Jan Lacy fears for USM's financial future


More likely, Jan Lacy fears for Copy Cats' financial future.

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Originally posted by: Honest worker
"She has lived in the real world and has had to meet the demands of running a business.This is so different and so much more difficult than being a tenured  professor. No one gets tenure in the real world. "

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Then tell her to stick to what she does best - making copies for a profit while we stick to what we do best - educating Mississippians and running a university.

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Originally posted by: Honest worker
"She has lived in the real world and has had to meet the demands of running a business.This is so different and so much more difficult than being a tenured  professor. No one gets tenure in the real world. "

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Here's an analogy: some judges get lifetime appointments to insulate them from political and social pressures; they are expected to seek -- and speak -- the truth without fear of the consequences.  Some of the same logic applies to the role of college professors.  Admittedly some professors can and do abuse the privilege of tenure, just as some judges do.  If the abuses are egregious enough, there are methods in both cases from removing people from their positions.  However, the idea that learned people should be protected from outside pressures is a worthy one, in my opinion; it is a holdover from a culture in which the disinterested pursuit of truth was highly valued.  I would hate to see the day when a professor could be fired simply because his views had become unpopular.  We might as well abandon higher education when that happens.  We could all then go to work running copying machines, literally and figuratively.

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Originally posted by: Honest worker
"She has lived in the real world and has had to meet the demands of running a business.This is so different and so much more difficult than being a tenured  professor. No one gets tenure in the real world. "

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And no one gets paid market value in the academic world.

Figure it out, worker-dude. The academic world IS the real world...for students, faculty and staff. Where do you think these so-called "real world-ers" got their education...from a gumball machine? Puh-leaze.

Ms. Lacy is a supporter of many organizations and has been one of the members of the business community that went to Jackson to lobby the legislature for more funding and faculty raises for USM,  I wonder why she wants to help this vicious group of pitiful human beings that are failures and could not make a living off.

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Originally posted by: JoJo
"Ms. Lacy is a supporter of many organizations and has been one of the members of the business community that went to Jackson to lobby the legislature for more funding and faculty raises for USM,  I wonder why she wants to help this vicious group of pitiful human beings that are failures and could not make a living off the public TIT."

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JoJo,

According to your logic, only the professors who work at public universities are abject failures.  Those who work at private universities are, by your definition, shining examples of capitalistic success.  What if a professor moves from a position at a public university to one at a private university?  Does his ontological status suddenly change?  And what happens if a reverse move occurs?  I've noticed that you don't respond to real questions, so I assume you'll ignore these, too.

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Originally posted by: JoJo
"Ms. Lacy is a supporter of many organizations and has been one of the members of the business community that went to Jackson to lobby the legislature for more funding and faculty raises for USM,  I wonder why she wants to help this vicious group of pitiful human beings that are failures and could not make a living off the public TIT."

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JoJo--why not request the $$ spent with Ms Lacy's business by USM in last 36 months vs prior 36 months?

You need to know all motives(are least most of us prefer to be armed with as many facts as possible)

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Originally posted by: JoJO
"PD, LOW BID gets the job.  It is not handed to her on a platter like a faculty member. "

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wrong again!!   certain state purchases($amounts below certain level) do not need a bid and private groups (foundation, eagle club, etc) require no bids

do so much for your logic, please get us some numbers so we can compare

I know Jan Lacy.  I think she is a fine member of the Hattiesburg community, in general, who has devoted a great deal of her time, money and energy to the local United Way, in particular.  I applaud the fact that she chose to relocate her business to downtown Hattiesburg rather than moving into the higher growth area out west.

I think Jan is a good example of the local business person who has bought into Shelby's shuck and jive.  Jan is not going to read Bok's book or University, Inc. and get embroiled in the problems associated with the commercialization of public higher education in America. She is not going to make fine distinctions between the management of a university and that of a business. (But, on the other hand, neither will I dig too deeply into the relative merit and cost of Giclee prints vis-à-vis those made by more common offset methods.  Everybody is satisfied to remain ignorant about something.)

She really and truly (and mistakenly) believes that SFT's plan for "the university as an economic machine" will improve the Hattiesburg economy.  I think she is wrong, but I don't think she is stupid or venal.

The irony is that she says Thames has contributed to the community.  If he has, it is news to me.  My understanding is that, in all his time on the faculty, he has pretty much ducked any responsibility for or participation in committee work, Faculty Senate, or any other manifestation of shared governance at the university. Can someone disabuse me, if I am in error?  If I am right, that might partly explain why he never seemed to grasp the notion as an administrator.

Similarly, I am not aware that he -- unlike Jan Lacy -- has been particularly involved in the community.  After Lisa Mader took her present position at Wesley Medical Center, it was mentioned that he is on the hospital board.  Does anyone know of any other community leadership roles he has held that might indicate his "contribution" to something other than (1) athletics, or (2) his own enrichment? 

It could be that I am just ignorant.

 

 

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Originally posted by: JoJo
"Ms. Lacy is a supporter of many organizations and has been one of the members of the business community that went to Jackson to lobby the legislature for more funding and faculty raises for USM,  I wonder why she wants to help this vicious group of pitiful human beings that are failures and could not make a living off the public TIT."

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Ah, Jojo,

While we appreciate Ms. Lacy's support of the university, she appears not to grasp the devastation that Shelby has wrought and will continue to wreak. By supporting him, she is undermining her own best intentions. Just because she runs an apparently successful printing business, I wonder why she feels qualified to evaluate the performance of a university administration.

On your oft-repeated rant about the inability of faculty to make a living in the so-called real world, I need to set the record straight, not so much for your benefit, since you are so clearly abysmally uninformed, but for the benefit of others who might be looking in on the board from time to time. From the time I was about twelve, I have earned every dime I have spent. I worked my way through high school and college doing grueling manual labor, working from before dawn till after sundown, often seven days a week, in swamps, borrow pits, woods, rivers and ditches, fighting snakes, yellow jackets, spiders, etc., with a half hour for lunch which consisted of a can of vienna sausage and a canteen of water. I have started a number of businesses, all of which have been very successful, and all of which I have sold at a good profit. I have hired hundreds of people, and fired very few, because I was able to maintain a work environment in which the employees felt that ownership/management cared about them and their work and sought their input in the operation of the business. And here's the good part, Jojo--I'm not in the College of Business. Nope, I decided that I liked the academic environment and, above all, the people who created it, and became a professor. So you see, Jojo, I have had extensive experience in your so-called "real world" and have gotten to know lots of the people who live and work in it. And here's the part you're gonna love, Jojo, if I were to start a business now, I would much prefer to hire people with a serious academic background; because, you see, they have a strong sense of discipline and a finely-honed ability to analyze problems and propose appropriate solutions. They are WAY more dependable than your average employee in your so-called real world; and they have energy and vision.
Now, I could go on in this vein for a couple of hundred pages, because my experience has been that extensive and varied; but I don't want to bore the regulars on this board. I just wanted to see if I could, once and for all, trash this preposterous claim of yours and Shelby's that, somehow, academics can't hack it in the real world. Believe me, they can and do. My guess is that one of them fired your sorry a$$ somewhere along the way, and you're still pouting. Get over it, Jojo, excellence will prevail, whether you waste your time slinging mud at it or not.

RAM: Similarly, I am not aware that he -- unlike Jan Lacy -- has been particularly involved in the community. After Lisa Mader took her present position at Wesley Medical Center, it was mentioned that he is on the hospital board. Does anyone know of any other community leadership roles he has held that might indicate his "contribution" to something other than (1) athletics, or (2) his own enrichment?

I have lived in this community a long time. I've been active in PTA, in church, in arts activites, in downtown, in United Way--as well as other charitable organizations. I never once in all these years ever seen SFT or heard of him working in or at anything other than his own career (athletic donations furthered that) and his own business ventures.

Isn't appointment to various boards one of the perks of being pres?

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Originally posted by: buckskin
"Such silliness. Look at the funded research figures. Since Thames has been president (i.e. in the funding years that he claim as his own), external funding for "research" has increased from about $62 mill. to $69. In the four previous years, the funding for research increased about $10 mill. per year. Thus, during his presidency, we have seen an increase of $7 million in funding; yet, in the previous years we saw an annual jump of $10 million."

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buckskin, buckskin, buckskin,

You know better than that. Take a look at the USM Fact Book.

The picture on external funding is much less impressive, just as the claims of true enrollment growth are a myth. The Thames administration took over in mid 2002. External funding for that year was already established from grants of previous years. Thus, 2002 was the last year of the previous administration for purposes of external funding. Funding for that year was $62.7 million. The first full year of the Thames administration was 2003. Funding for that year was $67.1 million. Funding for 2004, the last full year available, was $69.0 million. Thus, compared to the previous administration ($62.7 million), external funding has increased about $3 million a year, or 5%. Given an inflation rate of about 3% during the period, real growth under theThames administration has been about 2% a year. Given the massive shift of resources to science and technology over the period and the vaunted and expensive Midas program, that's not very impressive. One might assume that the IHL is not very good with numbers, and that local business leaders may have been duped.
 

Can you even balance your checkbook?  You are playing fast and loose with the facts. 

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Originally posted by: JoJo
"Can you even balance your checkbook?  You are playing fast and loose with the facts.  "

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What is inaccurate? Be specific. No running around in circles, please.