The Chronicle of Higher Education's 2004-5 Almanac Issue is out today. USM alone gets nearly half of the narrative devoted to describing the state of higher education in Mississippi.

"Elsewhere, the president of the University of Southern Mississippi, Shelby F. Thames, angered many professors and others on the campus when, in March, he suspended with paid two tenured professors and began procedures to terminate their employment. Francis D. Glamser, a professor of sociology and the president of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said that he and Gary A. Stringer, a professor of English, had been suspended because of their involvement with the AAUP's investigation of the academic credentials of Angeline Dvorak, the university's vice president for research. The university did not say what the professors had done to warrant their suspensions.

After the president moved to dismiss the professors, many faculty members and others on the campus called for Mr. Thames's resignation, and the Faculty Senate issued a unanimous vote of no confidence in him. In April a settlement was reached between Mr. Thames and the two professors. The professors, who were nearing retirement, would be paid their full salaries for two years but would not teach and would no longer have offices on the campus. The professors also agreed not to criticize the university administration publicly.

In a controversial move, the higher-education board in April approved a bachelor's degree in tourism that included an emphasis on managing casinos and resorts. The program was to be offered at the Gulf Park campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

A state senator asked state officials to look into the legality of the board's move. Opponents of having public universities offer courses on gambling cited a state law that said no entity that teaches or trains gambling employees could be located on publicly owned property or at a public school. But the board argued that it had broad enough authority under the state Constitution. The attorney general, Jim Hood, pledged to make sure that a state court would decide whether universities could teach gaining management courses before fall 2004 semester began." (page 66)