

“The alumni association has on occasion talked about filing a lawsuit,” said university counsel Perry Sansing.

The MUW Alumnae Association is trying to persuade Limbert not to sever ties with it as she moves to create a new group of MUW alums allied with her.

In other developments Wednesday, MUW Public Affairs Director Anika Perkins sent faculty and staff a link to a 19-page report posted on the university Web site. The report, drafted by Sansing, detailed events leading up to the disassociation decision....

...Meredith and the board said they aren't intervening. It's an in-house squabble that doesn't rise to the level of needing state board action, they said....

...The IHL board is holding its monthly two-day meeting.

After concluding its open session Wednesday, the board ordered the public out so it could meet in private to discuss prospective litigation against MUW....

...The MUW Faculty Senate on Friday passed a resolution urging Limbert to reach an agreement with the current alumni association.

The senate also urged Limbert against “broad public dissemination of e-mails and other evidence related to this issue” and had recommended distribution of only hard copies for review by members of the university community.

The report posted by the administration via Internet link Wednesday, titled “Report on Decision Concerning Mississippi University for Women Alumnae Association,” included excerpts from e-mails confiscated from MUW alumni office computers last year....

...This is not the first time the IHL board and commissioner have been asked to mediate bickering between an MUW president and university faction. A feud between then-MUW President Clyda Rent and the faculty persisted for two years. After earlier declaring it a campus matter, the IHL board and then-commissioner Tom Layzell tried to help resolve the dispute. Rent in 2001 eventually resigned in frustration as the faculty friction continued....

http://www.ihl.state.ms.us/newsstory.asp?ID=458

IHL PRESS RELEASE
BOARD SUPPORTS MUW PRESIDENT CLAUDIA LIMBERT’S DECISION TO CREATE NEW STRUCTURE FOR ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Media Contact: Annie Mitchell
Phone Number: (601) 432-6493

2/15/2007 (Jackson, Miss. )

During its regular monthly meeting on February 14, 2007, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) publicly committed its support of Mississippi University for Women (MUW) President Claudia Limbert’s decision to create an MUW Alumni Association Advisory Committee to recommend a structure and governance system for a new MUW Alumni Association.

“The Board has been pleased with the positive momentum of the institution under President Limbert’s leadership,” said Board President Dr. D.E. Magee, Jr. “It is time all individuals refocus their efforts to support the primary mission of the Mississippi University for Women: the education of its students.”

For more information on the Mississippi University for Women’s Office of Alumni Relations, visit http://www.muw.edu/alumni/.

Commercial Dispatch, 2/16/07

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/02/16/local_news/local02.txt

IHL Board gives its support to Limbert's plans

By John Mott Coffey
jcoffey523@aol.com
Friday, February 16, 2007 11:22 AM CST

JACKSON - Mississippi University for Women President Claudia Limbert's bosses support her decision to get rid of the school's 117-year-old alumni association and create a new one she envisions will better support MUW....

...No vote was taken for the 12-member board backing Limbert, said media relations director Annie Mitchell. “However, the board expressed its full support for Dr. Limbert and brought her in to tell her so,” Mitchell said Thursday.

Magee had said Wednesday the fight between Limbert and the MUW Alumni Association is “breaking my heart,” but the board won't order Limbert to make peace with the alumni association....

..An alumni response to the Sansing-written report has been compiled by MUWAA parliamentarian Jimmie Moomaw and posted at http://www.muwalumni.com/pdf/Response_to_Sansing_report.pdf.

The report said criticism expressed by a few alumni leaders is no reason to sever ties with the whole association.

“Is it fair to disaffiliate the entire alumnae association because of the opinions of individual alumnae expressed in private e-mails written before the current (MUWAA) president was installed? ... No.”

“Is there any evidence that the issue of President Limbert's removal has ever been discussed much less voted on in an association meeting? ... No.”...

...“To be clear, Dr. Limbert fully expects that some alumni will disagree with her administrative decisions. However, an alumnae association led by persons actively conspiring with university employees to bring about the termination of two high-ranking university officials is not an association that serves the interests of the university,” Sansing wrote.

Limbert brought Rawles to MUW as a vice president for institutional advancement soon after she became MUW president in 2002. He later resigned in 2005 after behind-the-scenes allegations that he sexually harassed university employees.

University officials did not substantiate those allegations; however, the alumni report said Rawles' behavior was a problem and one of the reasons for their dissatisfaction with him. Alumni also complained about his performance as a fundraiser.

In Sansing's report citing evidence that alumni tried to have Limbert fired, alumna Lydia Quarles is quoted as saying she was told state Higher Education Commissioner Tom “Meredith made a deal with Limbert that he would recommend (a) 4-year contract renewal if she would find another job and/or utilize retirement options within 12 months.”

Soon after her contract was renewed in 2006, Limbert went to be interviewed for presidential posts at two universities in Massachusetts and Oklahoma. She didn't get the jobs.

Meredith denies making such a deal for Limbert to leave.

“The statement by Ms. Quarles is an inaccurate assertion - totally and completely false,” said Mitchell, spokesperson for Meredith and the IHL board.

Ricki Garrett was a first class member of the IHL and a real friend to USM. She understoood SFT from the beginning. If she says there is a problem with the MUW president, there is a problem. Unfortunately, SFT's pattern of running roughshod over people which has been unhindered by the IHL board seems to have cleared the way for such behavior by other presidents.

NE MS DJ, 2/19/07

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=237266&pub=1&div=News

LEESHA FAULKNER: We've come some distance, ladies, but not far enough


...But what lies beneath this veneer of growth and unity almost seems laughable.

University President Claudia Limbert doesn't like the old alumni association, so she's replacing it with a new one over the protestations of a "very vocal minority."

Did somebody just yell, "Cat fight?"...

...Why, yes the board is happy. How long has it wanted to merge MUW with Mississippi State University? The two might as well become one. They offer transferable classes, mixed libraries and other services....

Commercial Dispatch

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/03/01/local_news/local04.txt

House votes 120-0 urging Limbert back to table

By John Mott Coffey
jcoffey523@aol.com
Thursday, March 1, 2007 11:18 AM CST

JACKSON - The state House of Representatives voted 120-0 Wednesday to urge Mississippi University for Women President Claudia Limbert to make peace with the alumni association she plans to disown in a power dispute with its leaders.

“We're not condemning or giving bad marks to Dr. Limbert. ... We're just simply asking them to get back to the bargaining table and negotiate,” said Rep. Jeff Smith, D-Columbus....

Commercial Dispatch

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/03/11/local_news/local02.txt

MUW moving forward with new alumni association

By John Mott Coffey
jcoffey523@aol.com
Saturday, March 10, 2007 8:34 PM CST

Mississippi University for Women alumni last week began working to restructure their association as MUW President Claudia Limbert disowns the old alliance she alleges has undermined her and the school....

...Meanwhile, two MUW deans and other faculty members last week joined the large chorus against Limbert's steps to renounce the school's old alumni association and creating the new group aligned with her.

"The alumni association with its 117-year history is too important to be lost," states a published letter signed by the 47 MUW employees....

...the state Legislature voted 169-1 for a resolution, the MUW Faculty Senate passed a similar resolution and more than 500 MUW alumni have signed a petition....

...Among the 47 MUW faculty and staff members signing the letter in support of keeping the old MUWAA intact: college deans Shelia Adams and Anne Balazs and department chairs Michael Burger, William Biddy, Martin Hatton, Mark Bean, Robert Oyler, Maggie McClintock and Glenn Rhyne....

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/03/15/local_news/local02.txt

Commercial Dispatch, 3/15/07

MUW alumni ad says Limbert is being ‘vindictive'...

CL, 3/18/07

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/OPINION02/703180310/1009/OPINION

Limbert should talk with alumni leaders

...As the writer of Proverbs states: The wisest of women builds her house, but the foolish one with her own hands tears it down....

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/OPINION02/703180304/1009/OPINION

MUW's Limbert earns support for service

...When the College Board released its report this past fall, MUW was the only institution of the eight state-supported schools that did not have one academic program on probation.

It speaks volumes to me that the College Board has unanimously backed Dr. Limbert. I certainly do not think the board would support Dr. Limbert in her decisions if those decisions were not meritorious....

CL, 3/26/07

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070326/OPINION02/703260307/1009/OPINION

MUW 'heritage' cannot be stolen

In regard to MUW heritage, President Claudia Limbert is like a thief in the night....

...Fran Ledyard Ivy
MUW, Class of '37

CL, 3/27/07

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS/703270367/1001/NEWS

MUW names 12 members of interim alumni panel

Mississippi University for Women announced Monday its new interim alumni advisory panel....

...But some are unhappy with the picks. The group is stacked with "pro-Limbert" people, said Ricki Garrett of Clinton, a past president of the Alumni Association. "There's not a single person on there who represents the concerns of the Alumni Association."...