campus morale < 1. the state of spirits one finds in a university’s students, faculty and staff; 2. qualitative measure of the mood of a campus, that the institution’s president would usually measure by getting out into the "campus community"and listening to his/her constituents; 3. of course, Shelby Thames likes to use easier-to-gather quantitative surrogates, such as the number of grants and contracts won by a handful of the university’s faculty members and/or the number of student acceptances for the upcoming fall semester.

Evans, Robert C. < 1. Professor of English, Auburn University at Montgomery; 2. supporter of Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer; 3. eloquent writer (many of his op-ed pieces have helped the cause).

grants and contracts < 1. financial support, from government/private sector, of university research; 2. USM gathers about $70 million/year in grants and contracts; 3. not much mention ever by Thames administration about what is being researched and/or why the subject of study is important to the world, only how much money USM is bringing in; 4. a virtual playground (at USM) for Phil Bryant.

Hewes, Billy < 1. Ward 7 Councilman of Gulfport City Council; 2. real estate agent in Gulfport; 3. big supporter of Golden Eagle athletics; 4. big supporter of Shelby Thames; 5. Pushed through a resolution in the Gulfport City Council in support of Thames in April of ‘04; 6. espouses some very intolerant social views (do your own Google search); 7. advocate of branding the foreheads of gays and lesbians; 8. sits on the "day’s work for a day’s pay" side of the current crises at USM; 9. advocate/proponent of Thames authority (actually gave meaning to the governance phrase when he said, "We [USM] need people [faculty] who are going to have some respect for [Thames’] authority." {HA 4/9/04}); 10. supports flying the Confederate battle flag on public grounds; 11. invited by his good friend Shelby Thames to address the USMGC graduating class of ‘04.

quid pro quo < 1. letting Billy Hewes deliver the USMGC commencement address for pushing through a pro-Thames resolution in the Gulfport City Council; 2. letting Blake Hamm deliver the USM commencement address for bringing the Hub SGA into the Thames fold; 3. quid=commencement address and quo=political support.

Thames, Shelby < 1. the current and embattled President of the University of Southern Mississippi who fired two professors without due process and committed countless other egregious acts; 2. "bucket and paddle" scientist; 3. Dome Gnome (his personal favorite); 4. Saddam. 5. Pocket Mussolini; 6. see Napoleon complex; 7. bootyologist; 8. calls Billy Hewes a credit to his community and a great citizen, and was pleased to offer Hewes invitation to address the USMGC class of ‘04.