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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> L and P from May 2004 on an Uneasy Stalemate
Post Info TOPIC: L and P from May 2004 on an Uneasy Stalemate
Robert Campbell

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L and P from May 2004 on an Uneasy Stalemate
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In response to a request from another thread, here's a link to a blog entry I posted back on May 16 of last year, titled "Uneasy Stalemate at USM."


http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/5210.html


Some of it may be pertinent to the uneasy stalemate that prevails now.


Note that on May 16, 2004, there was no confirmation that Mark Dvorak had been forced out--even though he had--and no inkling that Thames had been told to get rid of Angie.  These facts only emerged later.


Question: Has the Board secretly imposed any further constraints on Thames now?  Like, getting rid of Ken Malone?  Or are Klumb and a few others feverishly working to neutralize Richard Crofts' authority, and to get rid of him as soon as possible?


Hard to tell, isn't it?


Robert Cmapbell



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truth4usm/AH

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This is so important to remember...thanks, Robert, for finding this post!


Truth



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USM Sympathizer

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Robert,


What's your take on the purported phone conversation between W.J. Johnson and Roy Klumb (reported on another thread)?  Do you think W.J. Johnson is real and do you think the phone conversation is real?  The latter strikes me as important, if legit, but maybe I have been taken in by a troll.



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Robert Campbell

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USM Sympathizer,

Your guess is as good as mine, about W. J. Johnson.

If his letter appears in the newspaper (I assume it hasn't yet), that means the paper at least made a telephone call to verify that he was the author of the letter. But of course there are ways to deceive a newspaper, if you are intent on doing so.

I just asked WJJ, on the other thread, a couple of questions he should be able to answer, if he is really so tight with Roy Klumb.

I believe we really are in a situation like last May's. If Klumb had the votes, at April's meeting, to keep Thames in power for four more years, wouldn't he be preening in front of the press, and shouting "Shelby F. Thames, now and forever"? The fact that he isn't doing this strongly suggests to me that not everything is going Roy's way right now.

But even if I'm correct in that assessment, it doesn't mean that Klumb and allies are going to lose the war. If the Board is evenly divided, or tilting away from Thames, they will be working feverishly, as we speak, to find additional political backers, to get Richard Crofts out of the picture, and to eliminate other obstacles to Thames' continued reign.

Still another possible explanation for Klumb's recent behavior is that even he has grown tired of Thames' irrepressible foolishness, is getting tired of defending SFT in public, and is only giving token advocacy now. But if that is case, Mr. Johnson is a pure smoke-blower.

I doubt, in any case, that Johnson is a troll on the level of Clyde. He may actually be acting on Klumb's behalf, though without being nearly so privy to Klumb's plans as he claims to be. A couple of trolls went to great trouble to convince us all that Mark Dvorak was still on the job when he had been fired. If Klumb has encountered real political resistance and is trying to regoup, how better to break down that resistance than to convince the other side that it's a walkover, a done deal, they've already lost, time to go home.

Robert Campbell

Robert Campbell

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Wing Man

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Robert:


I have watched this psot clearly.  Hopefully, Klumb will come to his senses but I doubt it.  I can tell you that back on the FS board I was under a different nomenclature.  However, I did get in alot of trouble for repeating your report that M. Devorak was fired when in fact he had not been.  In order to defend myself I spoke to my esteemed friend Russ Willis who is a fine individual and he told me that MD had not been fired.  Just a little FYI.



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USM Alum

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RC,


With regard to Thames' contract extension, I believe that last fall/early winter Klumb was trumpeting that Thames' performance review would be in April, while Klumb was still Pres.  Check me on that, but as of late the date of the performance review has been move to later this year, which would mean that VSN would be the Pres.  Not exactly sure what it means, but I believe this is significant.



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Robert Campbell

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Sorry, Wing Man, but do you really believe that M. Dvorak left USM of his own accord?

You may have been told this by someone you believed--but that doesn't establish that it was true.

Robert Campbell

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Robert Campbell

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RE: RE: L and P from May 2004 on an Uneasy Stalema
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quote:
Originally posted by: USM Alum
"RC,
With regard to Thames' contract extension, I believe that last fall/early winter Klumb was trumpeting that Thames' performance review would be in April, while Klumb was still Pres.  Check me on that, but as of late the date of the performance review has been move to later this year, which would mean that VSN would be the Pres.  Not exactly sure what it means, but I believe this is significant."


VSN is just one vote against Thames. She has to convince others to reject him, or four more years will still happen.

But, yes, if Klumb wanted to be in charge of the review and the Board won't give him that any more, that diminishes his power, and would help to explain his demeanor last Thursday afternoon.

Robert Campbell

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Cinderella

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RE: L and P from May 2004 on an Uneasy Stalemate
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Back on the subject of WJJ, I think it may be legit, as soon as the posts began thanking him for the insite on Klumb, he disappeared. Maybe realizing he had made a great mistake in posting about that conversation? We may never know because....well, I just realized I might give him an idea so I'll post later if anything comes of it.

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Cinderella

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that is inSIGHT....lol

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USM Sympathizer

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Cinderella,


Another possible explanation of his silence is that he is up in Hattiesburg right now (as he said he would be), being wined and dined by SFT.  However, I have begun to doubt that ol' W.J. (or "Billy Joe," as I have begun to think of him) really exists.  I truly wish he did.



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Wing Man

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Robert:


My last comment on this.  This is old information anyways.  I do not know you but from this and the FS board.  I know Russ Willis and he is honorable and very trustworthy.  If you do not beleive me ask Truth she worked with us.  As I have said about all the misinformation why don't you call Russ yourself instead of carrying on the way you are doing.  We look bad enough!



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truth4usm/AH

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quote:
Originally posted by: Wing Man
"Robert: My last comment on this.  This is old information anyways.  I do not know you but from this and the FS board.  I know Russ Willis and he is honorable and very trustworthy.  If you do not beleive me ask Truth she worked with us.  As I have said about all the misinformation why don't you call Russ yourself instead of carrying on the way you are doing.  We look bad enough!"
Okay, now that you've dragged me into this...you are conflating many issues here, WM.  Of course, Russ Willis is honorable and trustworthy...no one is questioning that.  I believe that Robert is trying to say that while M. Dvorak was not "officially" fired, he was nudged out gently (or not-so-gently) by SFT.  You are most likely correct that there was no official firing of M. Dvorak, but I'll bet that his departure was orchestrated entirely by SFT, at the urging of the IHL board.  And you can take that to the bank, WM.  Robert isn't making anyone look bad...on the contrary, he's offered sober and intelligent commentaries of the USM situation over the past year or so.  Lighten up, WM!

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truth4usm/AH's Grammarian Risk Manager

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quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"...on the contrary, he's offered sober and intelligent commentaries of the USM situation over the past year or so.  Lighten up, WM!"
"of" should be "on"

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ram

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Termination is not always so black and white.  I have known of a number of employees who were "given the opportunity" to (a) retire, (b) resign, or (c) return to their first love.  Sometimes it is not even that clear cut:  the employee just sees the "handwriting on the wall."


"Now the story’s told that Adam jumped, but I’ve been thinking that he fell."


Or maybe he was pushed.



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Robert Campbell

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RE: RE: L and P from May 2004 on an Uneasy Stalema
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quote:
Originally posted by: Wing Man
"Robert:
My last comment on this.  This is old information anyways.  I do not know you but from this and the FS board.  I know Russ Willis and he is honorable and very trustworthy.  If you do not beleive me ask Truth she worked with us.  As I have said about all the misinformation why don't you call Russ yourself instead of carrying on the way you are doing.  We look bad enough!"


Wing Man,

The majority (probably, the vast majority) of people who are fired from management positions these days aren't officially fired. Officially, they resign. "To pursue other interests," as they say in the corporate world.

I try to be consistent and straightforward in my use of language. If someone leaves a job because his or her manager told him to leave it, I say that the person was fired. (If SFT is ever removed from his position of power, it is rather unlikely that he will be officially fired. Horace Fleming wasn't officially fired. Our previous president at Clemson, Deno Curris, wasn't officially fired, either.)

Unless Russ Willis is willing to divulge what happened behind the scenes--to a vocal critic of Shelby Thames whom he doesn't know personally--I assume he will say to me exactly what the newspaper account said to everyone interested in reading about the matter: that Mark Dvorak resigned "to pursue other interests."

We all know what that means.

Robert Campbell

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