quote:

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Originally posted by: dr. bice
"Don't go away mad, just go away."

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quote:

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Originally posted by: Anon and Mrs. Tintorus
"...I brag on our faculty and staff at every opportunity."

...except those whom I accuse of criminal conduct..."

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For those faculty, I have a special torture device known as "using the taxpayers' money to slander them in the media and drag them through legal h***"

GO BACK TO THE POLYMER PALACE, SHELBY!!!!

Shelby,

This letter heals no wounds; nor does it save your A$$.  If you think that we will stop with Hanbury, you are sadly, woefully mistaken.

This "unruly mob" has its sights set on the dome.  We won't rest until you are gone.  Start packing.

FS

Shelby lies!  Show us how $2,000,000 transferred from Adminstration to "the classroom!"  That's a load of crap intended for the general public audience.  We have more administrators at higher salaries than before.  We have many fewer faculty members with the highest student-teacher ratio among the Big Three schools in the state.  What good are raises if there is no fair & equitable process to actually reward those who deserve it?  That so-called faculty incentive program is for faculty in Polymer Science only - quit acting like it applies anywhere else.  What about the lower admissions standards?  Do you seriously think that USM would not have received those research dollars whether or not Shelboo was president?  This is same bs that Shelby & Mader have been spouting all along.  Go home to your economic devlopment cave and leave EDUCATION to those who know how to do it!

G--damn this makes me mad.

quote:

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Originally posted by: IceCreamCone
"Someone must verify this immediately (I did not get it in campus mail) and we need a point-by-point rebuttal (Jim Hollingworth?) for the media ASAP."

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I can verify that I have received it from three credible sources in my inbox.  One source is VERY connected to this administration.  I believe it is real.

Can't guarantee it, but from what I see, it appears to be bona fide.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Douglas Chambers
"If this is legitimate, I do not doubt that SFT's ends are well-intentioned, but his means are unsound. As nearly all Liberal Arts majors learn in Philosophy 101 (or its equivalent), the ends do not justify the means.

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Here, here.  It's not what he does, it's HOW he does it.  The ideas espoused in his letter are not unique to USM.  However, as other universities have similar "strategic plans" or "visions" or whatever you want to call it similar to those ST's is beholden to, they don't have the same "growing pains". 

It's because of the way decisions are made and actions are carried out that has this university roiled!

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Originally posted by: Robert Campbell
"Fire Shelby, When you get a chance, can you put this letter from Thames in a linkable location on your site. I'll have to read it more closely, but I'm quite familiar with presidential lies about money being redirected "to the classrooms" from the Big Reorg at Clemson (1994-1995).  I never could figure out who they think they're fooling with that kind of crap; it doesn't impress legislators. I'd like to refer to it in my next entry on Liberty and Power (I'll need to do at least a quick one soon, now that the College Board seems to be wimping out). Robert Campbell"

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Robert, I will be doing some updates on the site tonight...have been away all day, so I have lots to do.  Yes, I will update with a linkable copy of this.

By the way, I have to tell you that you and USM Sympathizer are our two greatest out-of-state, non-USM, supporters.  You guys are appreciated more than you know.

Dear Shelboo,

You forgot to append the now-customary caution at the end of your email warning that, as evidenced by your testimony at the special hearing last week, all email at USM is subject to surveillance by the Office of the President and may in fact be read by third parties and even disclosed to the public without the originator's permission.

By the way, what about that $500,000 that was required simply to cover the cost of the "restructuring"?  And, c'mon, how much of the supposed $2 million in "savings" actually went to classroom instruction anyway?  Where did you get the money to hire all of those Kentucky folks?  I'm from the Bluegrass State but I haven't gotten my Kentucky ol' boy raise from you.  When do we get a full accounting?  And why is it that I can never seem to find chalk in the classrooms any more?  Oh yeah, and where did you get that new crystal service in your house?  Who paid for that?  And do the Dvorak's pay you rent?  Since I'm from Kentucky, do they need any help finding cheap housing there?  NO QUARTER.

Here is a preliminary response to Shelboo's letter. I hope it is of some use.

Dear students, faculty, staff, supporters and friends of Southern Miss,

The University of Southern Mississippi has experienced some difficult times recently. I regret that some of the changes made since I've become President of this fine university have generated controversy. However, I have been associated with Southern Miss for more than 40 years, and I assure you it has never been my intention to cause our university harm or unrest. Actually,
quite the opposite.

The “fine university” is less fine today than it was two years ago. The atmosphere for students and faculty is corrosive. The loss of quality faculty is a torrent. The “changes” were made without input from the best academic minds on the campus.

When I became president of Southern Miss, our university was financially strapped. It was imperative that we resolve our financial challenges in order to ensure our status as a Carnegie Research Extensive University and to keep jobs from being lost. I have responded to these issues

You have wasted money in unnecessary superficial changes the give the appearance of change without really affecting positive movement. You have hired people like Jack Hanury, Lisa Mader, Angie Dvorak, Mark Dvorak, Elliott Pood, and others who are unqualified for the posts they hold. You have begun to eviscerate the faculty with a economically insignificant insistence on higher teaching loads that, be definition, dreduce the ability of faculty to do the research and writing that qualify the university for the Carnegie status and other similar marks of quality.  At the same time there has been a substantial reduction in the standards for admission to the university, and a narrowing of the university’s academic and intellectual interests.

As president, I have enacted decisions and strategic moves to ensure, not only that we would not regress, but that we would actually gain ground in the academic and financial arenas. My first move was to reorganize our academic structure so that the majority of our assets were being utilized in the classrooms and the laboratories rather than on administrative costs. The plans for reorganization took more than six months and were well thought out, and thoroughly researched. The reorganization, though not popular to some, allowed the reallocation of more than $2 million from administrative costs to the classrooms.

This is public relations fodder—there is NO evidence that the reorganization saved money; in fact, a careful audit of the full cost of the reorganization, including construction costs, new administrative costs (doesn’t everyone understand that an administrator at USM makes three times the starting salary of a new professor, and usually twice as much or more than the highest paid, most decorated, most highly regarded professorial faculty?), printing and reorganization costs, PR and advertising costs, legal fees, job search costs, administrative hiring (in liberal arts alone the dean’s office went from a staff of two or three to a staff of eight of more, depending on how you count ‘em—there was never a clearer evidence of “empire building” than Pood’s takeover of the Philosophy Department’s and other offices for his new staff and support personnel (including the unimaginably useless “chick with the chocolates).  And it’s impossible to verify that any monies were redirected to the classrooms, though it seems that if there are now fewer classes, taught by fewer faculty, the claim that funds were transferred to the classroom seems highly suspect.

While we continued to strengthen our financial status, we also developed incentive pay programs to reward faculty and staff. Furthermore, we established additional excellence in teaching and research awards totaling more than $60,000.

This is window dressing.  More to the point would be to keep quality faculty by raising salaries across the board until they match or come close to regional and national standards.

Additionally, mid-year raises were awarded for two consecutive years, and though this process came under criticism and scrutiny,
I am proud that we were able to reserve sufficient monies in these difficult financial times to reward many of our faculty members.

Again, a “stealth” process by which rewards were given to a few for their support of the Thames administration. It is instructive that the largest single percentage raise when to your daughter, Dana Thames, who is, by all accounts, something less than this university’s brightest light.

I brag on our faculty and staff at every opportunity. I promise that we will make every effort to continue to reward faculty and staff for their hard work and will make our case for additional legislative funding for salary increases.

You only reward those who do your bidding, toe your line, behave themselves according to your prescriptive measurements; you are not interested in the broad search for excellence, but in self aggrandizement and control.

I have been accused of focusing too much of our university's efforts on economic development and research. I am sorry that some don't see the necessity in this focus, but it is the wave of the future, and Southern Miss must be positioned to remain at the forefront of higher education. In a national trend, the day of "fully funded state support" for our universities is gone forever. State funding is becoming more and more scarce, and we must identify new ways to become self-sufficient. We can no longer rely on the
state to keep Southern Miss financially sound. It is imperative that we pursue new and novel support venues and forge through uncharted territory. This tenet may appear to be a different approach to the management of higher education institutions, but it is taking place at all progressive thinking universities in the nation.

Progressive universities across the nations are not throwing out the historically central aspect of a university in a narrow-minded and ill-informed effort to turn every last thought into a dollar-equivalent. While no one would disagree that it is desirable to capitalize on appropriate university assets, no one in his right mind would elect to design a university that is made up ONLY of those assets which can be capitalized.  This is the fundamental ignorance of your administration showing through, where every intangible asset is jettisoned in favor of some other kind of asset that can be turned into dollars. This would be a fine objective if a university were a paint manufacturing plant; it isn’t.

We simply have no choice but to continue to aggressively seek grants, private funding sources and commercialize our research assets, partnering them with business and industry. There are those who don't agree with the approach we are taking, but I ask them to give it a chance to work. Our efforts are already achieving success.

We welcome these new scientists and the companies that support them. We welcome any addition to the resources of the university. Surely all have roles to play in greater life of the university, but they should not be presented as replacements for the commitment of the university to its fundamental work in educating our children and their children.


*Thanks to our partnership with Hybrid Plastics, the company has relocated from California to Hattiesburg as noted in the January 30, 2004 edition of the Los Angeles Times. Hattiesburg recently lured away Fountain Valley-based Hybrid Plastics, Inc.the company's half a dozen Ph.D scientists also anticipate longer-term returns from an alliance with The University of Southern Mississippi.

*Through a public/private partnership with the Area Development Partnership and the Forrest County Industrial Park Commission, Southern Miss will lead the effort to create an Innovation and Commercialization Park in Hattiesburg.

*Southern Miss reached a new record in research funding of $67 million in 2003, marking an increase in externally generated funding for the fifth year in a row.

*In addition to the $67 million, an addition of $14 million was received late, bringing the 2003 research total to $81 million.

We are growing our academic programs, too. In the past year alone, the Board of Trustees approved four new programs at Southern Miss.

As a member of the Southern Miss family, I want you to know that our university is growing and developing in a healthy way.

This statement is so obviously false and misleading that there is no report of events at the university over the last several years that does not refute it by definition. While there are several large scale “proposals” which, should they come to fruition, will be marginally beneficial to the university in financial terms, the health of the university, its students, and its faculty is damaged almost beyond repair. No amount of sugar-coated public relations nonsense or “spin” can alter the all too apparent sickness at this campus.  Only a fool or a desperate man would suggest otherwise.

I will be the first to acknowledge that we've experienced growing pains along the way. We all learn from our challenges, and Southern Miss will be a better institution for weathering change in these difficult times.

Southern Miss will be better when we have a real president of the whole university, a president with a presidential vision, with some sense of what a university is and can be in a community, a president whose idea of governance is inclusive and not exclusive, a president who is not a tiny baby tyrant ranting almost uncontrollably about his “good lady” vice presidents, a president who hires administrators who are strong and diverse, a president who is not a good old boy who panders to the worst in all of his supporters.

I am honored to serve as president of The University of Southern Mississippi. I hope you will keep in mind that, in this role, I am frequently faced with the responsibility to make and execute difficult decisions that are not viewed by everyone as popular. I can assure you, that with every decision I make, I listen carefully to input from the university community, and I give great consideration to the issue before I make a decision.

You accept no input except from your hand picked yes men, people whose salaries you pay and who tell you only what you want to hear. You are a liar.

 I have committed my life to advancing our university, and as your president, I will continue to devote my full attention to working with you while Southern Miss becomes firmly established as a world-class institution.

The best thing you could do to advance the cause of this university is to turn in your resignation immediately. You are a fraud, a phony, a small man with a small vision. Please get out of the way.

Most Sincerely,
Shelby Thames
Shelby F. Thames, Ph.D.
President
The University of Southern Mississippi

President Thames, this is pathetic, completely pathetic, and totally unworthy of you. Please at least have the courage of the insular, self-serving, meanspirited, and completely out of control monomania with which you have guided this university to the edge of ruin, cost the state of Mississippi so much money, and ruined the careers of two exemplary professors. This sort of grovelling from you is really despicable. Since you are going down, you ought to go down swinging. In any case, do NOT consider me one of your "family."

Who do you think is going to believe anything you say, much less when you claim that you have listened you when you say you've gathered input from the university community? Jeez, we aren't stupid, though that's how you and your henchfolks have treated us. Remember, right after the re-organization you told the media that you and a couple of cronies had spent 30-40 hours or so re-organizing the colleges---now you say you gave it 6 months of hard thought? Which is the lie?

Give us a break. Take Jack Hanbury by the hand and walk with him off into the sunset. If you can take the Dvoraks and Lisa Slay with you, so much the better. You can comfort each other raising money somewhere else.

quote:

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Originally posted by: Anon
"Just received via campus mail this letter to all of us: Dear students, faculty, staff, supporters and friends of Southern Miss, The University of Southern Mississippi has experienced some difficult times recently. I regret that some of the changes made since I've become President of this fine university have generated controversy. However, I have been associated with Southern Miss for more than 40 years, and I assure you it has never been my intention to cause our university harm or unrest. Actually, quite the opposite. When I became president of Southern Miss, our university was financially strapped. It was imperative that we resolve our financial challenges in order to ensure our status as a Carnegie Research Extensive University and to keep jobs from being lost. I have responded to these issues As president, I have enacted decisions and strategic moves to ensure, not only that we would not regress, but that we would actually gain ground in the academic and financial arenas. My first move was to reorganize our academic structure so that the majority of our assets were being utilized in the classrooms and the laboratories rather than on administrative costs. The plans for reorganization took more than six months and were well thought out, and thoroughly researched. The reorganization, though not popular to some, allowed the reallocation of more than $2 million from administrative costs to the classrooms. While we continued to strengthen our financial status, we also developed incentive pay programs to reward faculty and staff. Furthermore, we established additional excellence in teaching and research awards totaling more than $60,000. Additionally, mid-year raises were awarded for two consecutive years, and though this process came under criticism and scrutiny, I am proud that we were able to reserve sufficient monies in these difficult financial times to reward many of our faculty members. I brag on our faculty and staff at every opportunity. I promise that we will make every effort to continue to reward faculty and staff for their hard work and will make our case for additional legislative funding for salary increases. I have been accused of focusing too much of our university's efforts on economic development and research. I am sorry that some don't see the necessity in this focus, but it is the wave of the future, and Southern Miss must be positioned to remain at the forefront of higher education. In a national trend, the day of "fully funded state support" for our universities is gone forever. State funding is becoming more and more scarce, and we must identify new ways to become self-sufficient. We can no longer rely on the state to keep Southern Miss financially sound. It is imperative that we pursue new and novel support venues and forge through uncharted territory. This tenet may appear to be a different approach to the management of higher education institutions, but it is taking place at all progressive thinking universities in the nation. We simply have no choice but to continue to aggressively seek grants, private funding sources and commercialize our research assets, partnering them with business and industry. There are those who don't agree with the approach we are taking, but I ask them to give it a chance to work. Our efforts are already achieving success. *Thanks to our partnership with Hybrid Plastics, the company has relocated from California to Hattiesburg as noted in the January 30, 2004 edition of the Los Angeles Times. Hattiesburg recently lured away Fountain Valley-based Hybrid Plastics, Inc.the company's half a dozen Ph.D scientists also anticipate longer-term returns from an alliance with The University of Southern Mississippi.. *Through a public/private partnership with the Area Development Partnership and the Forrest County Industrial Park Commission, Southern Miss will lead the effort to create an Innovation and Commercialization Park in Hattiesburg. *Southern Miss reached a new record in research funding of $67 million in 2003, marking an increase in externally generated funding for the fifth year in a row. *In addition to the $67 million, an addition of $14 million was received late, bringing the 2003 research total to $81 million. We are growing our academic programs, too. In the past year alone, the Board of Trustees approved four new programs at Southern Miss. As a member of the Southern Miss family, I want you to know that our university is growing and developing in a healthy way. I will be the first to acknowledge that we've experienced growing pains along the way. We all learn from our challenges, and Southern Miss will be a better institution for weathering change in these difficult times. I am honored to serve as president of The University of Southern Mississippi. I hope you will keep in mind that, in this role, I am frequently faced with the responsibility to make and execute difficult decisions that are not viewed by everyone as popular. I can assure you, that with every decision I make, I listen carefully to input from the university community, and I give great consideration to the issue before I make a decision. I have committed my life to advancing our university, and as your president, I will continue to devote my full attention to working with you while Southern Miss becomes firmly established as a world-class institution. Most Sincerely, Shelby Thames Shelby F. Thames, Ph.D. President The University of Southern Mississippi"

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From his letter:

The reorganization, though not popular to some, allowed the reallocation of more than $2 million from administrative costs to the classrooms.

So, now the amount is over $2 million, when it had previously been $1.8 million.  Is this a bogus charade or what?

More from letter:

Additionally, mid-year raises were awarded for two
consecutive years, and though this process came under criticism and scrutiny,
I am proud that we were able to reserve sufficient monies in these difficult
financial times to reward many of our faculty members. I brag on our faculty
and staff at every opportunity. I promise that we will make every effort to
continue to reward faculty and staff for their hard work and will make our
case for additional legislative funding for salary increases.

So, he was so proud of the mid-year raises and the recipients that he kept them secret until swamped with FOIA requests.  Then when FOIA requests came on the "process" for determining recipients, his risk manager got fired trying to prevent the info from getting out.  A bogus charade it seems to me.

quote:

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Originally posted by: wary undergrad
"just checked my mail, I didn't get one on my email address, either.  Not that I'm upset, just one less thing to delete"

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quote:

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Originally posted by:
"You can bet that WDAM, WLOX, the Hattiesburg American, the Sun Herald, and the Clarion Ledger received copies.  After all, this letter was more geared for the general public's consumption than it was to repair damage with USM's students and faculty."

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