ARTICLES CONCERNING
MARTHA D. SAUNDERS, PRESIDENT
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

For more articles and editorials concerning Dr. Saunders, click here.

(November 22, 2011) USM Swarmed by Scandals Events of the Last 10 Days Have Rocked 100 Year Old Institution Late on 21-Nov-2011 The Hattiesburg American reported that USM Lady Eagles basketball star Rachel Vigers has been dismissed from the women’s basketball team. The dismissal stems from Vigers’ 19-Nov-2011 arrest by Pearl River County Sheriff’s officials on an intent to distribute marijuana charge that was based on possession by Vigers of about 2 pounds of the illegal drug.

(November 23, 2011) “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.

(November 24, 2011) “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.

(November 29, 2011) 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.

(November 30, 2011) . . . breaking news . . . Saunders Continues to Rock the Bloat HATTIESBURG – Van Arnold’s 29-Nov-2011 press release entitled “Professor Yadrick Named Associate Dean for Research in the College of Health” informs the USM community that nutrition and food professor Kathy Yadrick has been named by the Martha Saunders administration to the post of associate dean for research in the College of Health.

(November 30, 2011) "President Saunders is responsible to the Board of Trustees for every facet of institutional operations" "A chain of command clearly lays out the responsibility and authority of an organization. There should be no doubt in anyone's minds as to who they report to and who is in charge."