MSU Presidential Search Thread - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jan 14, 2006

MSU Presidential Search Thread

Date: Jan 14, 2006

RE: Mitch

Date: Jan 14, 2006

RE: MSU Presidential Search Thread

Date: Jan 14, 2006

How are the faculty at other MS colleges and universities (such as Ole Miss) reacting to this secretive process? Is there a statewide organization of MS faculty that can protest?

Date: Jan 14, 2006

I will say this only one time in this venue:

Do NOT trust Tom Meredith.

He has already screwed USM in the past month & nobody here realizes it, including Shelby Thames.

Date: Jan 14, 2006

Invictus wrote:

I will say this only one time in this venue: Do NOT trust Tom Meredith. He has already screwed USM in the past month & nobody here realizes it, including Shelby Thames.

If you have useful information that you would be willing to share, my home address is 330 Entrekin Road, Purvis MS 39475.

I have contacted the members of the AAUP USM executive committee to schedule a meeting.

Date: Jan 16, 2006

ROBBIE WARD: MSU presidential search tests Meredith's integrity
1/16/2006 5:00:46 AM
Daily Journal

Higher Education Commissioner Tom Meredith defends the secretive presidential search for Mississippi State University's next president. His experience in Georgia helps tell why.

First, here's how outgoing MSU President Charles Lee's successor will be picked: An advisory committee of MSU constituents will wade through the list of potential candidates for the job, narrowing it down to the top five or so. Then a consultant hired by the College Board will take those names and others she thinks would make a good MSU president and forward them to the board's search committee. The full College Board will decide between three finalists. Meredith said the next president will be named on April 1 (April Fool's Day).

The main difference between this search and recent hiring of other state university presidents is that no on-campus meetings between the finalists will happen. During the University of Southern Mississippi's search in 2002, the three finalists answered questions from on-campus groups, demonstrating how each candidate can answer questions under pressure and mingle with faculty, staff and students.

On-campus interviews during university presidential searches aren't the best indicators of future job performance, Meredith reasons. He said past performance and accomplishments are the best predictors. He also said candidates already serving as university presidents place their job in jeopardy if identified as a presidential contender somewhere else.

"It's hard to tell your wife you might love someone else a little more," Meredith said, explaining the secretive search. "How can you say you'd like to date someone else to find out?"

Meredith knows. He was caught looking somewhere else in 2004 while serving as chancellor for the Georgia Board of Regents, a position similar to his job now. Meredith agreed to be a candidate for the presidency of the University of Tennessee system, aggravating the Georgia Board of Regents.

Meredith confirmed last week the awkward situation he had with the Georgia Board of Regents but wouldn't further discuss it.

No sitting university president will consider the job if any candidate is public, according to Meredith. Professors and others associated with the state's largest university wonder what kind of person would take a job without officially checking the place out first.

Even though Meredith's University of Tennessee system situation had him in the doghouse, many MSU supporters and professor won't endorse a secretive search.MSU Faculty Senate President Mark Goodman has started inviting potential candidates to visit on campus with faculty. He said more invitations may follow.

When asked about assurance of a legitimate search at MSU, Meredith's response has been "trust me." His integrity will be on the line with the MSU search. If the search lands a dud of a president trust will be broken.

With presidential searches approaching at The University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Mississippi, this search likely will set a precedent for finding other presidents. Higher education folks across the state will watch MSU's search to see how much they can trust Meredith.

Robbie Ward lives in Starkville and covers the community for the Daily Journal. Contact him at 323-9831 or robbie.ward@djournal.com

Appeared originally in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 1/16/2006 8:00:00 AM, section A , page 2

Date: Jan 16, 2006

Robbie Ward wrote:

The main difference between this search and recent hiring of other state university presidents is that no on-campus meetings between the finalists will happen.

It looks like you've got yourselves one hum dinger here. If faculty membes are not given the opportunity to interact with the presidential candidates during a campus visit, how can the faculty provide feedback to the search committee? Could it be that faculty feedback will not be solicited or welcomed? I suppose it's better this way than soliciting feedback and throwing it in the trash. At least that's being up front about it.

Date: Jan 16, 2006

Robbie Ward wrote:

"Meredith knows. He was caught looking somewhere else in 2004 while serving as chancellor for the Georgia Board of Regents......Meredith agreed to be a candidate for the presidency of the University of Tennessee system, aggravating the Georgia Board of Regents."

A little aggravation comes with the territory, Mr. Meredith. That's why we pay the big bucks.

Date: Jan 17, 2006

I should have posted this here instead of starting a new thread. So sorry.

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=210615&pub=1&div=Opinion

Date: Jan 18, 2006

If Mississippi's public colleges and universities can't attract suitable presidential candidates in the customary and traditional manner, without resorting to secret searches, higher education in this state is up to its a** in alligators.

Date: Jan 18, 2006

Look's like AAUP will be on the outsike looking in!! Oh we hate that. What a pity!!

Date: Jan 18, 2006

Earlier I referred to Meredith screwing USM. Now that the documentation has been presented to the IHL board, I'll elaborate.

The $29 billion Katrina relief package provided $95 million to Mississippi & $95 million to Louisiana for higher education. In the appropriation bill, Louisiana specified that its money would be disbursed through Title VII of the Higher Education Act, as amended. This provides for money to be disbursed to directly to institutions. Due to behind-the-scenes work by Tom Meredith, Mississippi's money is to be distributed under Title IV. This is student aid with no direct aid to institutions.

While we all should agree that student aid is not a bad thing, institutions like USM, PRCC, or MGCCC that had serious physical plant damage need institutional aid as well. That's not happening thanks to Dr. Meredith.

Following up on this, Meredith decreed that the money would be distributed according to the federal LEAP funding formula, which is based on the product of enrollment and tuition/fees. The initial distribution would have had MSU receiving $20 million, USM $15 million & UM $12 million.

Anyone who thinks MSU has more Katrina-affected students than USM needs to send me a couple of ounces of what they've been smoking, because it's seriously high grade stuff & could probably fund a couple of semesters of Invictus' offspring's tuition if sold on the street.

The final distribution (after some equally behind-the-scenes wrangling) has USM receiving more like $20 million. Ironically, MGCCC will receive about $400K less than MSU. Again, think about it. PRCC & Jones JC will also receive better-than-chump-change but not what they probably need.

Meredith almost succeeded in screwing USM and the community colleges. He has succeeded in screwing the community colleges. And he has some more goodies up his sleeve.

Date: Jan 18, 2006

Invictus wrote:

Louisiana specified that its money would be disbursed through Title VII of the Higher Education Act, as amended. This provides for money to be disbursed to directly to institutions. Due to behind-the-scenes work by Tom Meredith, Mississippi's money is to be distributed under Title IV.

I once knew a first grader who reversed and omitted arabic numerals. Maybe roman numerals are subject to the same.

Date: Jan 23, 2006

NE MS DJ, 1/22/06

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=211076&pub=1&div=News

Cofer: Mr. Fix-it in Monroe

...Cofer has longstanding ties to Mississippi. He and Tom Meredith, Mississippi's higher education commissioner, worked together on the state College Board staff in the early 1980s. ...

Date: Jan 23, 2006

Invictus wrote:

Earlier I referred to Meredith screwing USM. Now that the documentation has been presented to the IHL board, I'll elaborate.

The $29 billion Katrina relief package provided $95 million to Mississippi & $95 million to Louisiana for higher education. In the appropriation bill, Louisiana specified that its money would be disbursed through Title VII of the Higher Education Act, as amended. This provides for money to be disbursed to directly to institutions. Due to behind-the-scenes work by Tom Meredith, Mississippi's money is to be distributed under Title IV. This is student aid with no direct aid to institutions.

While we all should agree that student aid is not a bad thing, institutions like USM, PRCC, or MGCCC that had serious physical plant damage need institutional aid as well. That's not happening thanks to Dr. Meredith.

Following up on this, Meredith decreed that the money would be distributed according to the federal LEAP funding formula, which is based on the product of enrollment and tuition/fees. The initial distribution would have had MSU receiving $20 million, USM $15 million & UM $12 million.

Anyone who thinks MSU has more Katrina-affected students than USM needs to send me a couple of ounces of what they've been smoking, because it's seriously high grade stuff & could probably fund a couple of semesters of Invictus' offspring's tuition if sold on the street.

The final distribution (after some equally behind-the-scenes wrangling) has USM receiving more like $20 million. Ironically, MGCCC will receive about $400K less than MSU. Again, think about it. PRCC & Jones JC will also receive better-than-chump-change but not what they probably need.

Meredith almost succeeded in screwing USM and the community colleges. He has succeeded in screwing the community colleges. And he has some more goodies up his sleeve.

Wow! This is a really important post. Does this mean USM gets no federal money to repair/rebuild the three major facilites we lost on the coast? How will we fix those?

Date: Jan 23, 2006

It would be really interesting to see Cofer get this job. Interesting if you don't work at MSU. However, it may now be a dead heat as Cochran's boy (sorry, chief of staff) may have some more legs if Meredith needs to get back in good graces with Cochran, and possibly Barbour. Either one would be fun to watch.

Date: Jan 26, 2006

MSU Reflector, 1/25/06: Names remain secret in search for next president

Date: Jan 26, 2006

RE: MSU Presidential Search Thread

Date: Jan 26, 2006

Private University Pal wrote:

I think it's necessary to point out that most prestigious private universities (or colleges) conduct their presidential searches in the so-called "secretive" ways being lambasted right now.

Apples and oranges, my friend.

Date: Jan 26, 2006

Mr. Wizard wrote:

Private University Pal wrote: I think it's necessary to point out that most prestigious private universities (or colleges) conduct their presidential searches in the so-called "secretive" ways being lambasted right now. Apples and oranges, my friend.

There is one potential similarity here. LS was hired at Harvard to carry out an agenda for the Board of Directors. They needed someone to carry the ball and LS was it. Some of his troubles are related to a determination to carry out the agenda without consultation with all stakeholders. The amazing part was that any cursory checking on LS would have indicated that he was going to be a problematic President as he had a known ability to rub people the wrong way and suffers from periodic bouts of "foot in the mouth" disease. He probably would have been a good "bidness" Dean, but a President?

Date: Jan 26, 2006

Private University Pal wrote:

I think it's necessary to point out that most prestigious private universities (or colleges) conduct their presidential searches in the so-called "secretive" ways being lambasted right now. Lawrence Summers never held open forum meetings at Harvard (in fact the student newspaper camped out in local hotel hallways to try to identify the top candidates); Dick Brodhead was never announced as a candidate before his appointment at Duke; and so on and so forth for Levin at Yale, Simmons at Brown, etc. etc. I think there are pro's and con's to both types of searches.

I was teaching at Duke when the late Terry Sandford (former Governor of North Carolina) was President. In my second year he stepped down and there was a search and Keith Brodie, who had been the head of the American Psychiatric Association. Harvard, Yale, and Duke are all private, fairly exclusive universities who not only can pretty much do whatever they want as private entities, but have access to a whole different pool of candidates. USM, MSU and UM are all public universities with much more limited pool of Presidential candidates to draw from. In addition, I've been n this state long enough now to know that secrecy begets political skulduggery every time.

I can't imagine wanting to be president of a public university having never met a broad collection of faculty or students. I'd be suspicious of someone who wanted to take the job under those kind of conditions. I'd also say that hiring in secret is like giving the President permission to conduct the affairs of the university as secretly as many executives in the coprorate world perform.

I think everything about the current administration (including how it came to be here in the first place) challenges the notion that a secret search will yield a better result. I know that the last search was not technically "secret" -- but who among us believes that the deal wasn't already "secretly" struck before a single candidate visited campus? The last search was a travesty and the idea that it was truly public one of the biggest lies ever. The "original sin" that still plagues us was that the search was tainted the day Shelby Thames threw his hat in the ring.

Date: Jan 28, 2006

HA, 1/28/06

http://hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060128/NEWS01/601280310/1002

MSU faculty head: Search for president may be open
By Rachel Leifer

The president of Mississippi State University's Faculty Senate said Friday he is optimistic the search for MSU's next president will not be as secretive as he once feared.

Mark Goodman told the University of Southern Mississippi's Faculty Senate that could set an auspicious precedent for Southern Miss's presidential search - set to begin this fall....

...At an impromptu Thursday night meeting in Starkville, Goodman said Meredith and College Board member Ed Blakeslee invited a group from the MSU Search Advisory Committee to final presidential search deliberations in Jackson.

The finalist will also meet with faculty, students, alumni and other stakeholders during a campus visit, Goodman said.

"At this point, they will be observers," Meredith said through his spokeswoman. "I suspect the (College) Board will ask their opinion from time to time."...

See also CL version of Leifer's story:

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060128/NEWS/601280327/1001/NEWS

Secrecy decried in MSU search
Faculty leader optimistic over planned openness in president interview process

Date: Jan 30, 2006

CL, 1/20/06

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060130/OPINION/601300348

MSU president selection will be done quietly
By Tom Meredith
Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Date: Jan 31, 2006

NE MS DJ, 1/30/06

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=211750&pub=1&div=News

College Board opens up parts of MSU search

1/30/2006 10:06:02 PM
Daily Journal

STARKVILLE - The College Board is dropping some of the secrecy from its search for the new president of Mississippi State University.

In a decision last week, the board agreed to two changes:

n Some members of a search committee will be allowed to sit in on discussions with five finalists for school president.

n The five finalists will visit the Starkville campus to meet with students, faculty and other groups....

..."The change is not because of the public criticism," said Annie Mitchell, College Board spokeswoman. "It's an evolving process ... to make sure we get the best person possible for Mississippi State."...

Date: Feb 2, 2006

..."The change is not because of the public criticism," said Annie Mitchell, College Board spokeswoman. "It's an evolving process ... to make sure we get the best person possible for Mississippi State."...

This quote is priceless. Almost makes me nostalgic (in jest) for the days of Ms. Mader. Almost as funny as a Dilbert cartoon.

Wonder what the going price is these days for a professional flak catcher like Ms. Mitchell? She probably makes more in a week than some poor math or english adjunct makes in a semester. Sorry, in a weak moment I lost my sense of priorities.

Date: Feb 2, 2006

I'll never forget when a professor (now departed) sent the chair (who is still around) an email addressing (tongue-in-cheek) the problem with having anyone tenure track being forced to do this Pink Book thing that took up an extra 15 hours of office hours (had nothing to do with general office hours) for anybody (even just off the street) who might have a question about the program. Apparently this prof and this non-major curious student kept trying to meet, when they finally met, the student only wanted to know the phone number of the accreditation person for teacher educ. The faculty member answered the question, sent the student a few doors down to the accreditation person, and then emailed the chair with a Dilbert clip that seemed to sum up that particular exchange. The swift answer from the chair? A chastisement of the faculty member for not "playing by the rules", a warning that he needed to be more sympathetic to the "hectic nature of the CISE ("MY") central office" and a low-keyed threat that "Dilbert has nothing to do with this situation."

Date: Feb 7, 2006

NE MS DJ

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=212187&pub=1&div=Opinion

EDITORIAL: Judge the results

2/6/2006 3:43:53 AM
Daily Journal

...It's an improvement over the old way, and no doubt a relief to university presidents who are more insulated from the political pressures and individual agendas of College Board members.

But the new structure also unquestionably increases the power and authority of the commissioner, and Meredith has taken that new authority seriously in organizing the search process for the next MSU president....

...Reaction to the secrecy is understandable....

...Mississippi State University supporters and the state's citizens in general deserve one thing: the strongest and most effective leader who can be found for the job. If this new process can produce such a result, that's ultimately all that matters.

Date: Feb 8, 2006

CL, 2/8/06

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/OPINION/602080318/1009

Search process at MSU will produce top-level president

I really hate to take issue with Perspective Editor Sid Salter, for I respect his editorial opinion greatly. But he completely misses the point on the MSU presidential search in his Feb. 1 column ("MSU's search is like growing of mushrooms")...

...I have been a member of the MSU faculty for 42 years; my undergraduate degree is from MSU; and I'm a seventh-generation Mississippian. I have served with six MSU presidents, and I am confident that this search procedure will produce a truly exceptional seventh MSU president with whom I will be proud to serve....

Date: Feb 10, 2006

NE MS DJ

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=212558&pub=1&div=News

Faculty Senate to meet about MSU search process

2/10/2006 5:32:37 AM
Daily Journal

Daily Journal reports

STARKVILLE - Mississippi State University's Faculty Senate will meet at 2 p.m. today to consider adopting a resolution condemning the new MSU presidential search process....