(February 8, 2011) King Air & Queen Martha An Essay by Victoria Tyler Shortly after the beginning of what has become known as The Great Recession, USM Queen (president) Martha Saunders signed a $2 million lease for a Beechcraft King Air airplane. Since then, USM’s budget has been cut $10 million, and now the institution is looking at another cut, which could total $15 million. In dealing with these cut

ARTICLES CONCERNING
MARTHA D. SAUNDERS' AIRPLANE - AIRFARCE ONE

For more articles and editorials concerning Dr. Saunders's airplane please click here.

(February 8, 2011) Saunders’ King Air . . . By the Numbers Airplane Facts USM Officials Might Not Want Out in the Public Several analyses of USM president Martha Saunders’ lease of, and use of, the USM airplane can be found in the President Saunders' Extravagance, Dr. Saunders' AirPlane, MS Opens Records Request Reveals USM's Actual Costs of President Saunders' Plane, and A Brief History of Dr. Saunders' "Lease" of Airplane pages here at USMNEWS.net. A number of these analyses present copies of actual invoices showing how much USM is charging itself (i.e., USM’s Airplane Operations charging Saunders’ office) for various trips.

(February 8, 2011) President Saunders Continues to Squander Student and Taxpayer Money on Her Airplane
PART 1 We at www.usmnews.net, recently received another set of information related to President Saunders’ airplane, N777AQ. We now have two years of actual costs of N777AQ. As you may recall, it is owned by the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation in name only because all costs are paid by University of Southern Mississippi. That is, taxpayers and USM students pay all costs associated with President Saunders’ airplane. (See, lease agreement obtained through a Mississippi Open Records request.)

(February 10, 2011) Dear usmnews.net: I have been following the information about Martha’s airplane with great interest, but I have to ask a question. You are making these numbers up … aren’t you? If your numbers are right or even close to right, her behavior is beyond reprehensible. If your numbers are right, she is betraying the trust of every faculty and student. If your numbers are right, IMPEACH SAUNDERS!!!

(February 13, 2011) President Saunders Continues to Squander Student and Taxpayer Money on Her Airplane
PART 2 www.usmnews.net recently received another set of documents related to President Saunders’ airplane, N777AQ, through Mississippi Open Records Act (MORA) requests. MORA documents, USM’s own records, provide verification of misrepresentations made by President Saunders and Provost Lyman about N777AQ.