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Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
"My colleague Charles Nuckolls, of the University of Alabama, has put a brief and very pessimistic entry about USM on Liberty and Power: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/7571.html This is the third time (if memory serves) that Charles has blamed Thames' continued hold on power on Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer's willingness to accept the April 28 settlement. I don't think he is being fair to either of them, and I will say more about this on L and P in the near future. In the meantime, some of the participants here may want to leave comments on Charles' item, reminding him what FG and GS were up against. To comment on Liberty and Power (which now has an alias that's easier to remember, http://www.libertyandpower.com) you have to register and log in, so those who participate anonymously on this board may have to give it a pass. Robert Campbell "

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Well, Robert, paranoia still strikes deep, so I may have to depend upon you to pass this on to Prof. Nuckolls:

Regarding the assertion that the USM faculty (oops, make that "Southern Miss" faculty, in accordance with official university nomenclature, via a memo to all faculty and staff) shares some kind of 'complicity' in the administration's assault on tenure, it's worth noting the following:

Faculty (and Staff) report to the Mississippi IHL Board, which has consistently ignored all local input, and has made it clear that they have responsibility for all personnel decisions:

* During the presidential search, Shelby Thames went from participating on the 'search committee' to being a candidate.  This clear 'conflict-of-interest' was ignored by the IHL.

* When the presidential search revealed that one of the 'hand-recruited' candidates produced by the IHL's Dallas headhunter "was honored, but had no interest in the USM position," faculty requested that an in-house candidate be added to the list of finalists, so there would be four 'viable' presidential candidates.  This request was ignored by the IHL Board.

* During the final interviews, campus staff members (and the Staff Council) were reluctant to provide comment, because they could be terminated for no reason.  The USM AAUP chapter and the Faculty Senate, laboring under the (mistaken) perception that tenure provided protection against termination for espousing 'unpopular' opinions, decided to poll faculty on their perceptions of the three presidential candidates;  a 'post-interview' poll of all three candidates provided an 87-percent 'disapproval' rating of Shelby Thames.

* In the Glamser/Stringer hearings, despite the overwhelming lack of evidence to support Thames' intention to fire two tenured faculty members, it became clear that these public hearings were 'only advisory', and that the IHL Board could ignore any decision of Judge Anderson. 

* Furthermore, it became clear that the Roy Klumb faction intended to overturn the hearing results, and continue with termination of these two faculty members -- under those conditions, was it surprising that Glamser and Stringer accepted the deal? 

* When you've got a state judicial system determined to ignore the Faculty Handbook, established IHL standards for 'contumacious conduct,' and the rules of evidence, then it should come as no surprise that faculty are no longer willing to 'stand and be counted.'

Mr. Nuckolls use of MSU rather than USM indicates his real lack of understanding what is going on here.    To accuse G/S of complicity and to implicate the entire faculty in this complicity is a travesty.  Nuckolls needs to come here in person, to talk with people and see first-hand what is happening if he intends to make such sweeping and accusatory remarks. 

As "already gone" said, paranoia runs deep.  We're counting on you, Robert, to help let people know what we are up against here.  

already gone,

Is it OK if I quote some of your statements (in your post about how the IHL Board has been calling the shots ever since they allowed Thames to become a finalist for president) on L and P?   I will simply refer to you as a former USM faculty member.

I know that Charles Nuckolls is upset because other faculty members at Alabama have failed to support the Alabama Scholars Association and the U of A AAUP chapter in their struggles with the administration, which has demanded that both organizations pay 2nd class US Postal Service rates to send their newsletters via campus mail.   To make things worse, the other day the U of A Faculty Senate enacted a "speech code."  But none of these disappointments justifies directing blame at USM faculty members confronted with a far worse regime than Nuckolls and his colleagues are facing at Alabama.

Robert Campbell

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Originally posted by: big tiers
"On a historical note, G/S received a fairer hearing due to the Fire Shelby website when it "scooped" the planet on the Adams and Reese interest in USM's administrative well being. That brought the retired judge into the mix."

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