That rumor didn't start with Shelby Thames' hiring.  I've been hearing complaints about USM being treated as the "country cousin" all my life.  And the talk of streamlining education in the state to do away with duplicate programs has been going on almost as long.  Of course, if this is the agenda, USM gets the short end of the stick with such strong favoritism toward Ole Miss among the powers that be in our state.

Yes, I heard the rumor that knocking Liberal Arts down a few notches was part of the plan in giving Thames the job.  And I heard that IHL has basically gotten what they wanted with so many quality professors leaving.

Like all good conspiracy theories, I'd say there is a grain of truth.  But the situation is more complicated than that. 

What we know to be fact is that we only have one person on the College Board with a degree from USM.  And that person is the only one to have voted against Thames.