Thames gains more power

Date: May 20, 2004

Thames gains more power

Date: May 20, 2004

“The board is encouraged by the accomplishments that USM has achieved under Dr. Thames’ watch and by the efforts being made to rebuild the university community and to address the problems of unrest,” Klumb said.

Can you say "clean house"?

Date: May 20, 2004

I don't think SFT has gained any more power...no more than he already has. We already knew Klumb's position on SFT. This is not surprising news at all.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"I don't think SFT has gained any more power...no more than he already has. We already knew Klumb's position on SFT. This is not surprising news at all."

No, not surprising - but more power because the IHL Board has officially relinquished their control over USM to the tyrant.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"I don't think SFT has gained any more power...no more than he already has. We already knew Klumb's position on SFT. This is not surprising news at all."

It might be interesting to wait and see what the quotes are from other IHL members besides Klumb. Like you said, I think we all know his opinon!

Date: May 20, 2004

Did anyone really expect this to be different?

And why was this done in executive session?

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"Did anyone really expect this to be different? And why was this done in executive session? "

No, this is how I expected it would turn out, but I also suspect that this initial report does not begin to tell the full story.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"Did anyone really expect this to be different? And why was this done in executive session? "

Good point. There may be a little different tone in what was put out for public comsumption and what was actually said. Nevertheless, and even those this is what we expected, I also feel a sense of letdown and disappointment.

Fire Shelby · Status: Offline

More form the Sun Herald:

Posted on Thu, May. 20, 2004 by Angeline: (Edited by mod)

Thames says he will work to improve communication at USM

SHELIA HARDWELL BYRD

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. - University of Southern Mississippi President Shelby Thames emerged from a closed-door meeting with the state College Board on Thursday promising to improve communication at his troubled campus.

Thames said he will implement a plan for more dialogue between himself and members of the faculty, many of whom have called for his resignation. He met in executive session with board members to discuss his vision for the Hattiesburg-based university.

The board continued its closed-door meeting, apparently to discuss other touchy issues.

Thames' problems at the university came to a head with his decision to first suspend and then dismiss two tenured professors.

The dispute between Thames and Sociology professor Frank Glamser and English professor Gary Stringer triggered no confidence votes by the Faculty Senate and limited protests by students.

The matter ended abruptly on April 28 when a special hearing officer stopped testimony on the termination proceedings and officials announced a settlement.

Thames said it was important that the university begin to heal and he hoped his plans would be embraced by the faculty.

"But if not, we'll find out what we need to do and do that because we all have the same motivations. The same motivation is to make Southern Miss a better place to work," Thames said.

But Myron Henry, president of USM's Faculty Senate, was disappointed that none of the four faculty members who were at the board meeting in Jackson was invited into the executive session.

"There are so many issues now on our campus to address, it takes a real effort. Trust has to be re-established," Henry said.

College Board President Roy Klumb said the board stands behind Thames.

"The board is encouraged by the accomplishments that USM achieved under Dr. Thames' watch, and by the efforts being made to rebuild the university community and to address the problems of unrest," Klumb said.

Date: May 20, 2004

Silver lining to dark cloud: at least they didn't extend his contract by four more years, as had been rumored.

Date: May 20, 2004

Sorry for the awful copy/paste job form the Sun Herald.

Date: May 20, 2004

If SFT is truly serious about improving communication (I know he isn't, but just let me finish the sentence), then he can prove it by agreeing next week to turn the PUC over to elected representatives of existing campus bodies. This should be an important litmus test by which his sincerity is judged. I wager he flunks the test, but the test should at least be set up.

Date: May 20, 2004

But what about the real burning question before the board, the fate of the AD at Miss. State?

Fire Shelby · Status: Offline

quote:
Originally posted by: Angeline
"Sorry for the awful copy/paste job form the Sun Herald."

I cleaned it up for you.

I've been anxious to hear what would happen today...I see NOTHING. We are stuck with this jerk, it appears.

Back to work......

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by:
" I cleaned it up for you. I've been anxious to hear what would happen today...I see NOTHING. We are stuck with this jerk, it appears. Back to work......"

FS--

I admire your attitude, and I really appreciate this forum. But oh, how I was looking forward to that party at 206 Front Street.

Hope to see you down the road.

Date: May 20, 2004

Clarion Ledger has same story as in Sun Herald:

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040520/NEWS01/40520034

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by:
"
I cleaned it up for you.
I've been anxious to hear what would happen today...I see NOTHING. We are stuck with this jerk, it appears.
Back to work......"

FS,

The jerk is also stuck--with hundreds of determined people who have no intention of putting up with him.

NO QUARTER

Robert Campbell

Date: May 20, 2004

I just returned from Jackson and the Board meeting. The board went into what appears to be an unprecedented long executive session and then came out with a VERY brief written statement that Klumb presented to the press. He took no questions.

Then the press pressed Thames for information. He made the expected remarks about improving commucication. They pressed him for more and he gave very little.

Then the press turned their attention to the USM faculty. I think Myron Henry did a really nice job. Watch the news on TV tonight.

I think that the pressure continues and the more often the board has to come out and state their support for Thames, the weaker his position.

On a side note, there were evidently discussions regarding personnel issues in the closed session. The press asked for additional information and got none from Thames.

During the morning meeting, however, Ms. Robinson tried to make a motion concerning post-tenure review to be implemented this summer. Klumb seemed very pleased with this notion. Other board members stalled this until the June meeting. All of the institutions in the system need to make sure that Potter gets the information about the post-tenure review policies already in place (like here at USM). I viewed this as possibly a thinly veiled attack on tenure (again).

No quarter.
Amy Young

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"During the morning meeting, however, Ms. Robinson tried to make a motion concerning post-tenure review to be implemented this summer. Klumb seemed very pleased with this notion. "

Who was prepping Robinson? This is her first board meeting & she's ready to push for something. She didn't do this without coaching.

Date: May 20, 2004

I don't think anyone can say who prepped her, but she was prepped. In fact, she prefaced her motion with a big round of thanks to Klumb and others who have helped her become familiar with the IHL.

It is possible that she is just uninformed about the fact that post-tenure review is really old business for the board.

I think her remarks can possibly be taken as an indicator of her position toward the actions of Shelby Thames, although I have no good data to back that up. Who can guess another's motives?

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"

It is possible that she is just uninformed about the fact that post-tenure review is really old business for the board.

"

For the benefit of the great unwashed on this message board, could you educate us on the particulars (and implications) of "post-tenure" review. I've never heard of it. Is it peculiar to USM? To Mississippi universities? Maybe I'd know it by another name.

Thanks,
AE

Date: May 20, 2004

Post-tenure review is a relatively new stance that tries to assure that appropriate productivity occurs once someone earns tenure. It is a formal process of review that works differently at different institutions. By and large, I think our system of post-tenure review is a very good one, and fair to the university as well as to faculty.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"Post-tenure review is a relatively new stance that tries to assure that appropriate productivity occurs once someone earns tenure. It is a formal process of review that works differently at different institutions. By and large, I think our system of post-tenure review is a very good one, and fair to the university as well as to faculty."

We have this already? Where can I find out about it? Link, please.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Austin Eagle
"

For the benefit of the great unwashed on this message board, could you educate us on the particulars (and implications) of "post-tenure" review. I've never heard of it. Is it peculiar to USM? To Mississippi universities? Maybe I'd know it by another name.

Thanks,
AE"

Austin Eagle,

We have post-tenure review at Clemson. I was on the Faculty Senate when it was instituted (required by the legislature, in fact, in 1996 or 1997). I also just went through the process myself; signed the department forms today.

Clemson's PTR is a simple judgment of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. Its function is to send a message to tenured faculty who aren't doing much of anything (a pretty rare species, most places) and give them a 3 year performance plan to straighten out.

We have safeguards in place--the Dean or the Provost can't give anyone an Unsatisfactory unless both the Department Chair and a department committee have already done so.

The system's not perfect. We have one college that's seriously dysfunctional and has a grossly incompetent dean. Over there, I know of cases where the Provost has "ordered up" an Unsatisfactory review for a productive faculty member whom the administration disliked for political reasons.

Even when abused, it sure beats the Thames regime any day...

Robert Campbell

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"I think that the pressure continues and the more often the board has to come out and state their support for Thames, the weaker his position."

Excellent (and nicely ironic) point!

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: USM Sympathizer
"Silver lining to dark cloud: at least they didn't extend his contract by four more years, as had been rumored."

There is no mechanism in the IHL by-laws to do this; it was a Hudson-based scare tactic put on the board by a troll and then repeated often.

Date: May 20, 2004

Just talked to M. Whiting. She's suing the IHL, along with the Thames' and a person I think she actually likes, spineless Carl Martray who has surely rethought the error of his ways. Her words to me were NO QUARTER and she'll see them in September.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Mediahound
" There is no mechanism in the IHL by-laws to do this; it was a Hudson-based scare tactic put on the board by a troll and then repeated often."

Post tenure review at usm is simple:

Every faculty member gets an annnual review.

A tenured faculty member who has three successive years of poor reviews goes before a committee which first attempts to determine the reason for the problem, offers remidiation and a probationary period.

If the faculty member does not show signs of improvement, the committee may recommend to the Dean that the faculty member be terminated.

The Dean then carries this recommendation to the President.

This system assumes that if you got tenure, then at one time you awere a good teacher/scholar. The first recourse is not punishment but an attempt to help the faculty member solve the problem if it can be solved.

Most othere schools in the system have similar processes. The Board presently also has a policy -- although it didn;t seem to know what it was.

The answer as to who prompted Ms. Robinson:

Roy Klumb. They both serve on the academic affairs committee together. She has only been on board for two weeks and has clearly staked out her signiature issue with Roy's help. The interesting thing in the meeting was she was almost like a dog trying to get at a bone: she is clearly already passionately committed to reworking this policy, even though she didn't know present board policy and had no idea the individual institutions had policies of their own. She was very emotionally invested in this and her voice and body language signalled it.

Oh, and by the way -- very anxious to get the review and new policy up by the June 30 meeting!

Gee.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stephen judd
"
The answer as to who prompted Ms. Robinson:
Roy Klumb. They both serve on the academic affairs committee together."

Roy Klumb serves on an academic affairs committee? We went through the looking glass & down the rabbit hole more than a few miles back, didn't we?

It's bad enough that chicken-choker is on the board at all, but the academic affairs committee is just too much.

I don't know whether to laugh at the absurdity of it or weep for what it tells me about the State of Mississippi.

Date: May 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
" Roy Klumb serves on an academic affairs committee? We went through the looking glass & down the rabbit hole more than a few miles back, didn't we? It's bad enough that chicken-choker is on the board at all, but the academic affairs committee is just too much. I don't know whether to laugh at the absurdity of it or weep for what it tells me about the State of Mississippi. "

Oh yeah. It is funny -- well, not so, really. He has beenon this committee for several years now --

Date: May 21, 2004

Amy, Robert C., Stephen,

Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me concerning post-tenure review; I'd not heard of it by that name. It sounds as though review could be used as a constructive tool, or a weapon, depending on the manner in which an administration chooses to implement their policy. At USM, given the admin personalities and their not-so-hidden agenda, implications of post-tenure review sound creepy.

AE

Date: May 21, 2004

AE,

Almost everything can be used by unethical administrators to destroy rather than guide and protect students, faculty, staff, and the quality of education. Consider the USM security policy regarding email. There are many places where there is room for mischief! That is why there are procedures in place (like the faculty handbook) that must be followed at all times. That is why explicit policy is so important.

Amy Young

Date: May 21, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"AE, Almost everything can be used by unethical administrators to destroy rather than guide and protect students, faculty, staff, and the quality of education. Consider the USM security policy regarding email. There are many places where there is room for mischief! That is why there are procedures in place (like the faculty handbook) that must be followed at all times. That is why explicit policy is so important. Amy Young"

The fact that this was raised by a new board member who hadn't even done her homewortk to determine if there were already policies in place reads to me as exactly what it is: a blatant attempt to look for every means possible to gut tenure. Amy Young used the phrase "hollowed out" in a conversation I had with her this morning. That is a good way to look at it. We'll have it on paper, but greatly weakened if Klumb and Company get their way.

The one heartening thing is that most of the rest of the Board was obviously taken by suprise when Roberts had her little moment in the sun. I could see that this move (by Klumb) had not been anticipated. There was some scrambling to get the genie back into the box.

One of the new Board members (I think the Bacorp South guy) handled it quite deftly. I think I saw some shock on Virginia's face. She is going to have a tough time with Klumb -- he is clearly going to be an activist President.

Look out -- it is going to be a bumpy ride.

We need to leave the rest of the Board alone for ther moment, but we need to actively expose Klumb and discredit his actions as much as possible. He is a menace.

Date: May 21, 2004

I agree Stephen Judd, that the little run at tenure yesterday is a threat. I also agree that we all need to watch Klumb very carefully. He has gone on the record on WLOX TV and in the Hattiesburg American about his contempt for the instutiton of tenure. He is on the record about referring to Glamser and Stringer as criminals. He is on the record about his lack of regard for President Lee's concerns over the 120 credit hour mandate about to be shoved down our throat. He is on the record about program duplication.

Klumb has an agenda. Is it the one that Mississippi taxpayers really want? Is it the one that will benefit students at the IHL institutions?

I believe that what Klumb is doing is destructive to higher education. We have clearly seen the effects of these attitudes here at USM.

Date: May 21, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Amy Young
"
Klumb has an agenda. Is it the one that Mississippi taxpayers really want? Is it the one that will benefit students at the IHL institutions?
"

Regarding your first question, I believe that the vast majority of Mississippi taxpayers don't care what goes on at the universities as long as the football teams win. Go nose around the U.S. Bureau of Census website & check the average educational attainment of Mississippians -- less tha 17% of people over age 25 have bachelor's degrees. That's a full 7 percentage points lower than the national figure. Less than one in five adult Mississippians have much concept of what a university is or does.

Regarding the 2nd question, Klumb believes that his "plan" for reducing selected universities to 4-year technical schools is what's best for Mississippi's students. He thinks it will cost less & give them immediate (if temporary) job skills.

Date: May 21, 2004

Invictus,

Regardless of the educational level of the average Mississippian, I continue to believe that parents and all citizens want the best education they can afford. We all know that we cannot leave vast estates to our children. All we can do is help them get the education they need to succeed.

Most students at our IHL institions in the state, I would guess, are the first in their families to go to or graduate from college. I think the statistics you cite are not relevant. My father graduated high school and was fully in support of my liberal arts education.

The only think Klumb appears to offer the average Mississippian is lesser cost for higher ed. I think that it is our business to show that what is going on is affecting the quality of the education that the state's institions can offer.

Date: May 23, 2004

This is a crucial thread. KICK

Date: May 24, 2004

When I was on active duty in the military, one of my many assignments was the Public Affairs Officer.

This will explain the "better communications" with USM.

The military has what is known as a "one way discussion" and this is Shelby's idea of "better communications."

As for the other points, I expected it to turn out differently, but when the things got all screwed up, I could see the writing in the sand.

Shelby will be the prez of USM. We will have a university that is equivalent to "Happy Hills Puppy Farm" and we can all thank Shelby and IHL.

To keep the shouting down, the way it was put after the graduation is true! We are the "Pine Hills Community College." There is nothing that we can do about it, except leave. Do that folks, before it pulls us all the way down and our self worth is lost.