Yes, "Mr. McCormack" has required the library employees at Cox Library to call him that, and, yes, they have a dress code of no denim. 

He has always played to the "political" ways on the coast.  Now he'll play it in Hattiesburg. 

I would bet my last dollar he'll be dropping the "interim" real soon.  We'll see if I'm correct.

if we need the commissioner to tell a new president how to conduct searches, not only do we not have the right president but we are asking for a degree of board micromanagement that will further mire this university in mediocrity.

Amy Young wrote:

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I hope that Faculty Senate and AAUP can begin to make it clear to the commissioner that we need national/international searches not just for president, but bor CFO, university librarian, provost, and director/dean (whatever) of the graduate office (school, whatever). Hopefully, alumni and other USMsupporters will see that such new searches will benefit the university as well as south Mississippi.

Amy Young

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Amy,

This type of transparency, while the norm at other, "good" universities (notice the comma between "other" and "'good'"), is exactly what the good-ol-boy network cannot allow. A truly qualified candidate for president might not allow the status quo (nepotism, cronyism, service to the special interests) to continue. During my time at USM, I have determined that one thing is more important than political leaning, skin color, gender, orientation, pedigree, etc., and that one thing is money. A lot of people at USM will sell their mothers if the price is right, and the situation that PERS has created means that there is a fraction of the USM population that will do whatever is necessaryto make sure that they get raises, promotions, etc., to boost that retirement income.

Any new president who attempts to institute a merit-based system will be met with resistance from this fraction of the faculty and staff, who long ago settled into a routine of trading teaching, research, and service for favors to those in power. The vast majority of faculty are either too new or too disorganized to do much about all this. A poster commented several days ago something like "I'm not sure anobody in CoAL has ever gotten a substantive raise based on their research." This comment goes to the heart of my point. If productive people aren't being rewarded, then that's a sign of trouble. Where is that money going? Probably to a friend of the administration/gool-ol-boy network who is in his or he last five years for PERS.

Asking for an outside search is the right thing to do, but I will be surprised if we actually get one. Even if the "Conspiracy Theory" isn't at work, there is too much money flowing from USM to certain local interests to allow the possibility that an outsider might muck all that up. I hope AAUP, Faculty Senate, and others will continue to bring this necessity to the forefront. However, I would also like to see these groups working to build a recommendation list that will be presented publicly to the commissioner and the IHL. Some names have been bandied about on this message board, but are those individuals willing to serve?

This time around, the USM faculty needs to have a concrete and publicized agenda of what we want in a new president. That agenda needs to be printed in the Hattiesburg American, the Sun Herald, and the Clarion Ledger as an op-ed piece so that the people of Mississippi will know what we want. IF we don't get it, then there will be the record. IF by some chance we do get what we want, then it will be up to us to support that person publicly, even if that person isn't perfect; he or she will probably be a heck of a lot better than what we have now.

Unfortunately, though, that very politically astute fraction of our faculty has years of practice making deals and calling favors to get what they want. Add to that the fact that the USM alumni seems to be hell-bent on having basket-weaving curricula, as long as the sports are "big time," and we probably won't get much help from that group in our effort to get an academic president.

The only hope for USM is that the state will buck trends and offer a buyout for faculty near retirement so that some of this perverse PERS greed can be neutralized. Otherwise, a halfway decent president will fall prey to the good-ol-boy network, just as Fleming did.

1/2/Go

crinkle wrote:

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 Those who work at Cook have recited a laundry list of possible substantial changes in the library's focus, goals and activities - as soon as I have those substantiated, I'll post them. I do understand that he has told faculty his number 1 goal is to work "closely with the university administration."

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Here's one: remember that the Gulf Coast Library was going to turn over a whole floor to the Economic Development/MBA folks (or something like that) with this guy's approval, how about a whole floor, or substantial portion of one, devoted to a "Math Lab" (no, not meth lab).  He says it will be good "to curry favor with the Administration" since Rex Gandy wants it.  The thought that a library needs to "curry favor" with a university Administration is so reflective of the anti-intellectual environment espoused by Thames ("Why do we need a library?").  IHL gods: please give us a real university president who understands academic development.

Question: Why do we need a math lab (in the library) that is 6 times bigger than the largest computer lab on campus?

Because there is no place else to put it? Besides, math is one of the areas the US is falling behind in. How are you using the word space? Physical stations or square footage? If it is footage, just trow some money at it and build a wall.

"trow some money at it and build a wall" and voila! you have more space. Interesting.

No build a wall to cut the large space into 2 spaces one sufficient to hold the lab stations and one for another use. And in your words, "VOILA!!!!" the lab is no langer 6 times bigger!!

Angeline wrote:

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Here's one: remember that the Gulf Coast Library was going to turn over a whole floor to the Economic Development/MBA folks (or something like that) with this guy's approval, how about a whole floor, or substantial portion of one, devoted to a "Math Lab" (no, not meth lab).  He says it will be good "to curry favor with the Administration" since Rex Gandy wants it. 

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As I understand it, the creation of a "Math Lab" is an essential part of a move to transform MAT 099 (Mathematics for Crustaceans) from a lecture-based course to a computer-centered one. I sincerely doubt that any member of the mathematics department who has been around for more than one year has any involvement with a plan to seize library space for any purpose. In fact, outside a very small "Rat Pack", most of us in the department have very little say even in "local" matters of any importance.

Word is it that McCormack will have a full staff meeting on the 27th to announce his agenda.

Already rumors are flying that big changes are being made. Mary Beth Applin was passed over for a promotion to head of reference. The new head of the reference department will be a fairly new hire.

Also, Mr "no more money for new books" supposedly gave a certain Thames-loyal web librarian a raise of well over ten thousand dollars.

I smell a whole lot of politics already brewing over there in the interim university librarian's office. Looks like he wants to run off more librarians. Especially Mary Beth Applin.

Hmm, I wonder why?

Library Watcher wrote:

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Also, Mr "no more money for new books" supposedly gave a certain Thames-loyal web librarian a raise of well over ten thousand dollars.

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I hope you do not mean the person I know who received a raise. That person is as anti-SFT as they come. I am as surprised (as she or he was) that a raise was proffered. 

Cossack, it's not that we're tired of the discussion per se, it's the ugliness, mud-slinging, name-calling, nasty tone of much of the discussion that we're tired of. When I saw the posts above about salary and who's loyal to whom, I thought, "oh mercy, here we go again."