Over the past several years, usmnews.net has published literally thousands of reports from current and former faculty who share my belief that USM has ineffectively and inefficiently employed far too much of its resources, both in terms of money and people. The purpose of usmnews.net is not to provide a public relations view. That is amply supplied by The University of Southern Mississippi's public relations department.

Chauncey M. DePree, Jr. Editor
marcdepree@gmail.com (Click here for editorial policy.)
More than 37,652,000 hits
"The fun money is private money. At Southern Miss, I've got state dollars and I've got Foundation dollars. It's real easy to tell them apart. I tell people I've got two checkbooks. I've got my booze account and my non-booze account. Out of the state money I'm pretty constrained what in I can do. ... Foundation dollars, that's when I take my money out of my booze account, I can pretty much do anything I want with it." D. Harold Doty, former Dean, College of Business, University of Southern Mississippi, current Dean, University of Texas at Tyler
In August 2011, Martha Saunders smiled as she presented Galaxy Tabs to selected students. Three senior adminstrators were suspended. Two are no longer employees of the University. Saunders subsequently declared herself "tired" and resigned as president. (For more reports re "Tabletgate", click here.)
March 4, 2018

FARHANG NIROOMAND SUED FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST AND HARASSING FACULTY AT UH-V

Corrected
Updated 14-June-2017 The BSD Pay Project A Compilation of the Salaries of Southern B-School Deans

Farhang [Niroomand] Bullies Senior Faculty, Too

Farhang [Niroomand] Bullies Junior Faculty

Updated 14-June-2017 HELP WANTED A Look at Business Dean Openings from Around the Country

Editorial Comments and copy of a letter from AAUP President of the Texas Conference

UH-V SBA Faculty Loyalty Pledge

For readers who have requested quicker access to reports about Dr. Saunders' and now Dr. Bennett's airplane, please click here. A good place to start is Cost Per Flight Hour which includes links to the detailed cost and usage data obtained through open records requests.

usmnews.net
Academic Research
Other current research by Chauncey M. DePree, Jr., DBA is available at Amazon.com:

Plagiarism Is Now Ethically Acceptable, AACSB Affirms Copying Other Members' Submission Documents "Without Proper Citation"

Other current research can be downloaded free from SSRN (several projects are Top Ten downloads on SSRN):

"A General Theory to Test Social Reality"

"A Sound Foundation: The FASB Got Its Conceptual Framework Right, The IASB Didn't"

"An Evolution of Form and Content: A Practical Guide to Use of the FASB's Conceptual Framework"


"VIRGINIA TECH DANGER!"

Echoes of Mississippi Supremacists
at
University of Southern Mississippi
"VIRGINIA TECH DANGER!" is available at Amazon.
Ethics, Power, and Academic Corruption

By Chauncey M. DePree, Jr., DBA

The Gordon Cannon Doctrine of Plagiarism: Dr. Gordon Cannon, chemistry professor at USM, has surmised a foolproof method of determining whether a document is plagiarized. His method? He asked a few friends: Would you consider copying bureaucratic boilerplate plagiarism? Dr. Cannon did not provide the original or copied documents or any context to his friends. He merely asked, Would you consider copying bureaucratic boilerplate plagiarism? His friends' answered, No.

And indeed there is no plagiarism. None at all. Ever. Dr. Cannon's methodology proves that no document can be plagiarized. Simply ask a few friends without showing them the documents in question or providing any context: "Would you consider copying bureaucratic boilerplate plagiarism?"

With mathematical certainty, their answer will be: "Of course not."

If The Gordon Cannon Doctrine of Plagiarism seems absurd, you ain't seen nothin', yet. Read on.

If you doubt that the parody, UH-V SBA Faculty Loyalty Pledge, is in effect what Niroomand expects of junior faculty, take a look at a copy of a letter from AAUP President of the Texas Conference to the Provost at UH-V "convey[ing] ... concern about reports of coercion of untenured faculty members in the School of Business Administration (SBA) at the University of Houston-Victoria (UHV)." As the letter says, "That this pledge of support was placed before untenured faculty members, several of whom, we understand, are eligible for promotion and tenure this year, and that members of the SBA administration were reportedly present when these signatures were solicited, heightens our concern." As the letter indicates, "... such a request [is] contrary to the fundamental principles of academic freedom."


UH-V SBA Faculty Loyalty Pledge I, ____________________, hereby pledge my allegiance to Farhang Niroomand, Dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Houston – Victoria. In doing so, I affirm that it is only through the infinite benevolence of Farhang Niroomand that I have a salary, health benefits, and a retirement plan with which to support myself and my family. I also recognize that any raise I am to receive, whether secret or made public, comes only through his grace, and that I am entitled to nothing, including the air that I breathe, which comes only through his grace as well. Whether I teach online or face-to-face, in Victoria or in Katy, I am forever indebted to my supervisor, Farhang Niroomand.


June 14, 2017
Farhang Niroomand, AGB Conference, circa 2006
Once usmnews.net published the parody UH-V SBA Faculty Loyalty Pledge, we began to hear from colleagues that the parody was in effect what Niroomand said he expected from them when they were junior faculty. From the personal experience of this editor, Dr. Niroomand is a blowhard and a bully.
A former colleague of Dean Farhang Niroomand sent the following editorial/parody. Many of us who have had the misfortune of working with Niroomand first laughed, then recalled the bullying and threats used at Southern Miss to keep subordinates in line.
June 15, 2017
Updated 14-June-2017 HELP WANTED A Look at Business Dean Openings from Around the Country With four current/former CoB deans moving around in the academic world, some USMNEWS.net readers have requested an ongoing report that tracks current b-school dean openings. Long-time readers of USMNEWS.net are aware that Faye Gilbert is the current dean of the CoB. Another former CoB administrator, Farhang Niroomand, currently holds the dean’s post at the University of Houston – Victoria. Each of these is listed among all southern university/college business deans in USMNEWS.net’s series on deans’ salaries entitled The BSD Pay Project.
June 18, 2017
Farhang [Niroomand] Bullies Junior Faculty Readers want to know if Farhang Niroomand's "coercion" of untenured faculty is anything new. The answer is "no." The following is the sworn testimony of an associate professor in the CoB at Southern Miss. At the time Niroomand was Associate Dean in the College of Business. The testimony was not questioned or refuted by Southern Miss or its legal counsel.

June 19, 2017
Farhang [Niroomand] Bullies Senior Faculty, Too Readers want to know if Farhang Niroomand's "coercion" of untenured faculty is anything new. The answer is "no." Nor is Niroomand's bullying limited to untenured assistant professors. The following is the sworn testimony of a professor in the CoB at Southern Miss. At the time Niroomand was Associate Dean in the College of Business. The testimony was not questioned or refuted by Southern Miss or its legal counsel.


June 20, 2017
Updated 14-June-2017 The BSD Pay Project A Compilation of the Salaries of Southern B-School Deans Recent reporting here at USMNEWS.net regarding the salaries of three former USM b-school administrators – Harold Doty and Lance Nail, both former deans, and Farhang Niroomand, a former associate dean – has drawn interest among USMNEWS.net readers. In response to this interest, USMNEWS.net has begun compiling a list of southern b-school deans and their salaries,

June 21, 2017
Farhang [Niroomand] Bullies Senior Faculty, Too Readers want to know if Farhang Niroomand's "coercion" of untenured faculty is anything new. The answer is "no." Nor is Niroomand's bullying limited to untenured assistant professors. The following is the sworn testimony of a professor in the CoB at Southern Miss. At the time Niroomand was Associate Dean in the College of Business. The testimony was not questioned or refuted by Southern Miss or its legal counsel.


June 22, 2017
June 27, 2017
Corrected Updated 14-June-2017 The BSD Pay Project A Compilation of the Salaries of Southern B-School Deans
Breaking News Former University of Houston - Victoria Business Dean Farhang Niroomand sued for discrimination, harrassment and more!
March 4, 2018
BREAKING NEWS FARHANG NIROOMAND SUED FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST AND HARASSING FACULTY AT UH-V usmnews.net has received a report that three senior faculty have filed civil complaints against University of Houston - Victoria alleging Farhang Niroomand, former Dean, created a hostile work environment, engaged in racial discrimination, and threatened senior faculty at UH-V. These allegations come as no surprise to faculty and former faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi where Niroomand served as an associate dean for many years. Both junior and senior faculty were the victim of his intemperate behavior.

The late Noel Polk, noted Faulkner scholar, offered his take.

"Marc, I retrieved your manuscript from the office about 2 today, brought it home and sat down to skim a few pages to see what was up. 3 hours later, I turned the last page. Damn, Marc, it's a fine piece of writing-sharp, funny, interesting, infuriating, extremely well-written and crafted-the best read I've had from a colleague in a long time. As fiction, it's the beginning of as sharp and clear a satire on university life as any I know; as non-fiction, it's devastating and entirely believable (I can only assume I would have heard if there had been a car bomb and arrests [i.e., DID I MISS THE CAR BOMB REPORT ON TV?], though I do remember the dog attack.

So, I enjoyed reading it a lot. Since there was no note attached to it, I'm not sure what exactly you wanted of me, other than to read it. Let me know. (I'm sending this on my aol account, as you can see, not the university email, which I usually use!) Cheers. Noel"

Dr. Frank Howell offered the following comment.

"Fantastic read...but oh-so valid rendition of many campuses! I ran across the author's notation of his new novel in the Chronicle of Higher Education and knew I had to read it. I did over the next two days. It's a great, great plot...not used in other "ivory tower" novels that I've read ... but one rooted in validity. Dr. Frank M. Howell"

Mississippi University of the South