In early 2004, Thames made an effort to fire Glamser and Stringer based on their participation in an investigation of A. Dvorak and her vita. Thames locked the professors out of their offices and initiated termination procedures. The university, including faculty, staff, students, and others, was consumed by this act. The FireShelby message board was born. The faculty senate voted no confidence by a vote of something like 40-0, with one senator later publicly changing her vote after the fact. The flip-flopper was not a CoB senator. When the campus-wide no confidence vote rolled around, by and large CoB faculty turned out to vote no confidence. I didn't know Glamser or Stringer personally, but I voted no confidence anyway, because I felt that they were being mistreated, based on the information I could gather. They didn't work in my building. They didn't live in my neighborhood. They didn't attend my church. They didn't play racketball (or any other sport) with me. I took time to find out all I could about the situation. The FireShelby board was invaluable. I read it every day but never posted. I didn't know Glamser and Stringer, but I supported them because they were, based on everything I could find out, being mistreated by the Thames administration. As we know, the hearing ended with a settlement.

In the 2005-2006 school year, Grimes announced a plan that would pull graduate assistantship funds from colleges without doctoral programs and reallocate them to colleges with doctoral programs. This meant the CoB would lose GA's to other colleges. CoB posters complained on this board, but the loss of GA's was overshadowed by the Psychology situation (see below). Little support was forthcoming from non-CoB posters, and CoB posters became upset at the lack of solidarity shown. In fact, it seemed that many posters were reveling in the thought of the CoB losing resources.

Also in 2005-2006, Psychology professors held a meeting with Thames to air grievances regarding the fact that Psychology lines were going unfilled while CISE was being handed more lines than it needed. Pierce seemed to be selling Psychology out to curry favor with S. Thames and D. Thames. By and large, CoB faculty supported Psychology, though a few CoB posters vented their bitterness over the concurrent lack of support in the CoB GA situation (see above) on this message board.

In spring 2006 CoB posters began presenting stories about CoB corruption and mismanagement by Doty. Non-CoB posters bristled and asked for proof. Proof was forthcoming in the form of copy and paste emails from Doty to CoB faculty, yet these exhibits were ignored or dismissed. Calls began for the CoB posters to start their own board and leave this board.

Now, in summer 2006, some CoB faculty have apparently created a plethora of documentation taken primarily from public records. They have exposed ill-conceived evaluation processes, misallocation of state funds, and deceit in the CoB administration. Documents are available at www.USMPRIDE.com, and many of them contain citations of sources. Posting has been very nasty as those who do not want change fight those who do (which oddly enough reminds me of some of the troll battles that occurred before Thames received his one-year extension). A quasi-administrator has admitted that flawed information and a flawed process were used in the 2006 merit raise process. Yet, non-CoB posters are calling for registration for the message board and a ban on CoB topics, citing nastiness of threads and ignorance of topics discussed. Dupree is asked where he was during Glamser and Stringer, and board regulars pile on. I have to question truth4USM's perception when she replies that she "doesn't drink coffee." Ray Charles could see that Dupree was asking for a parlay in a friendly way. She insults his statement about providing information piecemeal because what she doesn't know is that he has storage buildings full of documents attained through many FOIA/MORA requests, some of which he has had to sue to obtain.

We helped you vindicate Glamser and Stringer whether we knew them or not because it was the right thing to do. We helped you send a message to the IHL. Now you're tired of hearing about CoB problems, you refuse to educate yourself when information is available, and you want us to go away now that we've outlived our usefulness. By and large, you failed to support us when we were losing GAs. By and large, you failed to support us when Doty was pulling dirty deals and perverting the promotion system. Now, by and large, you are failing to support a movement that could expose years of corruption perpetrated by many administrators at the CoB and university levels (and perhaps in CoAL, CoST, CoH, and CoEP as well). The CoB Mob is attempting a catharsis that will, when successful, cleanse the CoB of many corrupt persons in positions of authority. It's just too nasty for you to even be associated with.

Nobody's asking you to rally, to meet, to fight, to stand up against anyone, or to go to a public vote and show your face as you drop your ballot. All anybody on the CoB Mob side of the argument is asking is that you review the documents, think about them, and ask some questions as the opportunity arises. The Doty supporters may want more, like faith and belief in their righteousness and superiority. All the CoB Mob wants is for you to consider what you see and ask yourself a few tough questions.