kick-o-reeny

Yes.

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Originally posted by: FSWWT
"Do readers to the board wish to have the rest of the posts that were included in the handout at the "infamous" meeting??? Will gladly do it if you wish."

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Very much so.  Thanks for all you have done and are doing.  The mere fact that so many people are willing to devote so much time and energy to their postings to this board shows how much USM (as it was) is loved by its faculty and community supporters.  As someone who lives outside the state, I find it inspiring to see you all fight to save your school.  You are all writing a significant chapter in the history of higher education, and it is good to know that this board will preserve a permanent record or your valiant efforts to save USM.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't leave this board feeling inspired in some way.  Your efforts, FSWWT, have been especially valiant in these last few days.  Thank you very much.

Posted by G. Washington's Strategic Advisor on Jan 21

In light of comments about dining services, etc., i feel the need to make a point regarding faculty and their fight against Thames: USM faculty will fail to defeat Thames because of their lack of resolve and failure to learn from history.

During the Revolutionary War period, soldiers fought under strict rules of engagement, marching and fighting in rows and columns. Officers were off-limits, so that the better military strategists and leaders (most of whom were noblemen) were safe from harm. This meant that the army with the greatest numbers almost certainly won the battles and, hence, the wars, because it was truly attrition that determined the day. The American Revolution was won (at least in part) because the outnumbered Colonists chose a different path: early forms of guerrila warfare. Breaking with tradition, teh Continental Army chose to include such tactics to help them win their freedom from the tyrannical government that was opressing them. They knew it wasn't "fair" under the rules of the day, but they wanted to win. They did whatever it took and, with a little luck and what some believe was divine providence, they succeeded.

What did the Army of the United States do immediately after the Revolution? They went back to fighting in columns! In fact, the column method was used up until and including World War I. Our military leaders either learned nothing from their experiences, or they were so proud that they had to prove they could fight within the stilted rules of war. Forget what got you here, go ahead and play somebody else's game.

The faculty at USM are doomed to fail against Shelby Thames. I can see it all over this board. Here are some quotes from the past few days:

"I've been eating every day at the eatery in the new CICE building, and I personally think it is wonderful!! The food is of high quality. The place is beautifully decorated, and I think it will be a draw for encouraging new faculty hires in CoAL." -- shesays

"I've had the opportunity to visit several major universities in the past few months, and sub-contracted eateries on campus are very common, including within libraries. If anything, USM is behind the curve here. I don't fully understand all of the objections, other than the perception that their very presence is an extension of the evil Thames regime. I'm sure there are other issues. I just haven't heard them articulated, here or anywhere else." -- PseudoNym

"a major digression. since there seems to be a real cynicism on this thread--watch MASH. If you're in the burg, it's the hallmark channel (channel 17). does wonders for me." -- stinky cheese man

"Well said my friend, and without vitriol." -- Least Venerable, responding to the above quote by scm

All of these quotes come from the "eatery" thread -- the thread most likely to be divisive due to its preference-driven nature. However, they are indicative of the softness that pervades faculty at USM.

This is a war, people. The first shots were fired when SFT fired all of the deans and replaced then with what he believed to be puppets; at least one of them has the guts to stand up to him and to speak up for his faculty. A second shot was fired when email monitoring commenced, though this was, for the most part, a silenced shot. War was declared when SFT initiated termination proceedings against Glamser and Stringer. War has been raging every day, if only from the dome and aimed at the faculty...God knows that there are so many faculty who are of the mind to sign a truce. There will be no truce. SFT will shake your hand with his left and stab you in the back with his right. He will run off faculty, mistreat staff, alienate the community, lie to the media, shirk SACS duties, rig state contracts, and cook the USM books to avoid scrutiny. We are at war, whether you want to admit it or not. Have you forgotten the margin of the first vote of "no confidence"?

How do you win this war? Do you "fight fair"? No! You use any and every means at your disposal. You oppose SFT and his minions at every turn. Any SFT idea, plan, concept, action, or recommendation is poison. Whenever possible, avoid supporting those activities. Campaign against SFT. Fight dirty. Fight to win. This means deriding his choices of administrators' actions. This means pointing out the dysfunctional nature of his athletics hires and their performance AND recruiting methods. This means walking your sweet butt off campus and never, ever giving the university any of your money again. This means turning your textbook order form over to the Campus Book Mart, not Barnes & Noble. This means buying coffee from off-campus providers, not Starbucks or the International Building. This means making it a point to view your money as a vote: you either vote for SFT and spend money on campus, or you vote against him and go elsewhere. Thsi means that, when asked by community members you trust, you don't sugar coat what's happening at USM. It means saying things like "I wish the Alumni Association would help do something about the mess at USM," rather than "Things are fine on campus."

This IS a war, people. Faculty/staff/students/Hattiesburg/residents of Mississippi will lose unless we start changing our ways and learning from the past. Or, we could go back to fighting in columns.

All of this bolded section was circled and marked.

More posts that were distributed at the infamous meeting.

From Angeline

Right on!

I have many of the same frustrations with my colleagues.  Its time to s--t or get off the pot.

Let's do more than complain, let's fight for once!

From Courage

It will take courage, and I'm not advocating any approach at this point.  I almost thought an old-fashioned strike or walk-out with faculty, staff, and students would force some action, if only massive PR pressure with national coverage.  It could be a huge risk, but a huge reward.  Not saying this is the way to go...what are other concrete alternatives?  Even Ole Miss and State might step up and say, enough is enough at USM.  I'm not from MS, and when I tell people where I teach, they all think it is Ole Miss anyway....those outside MS, don't distinguish a bit between the schools...we are a bundled reputation.  Mississippi God Damn, indeed.

These are all the posts that were contained in the "packet."

Additionally, there was also a sheet with info on MIDAS; a blurb entitled, "Former Garden Park Hospital Now Southern Miss Research Foundation Health Education Center;" a copy of the newspaper article from the HA, dated March 8 entitled Klumb: USM msut add research projects; plus a news release from Bob Mixon, the addresses/email addresses of the Board of Trustees of IHL, then the AAUP posts that I have already provided. Most everything has now been posted. I hope this has helped the cause!!!

You know, they missed one of the very dangerous and scary posts, the one where somebody suggested rolling the prez mansion with TP. I'm sure ST was shaking in his boots, but fortunately somebody reminded us that USM staff would have to clean up any mess. Of course it was a joke to start with, but since these guys obviously wouldn't know a joke if it bit 'em in the tailfeathers, it's amazing they didn't trot that out. I notice they don't bother to include the posts where people contradict, laugh at, or squelch the "violence" --

this is incredible

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Originally posted by: Emma
"Keep 'em coming.  Is this the "best" stuff that they could come up with??  Seriously, these posts are what they consider to be serious threats? I'd love to see some of what some of them post on Eagletalk.  What a joke. This would be laughable if it was being played out anywhere but Hattiesburg.
I'd suggest that a few of them go read Swift's "A Modest Proposal""

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Isn't that what we said after the hearings last year?
They sure get a bang for their buck.

The "News Release" as was read by Mr. Mixon:

     I have always disliked "labels." When you try to put everyone under a label like "faculty," and then say something about them, you nearly always misrepresent someone in that group.

     We have some very fine faculty members at Southern Miss. Tops in their field-dedicated to their work of teaching and advising our students-involved in writing and research-trying to do their part in making the University the best it can be...and I have nothing but respect for them.

     Then, we have some with other agendas. If my remarks offend any faculty members, it will be only those who know they are part of the group with other agendas.

     Some of us thought it would be a good idea to get some of the business community together and tell you about some of the great things happening at Southern Miss. Things you may not be aware of. If all you know is what you get from the media, you may not have all you need to help you make an informed opinion.

     We have no other agenda, really, other than to tell you that in our opinion, based on what we have observed, on balance, Dr. Thames is doing a good job in difficult, difficult circumstances, to give you some data to support that contention, and to suggest to you that he and the University needs our help and our support.

     It should be clear to all of us by now, that funding from the legislature has been and will likely continue to be woefully inadequate in the days ahead. For Southern Miss to fulfill its mission, funding from federal and state sources, grants, research allocations and private donations will all be necessary. In addition to trying to raise more new money, better and more efficient management and expense control with existing funds has to abe a priority. Beyond that, new sources of revenue that we haven't had in the past will have to be developed. The Technology Center that has been proposed should help some there.

     Basically, we believe that the College Board is the group that needs to set policy and directives for higher education in our state; and it's their job to hire Presidents'. It then becomes the President's job to implement the policies and directives he or she has been given by the College Board.

     We beleive that the faculty's job is to teach, write, do research, advise students, and do other tasks assigned to them by the administration. Those are distinct and separate responsibilities from those of the President. If the President isn't doing the job that the Board expects fro that office, the Board can make a change, But whether a President stays or goes, is a decision that should be made by the Board-not by the Faculty Senate.

     I was just told the day before yesterday, that a group from the faculty (possibly the same group that not long ago was screaming that their rights to free speech, their rights to openly criticize the administration, and their rights to assemble, were being infringed upon) have now posted a message on one of their internal websites asking their colleagues to boycott the businesses of those of us hosting this meeting tonight and have even suggested that some of us need to be killed. I guess they believe those rights are theirs exclusively.

     When the faculty uses a label like "business people" and includes people like me in the groupo and criticizes me for my involvement, the criticism that is stated is usually one of the following three things:

     1. You don't know anything about how academic operates. Stay out of it!

     2. A University is not a business and cannot be run like one. You run your bisiness and let us run our University.

     3. You believe athletics are more important than education.

     As for #1-I'll give 'em that. I don't know how academia operates. But, it doesn't matter. I'm not trying to tell them how or what to teach.

     I do take issue with the second criticism. If you don't believe that an institution that has employees, payrolls, offers a product to the public for a fee, has income and expenses and other financial obligations is a business-you are incredibly naive. The government is the only entity I know of that can continue to operate even if the money to do it is not available.

     As for the part about "You run your business and let us run our Univeristy."

• I graduated from Southern.


• Two of my children graduated from Southern.


• I have served as President of nearly every major volunteer organization at Southern.


• I have supported Southern financially for over 40 years.


• My answer to them is this-Just because you draw a paycheck there, this doesn't make that University enymore yours than mine...and many of you can say the same thing.

   As for athletics-I don't believe they are more important than education. How do you separate the two? They are, after all, student athletes. I do believe that athletics are vitally important. Athletic events bring graduates back to campus. They help us educate hundreds of young men and women. many of whom would never get an education. They provide us with a rallying point. They are a source of pride for our students and alumni. They give us national exposure for potential students. I could go on and on about their value, but you get my point.

     Some of our faculty resents the athletic program and would like to see us de-emphasize organized sports and maybe just have an intramural program. I, for one, believe that would be devastating to the University as we know it.

     We obviously have a very contentious situation here. I'm not sure how it will all play out. This is not all just about Shelby Thames. Their plan to unseat him, in my opinion, is only one step in a much more ambitious agenda. Many of them have battled him since his first day on the job. We believe he deserves a chance to move forward without having to constantly fight people off his back.

     If you can, and if you will-help us to allow hime to have that chance.

     As we wind up tonight, we hope you can see:

1. This is not a Shelby Thames rally, although we do support him;

2. This is not a faculty-bashing, although in light of the boycotts and other threats, we certainly question the actions of a few; and

3. We are certainly not foolish enough to think that all of you see things exactly as we do, although we hope many of you do.

     Our hope is that all of you will leave here tonight with a renewed commitment to finding out what the issues really are, and to entering your particular sphere of influence and try to have a positive effect on the situation. Make your opinions known to anyone who can help resolve these issues-whether it is Dr. Thames, faculty members, College Board members or media representatives.

    Open, candid fact-based opposition is not the problem. But, untruths and half-truths that go unchallenged are. We hope something positive will come from this meeting. With your help, I'm sure it will.

(I typed the release exactly as it is printed.) This is now the very last of the packet. It was read by Mr. Mixon.

Forgive the double post, but also that meaningless claptrap about how many students were invited to apply or participate or something, in the President's whatever. I can invite a hundred thousand people to do something, but it's only the ones who show up that count.

Heavens to Betsy, Henrietta, if those statements were interpreted as threatening, I wonder how those good people would interpret passages from English Literature or from the Bible. 

Some posts on this thread have suggested that I have posted messages that promoted violence. I have not advocated violence in any post. I do not support any actions that could be construed as violence. The violence of firing Gary Stringer, a world renown scholar, and smearing his reputation was quite enough violence for me. Mr. Reynolds, I do not know you, nor have I met you. I do not know how you feel about the average faculty member at USM. What I do know is that many people in the Hattiesburg community feel very comfortable condemning me as an over paid lazy employee who should be fired and replaced because I do not agree with everything that President Thymes is doing. I have spent a good part of my life in this community. As I have stated in previous posts, I have bragged to my friends and colleagues at other universities about what a great place this is to live. Until recently, it was the best place I have lived, having resided in seven states. The events of the past two years have left me depressed and angry. I am depressed because I no longer have pride in where I reside. I am angry because I feel betrayed. I have supported the university with my energy and money, donating both to athletics and academics. Now, like many other faculty, I have been told that I am not respected and that USM would be better off without me. While such feelings may lead some to violence, I only want to escape. I hope your concern for your university leads you to take some actions that will help restore it. But the sad thing is that those of us who have gone through this turmoil, and will go through the future turmoil, will never trust the community again. It has taken only two years for this disaster to unfold, it will take a decade or more before USM is what it once was. This university was not destroyed from within, it was destroyed from the outside.

For those who are faculty and posters on this site, I find it disheartening that you are so thrilled that someone from the Hattiesburg community has posted on the board that you are willing to accuse your fellow faculty members of inciting violence to impress them.

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Originally posted by: Henry
"I suppose you develop a sense of all knowing when you marry your fortune rather than earn it like most red blooded american males."

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I believe if you study the "old line" Hattiesburg businesses & those "influential business people," you'll find that a surprisingly large number (the majority?) inherited their businesses or married into them. And most of the rest are national chain franchise deals. There aren't many built-from-the-ground-up businesses in Hattiesburg, really.

info posted this on the Nom d'Aplomb thread. It seems worth reproducing here:

: info

Date: 2 hr, 56 min. ago
Views: 23


 RE: RE: RE: Nom d'Aplomb Award, March 13, 2005

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Originally posted by: Potholes and Cracks
"I am reminded of two questions that I intended to ask earlier this week. When the USM streets need to be resurfaced, who gets the contract? How is that determined?"

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Warren Paving has the contract. The trucks have been on campus for months.

I don't know all the contract process details. Any contract above $250,000, as we know from Pileum, requires IHL approval. There's also a point at which contracts require bids, but I don't know what the amount is. It's also possible, as we've seen from Pileum, to issue multiple contracts that fly below the radar.

 

You could probably contact Linda McFall for details.  Whoops, silly me, she now conveniently works for the IHL.