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.)
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"
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
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
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"