C.L. Letter--USM's Thames can list mistakes - USM Forum -- Message Board

Reporter · Status: Offline

C.L. Letter--USM's Thames can list mistakes

Greg OBrien · Status: Offline

Here is the text - I know I am probably breaking some internet copying rule, but the letter and our dear friend Noel Polk is too good not to quote:

>I'm very glad that, as he nears the end of his reign, Shelby Thames can admit that he is an imperfect man and that he has made mistakes in his years as president of the University of Southern Mississippi ("USM president enters final year of tenure" Aug. 13).

Some cynics might believe that his simultaneous claim that he also has "no regrets" about anything he's done smacks just a little of insincerity, but not me.

I admire his candor and am delighted to learn he's human like the rest of us .

Admitting mistakes is the first step toward asking forgiveness, and I applaud him for making that first step: Clearly he is troubled by those mistakes even if he has no regrets, and I encourage him to take the next step and actually identify the mistakes.

Since he has so clearly beaten the faculty, it would seem easy and profitable to his soul to be generous in victory.

As it stands, we can only speculate: We wonder whether his mistakes include the nine deans he fired without a minute's notice or explanation?

Do they include the dozens, perhaps hundreds of lives and careers his decisions destroyed?

Could they include his attempt to fire and to prosecute in the media Gary Stringer and Frank Glamser, for doing their duty?

Might they also include the excellent programs that his policies came very close to exterminating?

Could they include those productive faculty members who did not get merit raises?

Could they, finally, include the nearly three million Mississippians who had to pay the several hundred thousand dollars he spent to fire and prosecute and then pay Glamser and Stringer when all his accusations went up in smoke, came to absolutely nothing, in front of the judge?

Really, we would all like to know for sure.

Noel Polk

Starkville

Songbird_ · Status: Offline

Memory jogger: Shelby's Regret-Me-Not Page.

Thanks See More, Reporter, info and our francophone friends Monique de Guerre, Hermione Angleterre, and Boudreaux for inspiration. Prof. Polk, thanks to you too.

Interested onlooker · Status: Offline

Thanks to Noel for the terrific letter.

And thanks to Songbird--though reading the list makes me wonder--once again--how in the world was this allowed to happen.

Boudreaux · Status: Offline

Songbird_ wrote:

Memory jogger: Shelby's Regret-Me-Not Page.

Thanks See More, Reporter, info and our francophone friends Monique de Guerre, Hermione Angleterre, and Boudreaux for inspiration. Prof. Polk, thanks to you too.

Tanks fer dat wonderful web page, Songbird. Dat was a good summary, yea.

Thibodeaux n me dont like ya callin dem nice ladies "francophone", no. Yea better stop dat cussin or de Moderator will shut ya down, yea. Ya know dat Thibodeaux like dat Hermione Angleterre; he may have ta pay you a vist wit T-Fred, yea.

Invictus · Status: Offline

Interested onlooker wrote:

...reading the list makes me wonder--once again--how in the world was this allowed to happen.

<RITUAL INVOCATION OF CONSPIRACY THEORY>

It was allowed to happen, because it was exactly what a specific faction on the IHL board wanted to happen. Some of them even claim to be USM "supporters."

Sometimes when I'm in a charitable mood, I think that SFT was a "victim" of the whole process. The board knew his personality & his way of doing things, but chose to allow him to risk trashing the positive aspects of his reputation (grantsmanship, years of commitment to the institution, etc.) to advance their MSU-centric agenda.

</CONSPIRACY THEORY>

-- Edited by Invictus at 15:55, 2006-08-18

-- Edited by Invictus at 15:55, 2006-08-18

Voter · Status: Offline

Invictus wrote:

Interested onlooker wrote:

...reading the list makes me wonder--once again--how in the world was this allowed to happen.

<RITUAL INVOCATION OF CONSPIRACY THEORY>

It was allowed to happen, because it was exactly what a specific faction on the IHL board wanted to happen. Some of them even claim to be USM "supporters."

Sometimes when I'm in a charitable mood, I think that SFT was a "victim" of the whole process. The board knew his personality & his way of doing things, but chose to allow him to risk trashing the positive aspects of his reputation (grantsmanship, years of commitment to the institution, etc.) to advance their MSU-centric agenda.

</CONSPIRACY THEORY>

-- Edited by Invictus at 15:55, 2006-08-18

-- Edited by Invictus at 15:55, 2006-08-18

Yes, Invictus, quite so, quite so--thank you for keeping our cynicism focused.