financialsituation1

(July 24, 2009) USM Financial Situation Dire and Getting Worse With Ed Kemp's 23-July-09 article for The Hattiesburg American entitled "USM prepares for budget cuts," you have to wonder just what now-former CoB associate professor of finance John Clark knows about USM's dire budgetary situation and why he is leaving for the University of Missouri – Kansas City. According to information obtained by Kemp, each USM dean is drafting a plan to cut $2 million from each of the college budgets, a figure that will likely mean termination of not only staff and adjunct faculty, but also tenured professors. Each cut, as explained by Kemp, is part of an effort to cut $10-$12 million from USM's overall budget. (As reported earlier, only $100,000 of these cuts will be coming from athletics.) Clark's affiliations with the USM Foundation may have put him on the "need to know earlier, rather than later" list vis-à-vis the USM financial crisis reported by Kemp.

(July 24, 2009) Following the Boards The news and discussion surrounding the USM financial crisis is heating up daily, and more and more USM faculty are chiming in about the Martha Saunders administration's lack of transparency concerning the situation. In his 24-July-09 article for The Hattiesburg American entitled "USM prepares for budget cuts," THA higher education reporter Ed Kemp spoke with USM philosophy professor Andrew Haley, who told Kemp that the last communication from Saunders, which came near the beginning of July-09, indicated that things were okay. Since that time, according to Haley, there have been no official communiqués from either Saunders or USM provost Robert Lyman.

(July 23, 2009) This is Leading? Budget Rumors ... When there is a “strong likelihood that programs will be cut”, why is athletics immune from consideration? Southern Miss loves its sports, but there is a new reality in town: money is in short supply and some things covered and excused cannot now be so. Being president is not just wearing a tiara; do something. How about asking those donors who gave money to get rid of Coach Bower?...

(July 26, 2009) The Nitty Gritty A Look at Some Sans-ECO CoB Budget Savings After examining the data on salaries, fringes, etc. from the CoB's ECO group, recent speculation that eliminating ECO from the CoB would save about $1 million appears to be right on the mark. That examination also reveals that it will take large actions, like eliminating ECO, for CoB dean Lance Nail to reach the $2 million-in-cuts mark set for him by USM president Martha Saunders. The CoB is not the CoAL, so attempting to reach $2 million total via items like student performances, where the CoAL found a sizable chunk of its own $2 million goal, is just not feasible.