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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> IHL PR, 10/16/07: Board authorizes action to protect constitutional authority
Post Info TOPIC: IHL PR, 10/16/07: Board authorizes action to protect constitutional authority
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IHL PR, 10/16/07: Board authorizes action to protect constitutional authority
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http://www.ihl.state.ms.us/newsstory.asp?ID=523

IHL PRESS RELEASE
BOARD AUTHORIZES ACTION TO PROTECT CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY

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

10/16/2007



Jackson, MS - During its regular monthly meeting, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) discussed the opinion and judgment issued in October by the Lowndes County Chancery Court in the case between the Mississippi University for Women Alumnae Association and the Mississippi University for Women and the Board of Trustees. While hopeful a settlement can still be reached, the Board voted to authorize its attorney to take any and all action necessary to protect the constitutional governing authority of the Board, including an appeal of the opinion to the State Supreme Court. However, the Board intends to continue negotiations with the Alumnae Association in a good faith effort to resolve the matter.



"Unfortunately, the opinion violates the constitutional structure set in place by Mississippi voters to protect the state's public universities from this kind of outside interference and control," said Trustee Amy Whitten, chair of the Board's Legal Committee. "The Board does not take its decision to appeal lightly, but realizes it has no choice as it has an obligation to uphold the responsibilities bestowed upon it by the Mississippi Constitution. We are hopeful, however, that a resolution can be reached through a thoughtful dialogue between the involved parties."



The Board's next regular monthly meeting will take place on November 14, 2007, in the IHL Board room. For more information, visit www.mississippi.edu.



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Reading between the lines, I'm guessing that the MUW president will be negotiating a resoluton with the alumnae group in the near future.

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CL, 10/17/07

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/NEWS/710170361/1001/news

College Board will appeal court ruling on MUW
 Judge reversed disbanding of school's Alumnae Association

...College Board Vice President Amy Whitten said that the decision to appeal was based on "constitutional misfindings" in the judge's opinion.

"We just don't have any choice," Whitten said.

Whitten said board members believe that they were acting in the best interest of the university when they sided with Limbert in February when she asked members to support her in the creation of the new alumni group.

"We have very serious constitutional responsibilities given to us by the voters of the state," Whitten said.

"Our constitutional requirements brought us straight to where we are today."

But Puckett said her group does not think that is at issue.

"We do not believe that the (Lowndes County) ruling infringes on their (the board's) constitutional governing authority," she said.

In Colom's ruling, she agreed some Alumnae Association members' complaints about Limbert were without merit, but Colom said the group should be entitled to free speech.

Board members disagreed with that justification, Whitten said.

"Freedom of speech is fundamental to the Constitution, but even free speech has consequences," she said....

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CD, 10/17/07

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/10/17/local_news/local02.txt

IHL to appeal Colom's MUW ruling

GREENWOOD - MUW's board of trustees decided Tuesday to ask the state Supreme Court to throw out a judge's order requiring university President Claudia Limbert reconcile with alumni she says have tried to undermine her and the school.

However, the board expressed hopes that a compromise can be reached to end the fight against the Mississippi University for Women Alumnae Association.

Lowndes County Chancellor Dorothy Colom's decision defies the board's constitutional power to run Mississippi universities as it sees fit, say the college trustees.

"Unfortunately, the opinion violates the constitutional structure set in place by Mississippi voters to protect the state's public universities from this kind of outside interference and control," said Amy Whitten, chair of the board's legal committee....

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CL, 10/18/07

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/OPINION01/710180340/1008/OPINION

'The W': State College Board should negotiate

The state College Board could rue the day it chose to fight the court ruling reversing Mississippi University for Women President Claudia Limbert's decision to permanently disband the school's 118-year-old alumnae group and create a new one.

The appeal could only embitter and deepen already deep and bitter divisions among ardent supporters of "The W."

The board could better have used the opportunity given by Lowndes County Chancery Judge Dorothy Colom Sept. 28 to move on toward mutually agreeable goals while aiming to heal past differences....

...But the issue transcends MUW. Under Higher Education Commissioner Tom Meredith, the board last year enacted a policy that requires alumni associations and all foundations at the universities to reach agreements stating the relationship between each university and its affiliates.

While acknowledging the private, independent nature of the groups, it introduces the threat of disaffiliation in a conflict.

Meredith encountered similar problems with the University of Georgia while there....

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CD, 10/20/07

http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/10/20/local_news/local02.txt

MUW and alumni 'moving forward'

In their first meeting following the group's re-affiliation with Mississippi University for Women, members of the MUW Alumnae Association were happy to get back to business after a tumultuous hiatus.

An Oct. 1 ruling by Lowndes Chancery Court Judge Dorothy Colom reinstated the disaffiliated group.

"This meeting was just one step toward working with the University and Dr. Limbert and her administration - moving forward," Susan Puckett, MUWAA President said. Puckett met individually with Limbert on Friday....

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http://www.cdispatch.com/articles/2007/10/20/local_news/local03.txt

Cobb honored by MUW

After a highly publicized dispute between Mississippi University for Women president Dr. Claudia Limbert and the MUW Alumnae Association, both sides came together to honor one alumna, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Kay Beevers Cobb, at the Woman of the Year Award and Leadership Banquet.

Limbert presented the Woman of the Year award to Cobb, Friday at the annual banquet, remarking that Cobb was a natural choice for the honor.

"She has been all kind of things from a school teacher on up, and went back to law school and that was unusual," Limbert said....

...Earlier this month, Limbert was ordered by a judge to reunite the university with MUW Alumnae Association, with which she had previously severed ties, and also end relations with a new alumni group allied with her.

Cobb was also one of the MUWAA members who testified against her.

Both Limbert and Cobb said they looked forward to MUW administration and the MUWAA working peacefully together....

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CL, 11/1/07

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/NEWS/711010356/1001/NEWS

College Board may fight MUW ruling but hopes to settle dispute

Panel says move a legal formality, aims for deal without more court action...

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