http://www.clarionledger.com/misc/blogs/ssalter/sidblog.html

Alcorn State presidential search

IHL Commissioner Tom Meredith went to great lengths to explain to Alcorn State University stakeholders that a screening committee would review all presidential applications during the presidential search to replace the late Clinton Bristow.
He pointed to Mississippi State, which he said had a good result from the secretive process used there. Gen. Foglesong has turned out to be dynamic president, but the search process and the screening committee were farces.
Meredith, his hired gun consultant and the College Board will have the final say. If the search committee fails to recommend the candidate they want to hire, they will simply bypass the screening committee's recommendations and install their own candidate. Meredith won't deny that, because he can't.
In essence, the screening committee is a dog and pony show signifying nothing. The process simply legitimizes the backdoor hiring of presidential contenders regardless the opinions of the screening committee.
That's what happened at State. That's what will happen at ASU and at the University of Southern Mississippi.