Post Thames - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Post Thames

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Recoveries R Us wrote:

There is no doubt that Katrina has and will pose many challenges to us all. But, there is another recovery effort that will offer challenges of a different sort, the Post-Thames Recovery. It is not too early to begin the process of thinking about what will need to be done by the new administration in the wake of this current administrative debacle. It will take a huge effort by all to begin the restoration process. The exhaustive list of damage that has been witnessed over the past three years is not the point of this post, but rather the very important list of activities that will assist USM in the Recovery. Let's begin here and be serious about what will need to be done.

Good topic, Recoveries. On another thread, Perot is quoted as saying,

“If you want to build a successful company, you treat people with dignity and respect.

“The principles of leadership never change,” he continued. “The people you work with have to trust you, and you have to earn that trust. You never break a promise and you have to help your people to prosper, just as you want to prosper.”

People at USM have lost their trust, not in SFT, (He never ever had their trust) but in the IHL Board. This leadership thing goes all the way to the top. The IHL needs to realize that USM is a basket case and they need to begin therapy ASAP so there will be something on which the next president can build. I hope I'm wrong, but I think many more people may have to leave before the memory of SFT fades enough for progress to be made.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Our first step will be to get to know the secret president.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Many good things and people are now gone from USM -- and replacing them will take time more than anything else. In one sense what USM has lost is its feeling of trust and community -- the old feeling that the place and its leaders cared about you and what you did. Those of us who remember those days miss them dearly. However, the legions of new faculty only know USM as a place full of suspicion and peril. Changing that will be a major job -- one that will of course begin with the new president. However, it will also be up to us old codgers to do what we can to restore those lost virtues.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

LeftASAP wrote:

People at USM have lost their trust, not in SFT, (He never ever had their trust) but in the IHL Board. This leadership thing goes all the way to the top. The IHL needs to realize that USM is a basket case and they need to begin therapy ASAP so there will be something on which the next president can build. I hope I'm wrong, but I think many more people may have to leave before the memory of SFT fades enough for progress to be made.

Not to be too concrete here about USM's need for therapy, but they do have organizational consultants for just these types of problems.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Recoveries R Us wrote:

There is no doubt that Katrina has and will pose many challenges to us all. But, there is another recovery effort that will offer challenges of a different sort, the Post-Thames Recovery. It is not too early to begin the process of thinking about what will need to be done by the new administration in the wake of this current administrative debacle. It will take a huge effort by all to begin the restoration process. The exhaustive list of damage that has been witnessed over the past three years is not the point of this post, but rather the very important list of activities that will assist USM in the Recovery. Let's begin here and be serious about what will need to be done.

I agree that USM faces many challenges in the Post-Thames recovery effort. Unfortunately, we are still in the midst of the storm. I believe that Thames and his administration are taking every advantage of the situation. We all wanted to make a good (and quiet) end so that we may recruit a good president. Thames seems to be using this as an opportunity to make further changes which will incur further damage. I refer to the recent scandal about his daughter's raise (no matter what, it is perceived as scandalous), and the attack on graduate assistantships. The outcome for outsourcing physical plant looks quite bad for USM employees and for the additional costs for the kinds of things physical plant does when the outsourcing is done. No doubt we'll see even more damage concerning the paltry raises. I still don't know how (or if) our many staff will fare in raises.

Amy Young

Date: Apr 23, 2006

I would like to be optimistic about the future at USM since we all need something to look forward to that is positive. Unfortunately, I do not see positive signals from any source. Even if we get a new president that does not have the negatives of SFT, he/she is highly likely going to come in with an agenda of many changes that they will want to make. Most likely it will be changes that they can paste on their vita to help them find their next job. In the process, they will use up what little energy and commitment is left in the faculty on cosmetic issues. In contrast, we need someone who will work hard to heal riffs, build trust, and move forward slowly with change that faculty will embrace. After some period, faculty will have recuperated to a point where they take on more major changes.

I would hope the presidential search starts by January soon after we hear from SACS. That will signal that SFT is truly a lame duck and should help morale.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Cossack, Amy, and everyone---Do you suggest anything that we far away alums can do to aid in the recovery?

Date: Apr 23, 2006

Contact the IHL and people you know in the community (and in Jackson) who might still have a voice.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

I would agree with Far Away Alum that contact with the IHL Board would help. USM students are now being educated in an environment that is not helpful to them. No matter how much faculty try to not let the turmoil here affect the students, it is impossible for it not to be a factor. When a University President is constantly at war with the faculty at a university, the reason is the President, not the faculty. USM has lost many talented and experienced people. I use the word people because the losses are not just faculty. A large number of the experienced professionals who are responsible for keeping the university operating also have left. They have been replaced with less talented and less experienced people and it shows. The effects fall on students as well as faculty. There is consensus that faculty should not "run" the university. But when a high percentage of faculty vote no confidence in a president, it is a signal that things are going south at that university. No president can create a good university single handedly; it requires the cooperation and support of faculty and staff. Another president in the mode of SFT will further erode USM. The IHL Board is aware of what has transpired and they should be pressured to remedy the situation by recruiting a president that can restore trust and get faculty and staff to provide the discretionary effort that is a must for a university to succeed.

Date: Apr 23, 2006

I agree that contact with the IHL is a must; the Commissioner needs to hear from everyone on a frequent basis; that needs to occur.

Additionally, it seems that some form of contact needs to be made with those who have left USM (faculty, staff, and administration) to get information as to why they left. I think this is very important information that can be beneficial to an incoming president. Furthermore, I know that administrative evaluations are typically forwarded to the IHL, but would not that information be extremely important to a new president?

As well, should there not be some formal inquiry into the retention (or lack thereof) of faculty and staff on the part of a new administration? Department chairs could be a critical component of such an effort (except maybe for one).