From April 12, 2002:

(Hopefully, this excerpt is OK to post since it is over two years old and is only a part of a larger article.)

A REAL SEARCH? Mississippi is overflowing with presidential finalists this month.

Members of the state's higher-education board are seeking new leaders for three public universities, and trustee committees have picked finalists for two of them. But the search at the University of Southern Mississippi is controversial. Faculty members protest that an insider has clinched the job and that the search isn't serious. Shelby F. Thames, a professor of polymer science at the university, has been endorsed for the job by an influential local businessman and by athletics boosters. Mr. Thames declines to comment.

The local chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Faculty Senate have written to the board to complain that the search is an empty formality. They also protest that the interview schedule does not give professors time to compare the candidates.

Virginia Shanteau Newton, the trustee overseeing the search, denies that a decision has already been made. The other finalists are Terry L. Hickey, provost of the University of Akron, and Ann Weaver Hart, provost of Claremont Graduate University. Ms. Hart is also a finalist in the presidential search at the University of New Hampshire.

The Mississippi board is seeking a replacement for Horace W. Fleming, who quit last year after the trustees offered him a one-year probationary contract, rather than a full-fledged renewal, because they said they disapproved of his management style.