Subj: THE FIRING OF PROFESSOR GARY STRINGER
Date: 3/17/04 5:28:23 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: (email address withheld)

To: ssharpe@ihl.state.ms.us


Dear Ms. Sharpe,

When I began reading the article in the current _Chronicle of Higher Education_ about two professors being fired at the University of Southern Mississippi, I thought to myself, "oh, that's where Gary Stringer teaches."  Imagine my astonishment, then, when I discovered that Gary Stringer is one of the professors who has been terminated.  Frankly, when I read this news, my jaw literally dropped.  I simply could not, and cannot, believe that this has been allowed to happen.  Gary Stringer has done more to enhance the international prestige and visibility of USM than any other professor I am aware of, at least in the field of literary studies; his pioneering work on the _Variorum Edition_ of the works of John Donne will be remembered and valued long after your current president is forgotten. 

I have, indeed, often wondered why Professor Stringer had not been hired away by a more "prominent" university long ago, since his work is so incredibly highly valued in the field of literary studies.  I just assumed that he continued working in Hattiesburg because he was happy there and was so totally devoted to his scholarship and teaching that a change of location did not matter to him.  USM has been extremely fortunate to have a faculty member of his caliber on its staff.

I should also emphasize that Professor Stringer is valued not simply for his scholarly work but also for his personal reputation.  He is one of the kindest, most thoughtful, most honest, most scrupulous and deliberate people I have ever encountered, in or out of academe, and he is universally respected as such by his colleagues in the field.  Gary Stringer will have no trouble finding another position if his dismissal from USM is upheld, but USM will have become a laughing stock in the eyes of academics around the world.  I write to protest his firing in the strongest possible terms, and I urge wiser minds at the university to reinstate him as soon as possible and with full apologies.  I guarantee you that this case is being watched by admirers of Professor Stringer, and by advocates of academic integrity, at colleges throughout the nation and the world.

Please reinstate Gary Stringer; doing so will be the right thing not only for him but especially for USM and its students.

Respectfully,

Robert C. Evans

University Alumni Professor
Distinguished Research Professor
Distinguished Teaching Professor

Auburn University Montgomery