Include the staff, I say.

Faculty, ARE YOU LISTENING?????????????????????

Another no confidence vote should make things very clear to the administration that Thames must go.

He also said it was acquired illegally. Both charges are completely false. The university's official charges against G&S make no mention of illegal behavior with respect to the Social Security number. The Jackson attorneys knew better. Is Mr. Klumb that out of touch with the facts? If he were correct, would the Board have settled?

This is unreal...faculty, staff, and students MUST respond to this lunacy!  This is the most ridiculous thing I have every witnessed...where is the balance on this show??  Are faculty from USM represented???  This must be addressed!  Faculty, please speak up!

A total misrepresentation of the issues. He just declared war on the tenure process. We can't sit back. I, too, was not sure that another no confidence vote should occur; now I am sure that it must!!

NO QUARTER!!!!!!!

As faculty members, Glamser and Stringer can vote. They just can't talk.

Author: IWW

Date: 13 min, 11 sec.
Views: 17
| Quote |
RE: our job now: What, Then, Must Be Done?

The time for speeches is past. Now is the time for the discussion of tactics. Now is the time for action.

If we are as united and determined as it appears on this site--intelligent, accomplished people risking censure, harassment and termination from the junta, expressing a cogent and consistent reading of the crisis and the "settlement"--the time may have come to think about civil disobedience and direct action. And we must decide soon.

The summer semester approaches and this will mark a pronounced change in the atmosphere on campus as students depart and most faculty withdraw to their studies and travels. In this atmosphere the SJT PR machine will have free rein to spin history to its liking. Further, the compostion of the IHL Board is changing. The new IHL President is, demonstrably, a Thames-ian. The "settlement," Present Professor's optimism aside, was crafted to give the impression that Frank and Gary were guilty and plead to a lesser charge. All of these factors militate against any but the most direct and forceful action on the part of those who want to rescue USM from the current despotism.

What other coures remains to us? We sought justice through our faculty governing organizations, but to no avail. Our wishes went unheeded. We demonstrated, with remarkable restraint, wrote fine, biting letters and made reasonable, cogent arguments in every available venue. But no one noticed. We sought formal redress through the institution. The institution, in the form of the IHL, failed us, failed USM, its students, faculty and staff, and, worse, failed the legacy of free speech, democratic self government and intellectual inquiry to which hundred of us here, thousands, have dedicated our lives. Now Frank and Gary are banned from seeking redress in the courts. From what quarter, then, will relief come?

We must decide, and soon. Time is on the side of villainy here. Justice deferred will be justice undone.

Will Watson


I thought this needed to be here.

I'm writing the letters to the editor as we speak!

As a suggestion on the organization for getting the word out on a vote this week, use a phone tree.

One professor calls 5 others, in turn they call 5 each and before long everyone knows about it. And yes, someone would have to have the names of the faculty to do that. But if each person is given 5 names 96 people can get the job done in one night.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Flash Gordon
"We already have two lopsided votes. It won't get any stronger. We need to get the word out about Klumb's statements to the faculty and state. Newspaper editors need the details."

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This is correct.  I wonder if Dave Elliott's show is transcripted.  I didn't tape it.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Flash Gordon
"We already have two lopsided votes. It won't get any stronger. We need to get the word out about Klumb's statements to the faculty and state. Newspaper editors need the details."

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I agree...the time for voting is over.  I'm with Will Watson...it's now time for some sort of real action.  Civil disobedience sounds like a good idea in general, but what specific form would it take?  It just seems to have gone beyond writing letters to the editors, etc.  What about a big sign on the Liberal Arts Bldg. that says "NO QUARTER--FIRE THAMES."  I'm all for big public displays, at this point.

I just sent Dave Elliott the following email:

 

Dear Mr. Elliott:

Thank you for your show tonight. I am sure many of us here at USM are appreciative of the time you devoted to this issue of great concern for us. I hope that in the future you also might be able to get Ms. Newton to talk as well, although I know she tends to be more restrained than Mr. Klumb in speaking to public.

I'd like to make several corrections to some things Mr. Klumb said:

1. He three times accused Gary Stringer and Frank Glamser of committing a crime, and he cited the ss number as an example. I believe that the testimony of Glamser and Stringer at the very least places the issue of the ss number as something which they successfully contested. In any case, the outcome of the hearing made no determination that there was any crime committed. The hearing, however, did enjoin the professors to silence. Roy Klumb, in accusing them of a crime after the hearing has been resolved is attacking two men who have in effect been bound and gagged from answering. I think this is highly unethical -- particularly from a member of the Board. Is this supposed to heal the wounds? In effect it delivers a message to professors: even if you win your case you can be vilified in public and your credibility ruined. If that isn't a definition of intimidation then I don't know what is.

2. The reason faculty have an interest in Dr. Dvorak's vita and her credentials is that she sits on tenure and promotion committees. There is a well established process by which such committees are appointed, ensuring that the members of such committees themselves have the requisite credentials. Dr. Dvorak's appointment not only subverted that process, but Dr. Dvorak's credentials do not support her prescence on the committee. Her academic history is particularly undistinguished. She would not be a tenurable faculty member in an academic department at USM. Administrative tenure appointments at most universities of which I am aware do not sit on tenure and promotion committees. I believe that in the Mississippi University system there are no administrative appointments -- I believe administrators wishing tenure apply to a home department and go through the usual tenure process all faculty go through. Mr. Klumb's ignorance (or his deliberate obfucation on this issue) is shameful.

Finally, I agree with you that this is not over. For us, nothing has changed. We still have  a climate of fear and intimidation on campus. Our email is still monitored. We have a "Risk Manager" (now linked to the AG's office) who attends Faculty Senate meetings and whose presence is clearly regarded as an effort to intimidate Senators from speaking freely. (The university counsel has never done this, attending only when requested by the Senate to clarify points of information). I could go on.

I'm sorry to go on so long. I am a associate professor of twenty five years. I have taught at six different institutions from private to public; from liberal arts to research university; from women's college to coed; from New York to Mississippi. I have never seen anything like this: in the world of academia -- as you yourself note -- this presidency at USM is highly irregular. It has deeply wounded the reputation we were successfully building. Mr. Klumb cites polymer science as an example of glowing success, but I can assure you that as the success of polmer science grows, other areas of the university lag and fall into disrepair.

Unless Dr. Thames goes, and very soon, the two years will stretch to four and those four years will take a generation of scholars and teachers to repair.

quote:

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Originally posted by: usmstudent
"I too e-mailed Mr. Elliot, thanking him for this enlightening interview with Mr. Klumb, though it was no so eliquently written as your letter.  (Sorry, but I am maor in the Biology Dept., not in Liberal Arts.  My writing skills are decent, but it would take me a week or two of revising to write so wonderfully!)  Thank you for sharing such an beautiful letter and KEEP WRITING!  "

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Thank you but YOUR letter, coming from a student (especially in the sciences) will be much more significant than mine. And I am sure that it is cogent, concise, and very passionate -- in other words everything it needs to be. Thank you for taking action.

NO QUARTER

quote:

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Originally posted by: usmstudent
"I will begin drafts of letters to others who have influence in this situation, but where should I start?  Any ideas on who to write about Mr. Klumb?"

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The Board (members addresses are available on the FS site) -- especially Virginia Shanteau Newton.

Your representatives: especially if you are from this area. The politicos have a lot of of concern about uSM

Try Bobby Chain: he was a Board Member and President; Mayor of Hattiesburg; former supporter of Thames who has come out against him. Still has a lot of clout: (The "Chain" science and technology building.

Anyone else out there for usmstudent? I'm retiring to go to bed. Way too late for me these days.

Keep up the fight -- believe me your efforts are appreciated. And pass all your classes biostudent!

Best wishes.

Thanks for the help!

The one true statement:

NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BLINK!!!

NO QUARTER!

It now is obvious that G/S would never have gotten a fair shake from the board.  This must have been what was going on with Anderson.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
"Present Professor is right about not trying to organize a general faculty meeting just now. One advantage that administrators have always had over faculty is that general faculty meetings are hard to organize.  462 faculty, out of something like 540 total, is probably a USM record. Administrators can also slip through nasty measures during the summer, when 9-month faculty are off campus or not paying close attention, and the students are off campus. It's best to work through the faculty bodies that are meeting now, and introduce the kinds of resolutions Present Professor was talking about. Futher planning would be a good idea: For instance, does the Faculty Senate meet in the summer?  If not, maybe a couple of summer meetings need to be added to the schedule this year. Does the Faculty Senate have a contingency plan, in case Shelby Thames tries to dissolve it?  (He came within a hair of dissolving the Faculty Senate already.  If the Senate applies more pressure to him, he almost certainly will do iso n the future.) I mean a plan for meeting off campus, holding elections off campus, and so on. Some other faculty bodies may also want to be making contingency plans. Meanwhile, students need to be putting the heat on the SGA to question Thames' policies.  (And to make its own plans, in case Thames moves to dissolve it.  If the SGA does begin to challenge him, Thames will turn on it instantly.) Remember, too, that while Klumb needs to be blasted, and blasted hard, Shelby Thames remains the number one concern.  Thames needs to come out of the Dome and make more provocative pronouncements to the media.   Those who write letters criticizing Klumb should include remarks about Thames apparently being unwilling to speak for himself. Robert Campbell"

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Good strategies Bob. The faculty Senate meets in June and breaks until August but there has already been some discussion of convening summer meetings. It does not yet have a contingency plan, but that is on the table as well.

We are also very worried about the summer -- we already have one precedent of this administration acting behind the scenes during the summer.

Senate meets Friday -- will announce any actions it takes if I am at liberty to do so.

It is a shame that alumni can't have a say in any of this!!  Why is the Alumni Association sitting around and doing nothing?