Patti wrote:

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I recognize only a few of the names, and that's ok.  Do you, as the ones in the trenches feel like its a good committee or are you afraid of being screwed again?  I do have to ask myself if it could be worse than what you currently have.

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One Senator's opinion:

Robin Robinson came and talked to the Senate retreat and virtually every Senator came away hoping she'd chair the search -- and that worked out. She is a strong Southern Miss advocate (to be fair to her, that means that if other Board members act out of school loyalty she's not about to let Southern Miss get screwed). She has clearly learned a lot since her early days on the Board when Klum took her under his wing -- I think it is pretty clear that that backfired and she had educated herself on Board issues. She takes the job seriously. And she listens well, from what I can see.

We know about Virginia -- she's been a fighter in the trenches since early on. And for those who might be disappointed that she did not speak out publically more, I think we see what that patience eventually got: it was under her vice presidency and then presidency that the Board undertook the effort to examine a new governance structure for itself while it looked for a new commissioner. And if I have read the cards right, I have a feeling that all of those changes so undermined Klum that he either resigned voluntarily, having lost credibility, or he was forced out (pure speculation on my part).

Blakeslee has seemed to bring a real no non-sense professionalism to the table and has been very instrumental in helping to shelve a number of stupid or untimely ideas. Word is that it was Blakeslee who proposed delaying the outsourcing vote by a very clever strategy of proposing a system-wide survey of the issue . . . . effectively (we hope) killing that for at least this year until a new administration can look at it.

Don't know Owen at all --- perhaps someone else can comment.

Ross has been a State booster since early on and. along with Roy, managed to get overly involved in a number of issues that a more policially savvy and distanced Board member would have stayed clear of. My personal opinion is that with Roy's leaving, the he has been effectively neutralized.

I think this is a good Board for us -- three very strong people, one unknown, and a neutralized State booster whose presence will lend credence to the concept that the Board Search Committee is not composed simply of USM boosters. The truth is that the USM folks, from what I can see, have always taken the idea of trying to be impartial seriously, and the State supporters on the Board have been pretty open about acting on behalf of their university -- and have gotten away with it in the past.  That is one reason why their is still resentment among some state alums against Meredith -- they may talk aout transparency but the truth is that he forced powerful people out of the driver's seat -- they simply were not able to control the search.

We've talked in the Senate long and hard -- lots of arguments -- about how hard to continue to press for complete openness. In the end, we have not only to balance a series of very compelling arguments from the commissioner for the present system with our desire for openness, but we also have to balance that against the last "open" search -- which everyone knows wasn't open at all. After watching the state search, and taking into account the adjustments being made in the search process to include more of the Campus Advisory Board on the late stages of the search, I think there are more reasons to trust Meredith and his process than reasons not to trust him and it. I realize that is a tough thing for many people to swallow and I can understand it, but that is certainly the way I feel at this moment.

The Senate, believing that we have had a part (along with the AAUP) in showing Dr. Meredith that faculty at USM, despite having a rough four years, are dedicated, thoughtful, and rational even though we have plenty of reason for anger. In other words, we have estabished a basis for mutual, if cautious trust. Meredith knows that he is not only staking his own integrity on this process, but he is staking the integrity of the process itself on this effort, and to a lesser extent, Alcorn. I'm actually thankful to be in a position where I can say that I believe we have more reasons to trust him than not to trust him -- we have not been in that position for a very long time.

This is not to say that we should abandon our caution, that we should negotiate respectfully for every concession we can get to the things we believe to be true which we believe will help ensure a good search and a great outcome. The important thing is that we are at the table -- that the commissioner for higher education has met with the AAUP and came to the USM campus to visit with faculty Senate (I'm not sure if that has ever happened before) and that he has acknowleged publically talking directly to faculty leadership -- when has a commissioner or a Board ever done that? Not in my eight years here.

 Meredith has made several impassioned talks on the theme of our responsibility to the State to educate its students and to do it well. And he has made it clear (at least rhetorically) that he does not like and won't tolerate territorialism if it gets in the way of that goal. Its a lofty ideal -- and of course, every leader who publically commits to such an ideal is putting a target on his or her back. But I admire that and and glad that at least someone finally has the guts to stand up for the right things -- it means he has given us a direction, and he has asked that we judge him by a standard that he has set for himself and for us. In my book, that is refreshing.

Sorry to be long winded  . . .  I'll get off the soap box. This is such an opportunity for us -- I hope that we can unite as a community to make it work.

H.A.--Board names panel to find USM chief

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060930/NEWS01/609300304

"Members of the Southern Miss Faculty Senate said that given the Board Search Committee announced last week to replace the late Clinton Bristow at Alcorn State University, these appointments are no surprise - but they are certainly welcome.

"I'm very pleased, especially about Robin Robinson, who cares very deeply for the University of Southern Mississippi," said Amy Young, who sits on the senate's executive committee.

"It sounds like a good team."