University of Southern Mississippi President Under Fire from Faculty

Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger ^ | 05-01-02 | Kanengiser, Andy

[Theodore R.]

HATTIESBURG

[Theodore R.]

In 1910, it was said that some of the happiest people in the United States were the faculty at Princeton University. Why?

Princeton President Woodrow Wilson was elected governor of NJ. The faculty cheered, not so much that he would be governor, but that he would no longer be President of Princeton!

[ConservativeDude]

I don't know about the circumstances at S. Miss, but I know this: faculty don't control a university. But faculty do not seem to understand that.

[LS]

I don't know what the deal is. At my University, we require such detailed reports every year before we get pay/merit pay increases.

[Theodore R.]

Yes, the faculty are "employees," and administrators see them as an "expense" that must be borne from a shrinking pool of "revenue." Perhaps there is a dog-cat rivalry between administration and faculty nearly everywhere.

But can you imagine Princeton faculty voting for the overbearing Wilson for governor mainly to get him out of Princeton!

[mattdono]

Interestingly, this is the exact reason why leftist viscerally hate President Bush. These faculty members can stand being held to account. They don't know how to "know their role": they are there to teach, teach. They are not there to debate policy, so they need to shut their cake-holes!

This is a similar dynamic that is going on with the Senate, when you think about it. The demoSTUPIDs aren't content with the "advise and consent" role. They insist that they decide.

You know what, I am sick to my stomach. I usually have the patience, but I just don't have it today.

So, I will say this to the faculty at USM and the demoMORONs in the Senate:

I hate you and wish you a slow and painful death...or that you slide under a gas truck and taste your own freakin' blood.

[ConservativeDude]

"But can you imagine Princeton faculty voting for the overbearing Wilson for governor mainly to get him out of Princeton!"

Yet another crime the faculty of Princeton committed on this country....

[Verginius Rufus]

Wilson won the election for New Jersey governor in 1910 by a margin of nearly 50,000 votes. I don't know how many faculty there were at Princeton at that time, but they obviously did not provide his margin of victory.

[ConservativeDude]

i guess the students and staff wanted to see him gone, too...

[NerdDad]

I apologize for being late to the party on this one. I've been doing college and ROTC things with the boy and away from the computer. With your permission, I would like to offer a couple points from a close perspective.

1. Staff discontent can make a difference. An overwhelming vote of confidence against the former president of Mississippi University for Women here in Columbus forced the college board to push her aside. The discontent had become such a public distraction that enrollment had plummeted. While the storm about that has subsided now, the damage--along with real storm damage--will likely result in the death of MUW in the coming years.

2. My son, Clarinet_King, has received leadership and band scholarships totaling $4200 annually to attend USM beginning this fall. That makes me a big fan of anything Golden Eagle and has given me a chance to learn a little about the school. I've attended several events in the preceding months that gave me opportunities to interact with the faculty and staff there. They are far more concerned about the the same things the article attributes to the students: "More parking spaces and better facilities are more important,".
Thanks (or no thanks) to recent budget cuts USM and all other Mississippi universities have had to reassess their structures and priorities. Reorganization from 9 to 5 schools cost many administration, faculty and staff jobs at USM. That should have, and did, scare the hell out of those remaining. It also streamlined the university to a model that will hopefully be more survivable.
I am willing to admit the possibility that I have only been exposed to those faculty members who are not adversely affected by the new policies and requirements. However, on the other side of that coin, I am quite pleased to have my son attending a university where the faculty are now expected to be accountable to someone for what they do. It may be new to them but the same is expected of me and I'm a goose and gander kind of guy.

[Theodore R.]

No, of course the Princeton faculty did not provide the margin of victory for Woodrow Wilson. But they provided the MORAL (in their eyes) reason to vote for Wilson: to get him OUT of Princeton! Let the rest of the state (and later the nation) worry with Wilson, but he would be out of their hair at Princeton. I did not say that the faculty made the difference in the outcome of the 1910 gubernatorial election.