Tabletgate

. . . breaking news . . . Provost Lyman Resigns; More to Follow? HATTIESBURG – Late on 16-Nov-2011, USM public relations officials announced that USM provost Robert Lyman has resigned his administrative position and moved to the faculty ranks. Citing “personal reasons” for Lyman’s resignation, USM president Martha Saunders noted that Lyman helped move the academic side of the USM house through some rough times in recent years.

. . breaking news . . . Faculty Leaders Express Surprise Over Lyman Resignation HATTIESBURG – Late on 16-Nov-2011, USM public relations officials announced that USM provost Robert Lyman has resigned his administrative position and moved to the faculty ranks. Citing “personal reasons” for Lyman’s resignation, USM president Martha Saunders noted that Lyman helped move the academic side of the USM house through some rough times in recent years.

Special Report - Where is Martha Saunders (in the Galaxy Tab Scandal)?In August 2011, when the Galaxy Tab scandal first broke, usmnews.net and its readers raised the obvious question -- "No doubt this was an inside deal ... where was the bid for these services? Was this the best price the State could negotiate for an "experiment"?" Now three senior administrators at Southern Miss have been suspended for their role. However, one must ask, what is Martha Saunders' roll in this mess? Certainly, Saunders was front and center in the PR extravaganza, all smiles, as she passed out the Galaxy Tabs to selected students. There she was taking credit for her offering as if she were Mrs. Claus.

Where was Martha Saunders (in the Galaxy Tab Scandal)? Part 2 There's Always Time for PR On August 22, 2011, Dr. David Davies, Dean of the Honors College, wrote in his blog "The Hattiesburg American's Ed Kemp did a Terrific Article on the project [Samsung Galaxy tablet computers], which has been publicized widely across the country in technology blogs and elsewhere." And, he is absolutely right. Take a minute and run a Google™ search. There are scores of pages repeating the story. Take a look at just the first page of the search. Here are just three examples (of hundreds and hundreds): (click here for part 1)

Burying the Scandals Editorial The Galaxy Tab computer scandal is not the first time Southern Miss has been implicated in the misuse of University and state funds. In April 2010, usmnews.net and the local newspapers were reporting on the situation surrounding possible misconduct in the USM Research Foundation.

“Turns Out iTech was in Error” USM HONORS COLLEGE DEAN PLACING ‘TABLETGATE’ BLAME ON COFFMAN Johnathan Wilkes, a senior in USM’s Honors College, expresses (above) the sentiment of the 700 to 1,000 USM students who were given new Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets by USM at the start of fall semester (2011), only to be told in late November-2011 that USM, not the selected students, owned the tablets after all.

“I Assumed . . . the Details had been Handled Properly” USM PRESIDENT MARTHA SAUNDERS DISTANCES HERSELF FROM LATEST SCANDAL Thanks largely to The Hattiesburg American’s veteran higher education reporter Ed Kemp’s recent work, members of the USM family perhaps now have their best glimpse at the character, or lack thereof, of USM president Martha Saunders.

Whose Idea was it to Ship a Galaxy Tab to Hank Bounds? We Already Know An Editorial by Duane Cobb By now, regular readers of USMNEWS.net are quite familiar with USM’s Samsung Galaxy Tab scandal, or what The Student Printz is now calling Tabletgate. This scandal has already resulted in reputation hits to (former) USM provost Robert Lyman, chief information officer Homer Coffman, and procurement/contract services director Mike Herndon. These three men have each been placed on administrative leave by USM president Martha Saunders, although Lyman resigned his administrative position at USM just days before Tabletgate was born.

. . . breaking news . . . “Who Knew What When?” HATTIESBURG – The question posed in the title of this report above is the very one posed to USM faculty senate president Timothy Rehner at the faculty senate’s 2-Dec-2011 meeting. That Watergate-esque question refers, of course, to the recent Tabletgate scandal that has been covered extensively by USMNEWS.net and many other media outlets.

Dear usmnews.net, I just read the recent story on the Galaxy Tab. It appears that Saunders may have thrown Lyman under the bus to save herself.