weekly_reports_10_01

Football Was USM's Primary, and Very Expensive, Sport When a university puts most of its sport resources for 100+ years in one sport and it fails, what should the school do? Sink another $100,000,000 over the next decade to revive it to a mediocre status that it once was? Understand that $100,000,000 is not nearly enough to compete with its peer schools, much less larger, wealthier schools?

Updated 29-September-2013 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, having replaced Lance Nail,

How does a Q&A dialogue unfold when an attorney catches a witness lying? Re: Gwendolyn Ann Pate Let me modify the title and substance a bit: How does a Q&A dialogue unfold when an attorney catches a witness exhibiting "a loose screw"? Here's one of many examples from our usmnews.net's archives of how a Q&A unfolds when an attorney catches a witness lying, or being or acting just plain dumb, or exhibiting "a loose screw." The following testimony catches Gwen Pate.

Dear usmnews.net, You have published a lot of reports about administrative bloat and wasted resources, but here is one you missed. Does she even live in Atlanta? Would you like to place a small bet on whether we ever hear about the numbers of "high achieving" students recruited by Ms. Butler?

Guest Editorial When will Anderson and Jackson go? And will Gwen Pate be far behind? By C. Anna Hall In a report a several weeks ago, usmnews.net asked what happened to Charles Jordan, Patty Munn, and Rod Posey? They were faculty at the School of Accountancy, College of Business, University of Southern Mississippi. They simply didn't continue their employment at USM last June 2013. And there were no administrative pronouncements thanking them for their decades of service. Very unusual.

Dear usmnews.net, Every time I hear [President Rodney] Bennett talk about "retention," I cringe. Do you really think the administration is going to let trivial things like lack of academic qualification or academic motivation get in the way of collecting dollars under the new funding criterion? That, by the way is a rhetorical question.

Dropping Out of Administration Carol J. Pardon offers thoughts about "Why I Am Dropping Out of Administration" in The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 1, 2013. Ms. Pardun has good ideas about administration. For example, "Leading faculty members is about creating an atmosphere that allows faculty members to accomplish their goals and dreams."

"The magic number is four." USM President Rodney Bennett The Hattiesburg American continues its role as head cheerleader for USM and its administration with a rather bizarre recent opinion piece, "Bennett has solid vision for USM." "Bennett visited with the Hattiesburg American editorial board on Wednesday, and we couldn't have been more impressed with Southern Miss' 10th president ...

Dear usmnews.net, How do the growing numbers of "non-traditional" [older than 24] students fit into [Dr. Rodney] Bennett's plans that students graduate in four years? Many (maybe even most) of them are married, have children, and hold down a full time job while they work on their degrees, a class or two at a time. I don't see many of them fitting into Bennett's magic number.

Guest Editorial Looking Back at the Southern Miss vs. FIU Fiasco By C. Anna Hall Southern Miss fans were eagerly awaiting the October 5 kickoff against Florida International University. FIU was generally viewed as the worst football team in the country. Southern Miss was a 17-point favorite to break its sixteen game losing streak - the longest in the nation.

The Foibles of USM Administrators and Their Step-By-Step Thought Process in the Moment The following is a comment from EaglePost, Where Southern Miss Fans Meet on the Net. The date of the post, which is important to the story, is October 8, 2013.

Revisiting Sports at Southern Miss - Trying to Compete in Big Ticket Sports In 2012, USM had total sports revenues of $21.5 million, nearly half of which came from student fees, state funds and "other" unspecified sources. How do those numbers stack up? Missississippi State had revenues of $69.9 million. Old Miss had revenues of $51.9 million. Texas had revenues of $163.3 million. Even in CUSA, USM's numbers are paltry. UAB, second from the bottom in terms of revenue, managed $28.1 million. C'mon, USM. Get real.

A Snowball's Chance in H*ll Sun Herald's Patrick Magee was "Analyzing USM's chances of winning a football game in 2013." After last Saturday's loss to what was generally viewed as the-worst team in the country, USM fell to 0 and 17 for the past two seasons.

Dear usmnews.net, I hope Dr. Bennett reads your website. He doesn't seem to have a clue what we [students at USM] are facing. As much as I would like to graduate in four years, I can't [afford it]. I have to work. I don't have a choice. I could borrow a lot of money, but if I did, all I would do is worrying about how I was going to pay it back.

Where's the Discipline in Mississippi? Forensic audit: ASU ex-trustee Lemak had conflict of interest, family benefited By Kyle Whitmire | kwhitmire@al.com October 14, 2013 at 8:09 PM, updated October 14, 2013 at 8:14 PM A forensic audit of Alabama State University said that former trustee and Birmingham sports medicine doctor Larry Lemak violated the school's conflict of interest policy, which is codified in Alabama law.

Everything Begins (and Ends) the Same The State of Football at USM by Duane Cobb In an astute comment, USAToday summarized the state of football at USM. "In a matchup of monumental ineptitude, 0-4 Southern Mississippi hosts 0-4 Florida International on Saturday. Technically somebody has to win, but considering these two teams, we wouldn't be surprised if they found a way to circumvent that rule." Actually, USM found a way to lose to FIU, which was, until two weeks ago, arguably the worst football team in the country.

What's Wrong With This Picture? Sometimes you read various reports and comments and you can't help but wonder what's really happening on campus.

Special Report Seven Percent Additional Tuition Hikes at USM Jeff Amy's 16-October-2013 report for The Hattiesburg American concerning the 7% tuition increase spread over two years facing in-state USM students beginning 2013-14 cut to the core of the issue

Here comes yet another whopper tuition increase for Ol' Miss, MSU, and Southern Miss Look on the bright side: "We continue to find the balance between fairness to our students and their families and the resources the university needs to provide a quality educational experience," said Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones.

Dear usmnews.net, The IHL and the University just doesn't get it. I can't afford to pay more in tuition. The University keeps adding fees for things I don't use and don't need. When I read about private airplanes, armies of staff people and administrators, and buildings we don't need, my blood pressure goes up. How can we make these people accountable?

Why does Mississippi need so many universities? People who publish on the USM sports blogs often raise interesting questions. Last week, this comment appeared on Eagle Post:

The Meltdown Never Stops In an 8-Oct-2013 presser, Patrick Magee explored USM's chances of posting a win during the 2013 season. Magee's conclusion: "A 0-12 record seems more probable than a 1-11 or 2-10 mark."

"Dear taxpayers, had enough nonsense, yet?" In the following article, we ask, "Dear taxpayers, had enough nonsense, yet?" The context was the exorbitant cost to unnecessarily fly USM administrators, including the new one, President Bennett, in their own airplane, N777AQ.

Dear usmnews.net, One of the ongoing themes [at usmnews.net] is that things never really change at Southern Miss. No one seems to ever learn anything from the past.

Rodney Bennett's Extravagance Part 1 - 'Fly Me Out to the Ball Game' Via a Mississippi Open Records Act request, usmnews.net recently obtained a large batch of documents from USM relating to USM president Rodney Bennett's university aircraft. This series provides analysis of these documents.

Dear usmnews.net, My blood pressure goes out the roof every time I read one of the reports about President Bennett's plane. The cost of this one trip to fly Bennett, his wife and kids, and two other people to watch a football game was $6,712 X 5.6 = $37,587. My kid's tuition bill this year is $6,336, and that doesn't include his books and fees. His [Bennett's] little outing could have paid tuition for [a year] 6 students.

As If There Weren't Enough Problems For USM Football A recent Frontline report may cause you to rethink letting your children play football, or if you're playing for one of the worst teams in the NCAA, you may want to consider whether it's worth the risk:

Questions from usmnews.net's readers Lately usmnews.net has been receiving a number of questions from its readers. From time to time, usmnews.net will publish some of the questions and provide answers. Question 16: You don't seem to be a sports fan. Is that why you publish so many negative articles about sports?

FACT: USM's enrollment is down significantly ... Fact: USM's enrollment numbers are down significantly. The rest of the statements are just PR blather. USM feels it must rationalize its significant decline in student enrollment. That's what its administrators usually do when faced with unpleasant facts.

The Scariest Article a Student Should Ever Read USA Today recently reported College default rates higher than grad rates. While Southern Miss isn't among the 250 schools identified in the article, the 2013 edition of Best Colleges from U.S. News & World Report reported a 22% 4-year graduation rate for Southern Miss. In the 2012 edition, Southern Miss' 4-year graduation rate was also 22%. After six years, Southern Miss manages to graduate only 47% of its students.

USM's 4-Year Graduation Rate Reported at 2% American Council of Trustees and Alumni report a news release describing the findings of the 2013-14 edition of its "What Will They Learn?"

Dear usmnews.net, I think Parkinson's law explains what you call "administrative bloat" at Southern Miss? In particular, take a look at what I have mark in bold lettering in the last paragraph.

Rodney Bennett's Extravagance Part 2 , Another Sports Event - This installment examines the August 14-15, 2013 trip in the USM airplane made by President Rodney Bennett and Bill McGillis (Director of Athletics). This pair flew over to participate in "CUSA Board Retreat" in Dallas, Texas.

Questions from usmnews.net's readers Lately usmnews.net has been receiving a number of questions from its readers. From time to time, usmnews.net will publish some of the questions and provide answers. Question 17: Have you placed any bets on the outcome of the Southern Miss v. North Texas game on Saturday?

Hey Prez, the Natives are Restless Maybe for Good Reasons: 0 Wins, 19 Losses, the Absolute Bottom of D1 A visit to the fan blogs reflects deep-seated discontent with the direction of Southern Miss football and the direction of the University in general. Well, President Bennett, what do you plan to do?

MISERY by C. Anna Hall I have been following the USA Today misery index. Over the past couple of seasons, Southern Miss has become a permanent fixture. Here's the report for last week's humiliating loss to North Texas.

OUCH! WDAM reported the prospects for this Saturday's game, USM v. MU: "The Golden Eagles will face a tough task going on the road to play Marshall. Marshall is the highest scoring offense in the conference, and the defense that allows the most points is Southern Miss...".

Stay Here. Go Far? Or To the Top (of what)? Guest Editorial In the wake of the 2014 U.S. News & World Report rankings the silence from Southern Miss' College of Business and the university has been deafening, but hardly surprising.

Rodney Bennett's Extravagance Part 3 - While we witness "TTT" of USM football ... Let's also witness costs of sports at USM. The details that USM does not volunteer. And wonder if public representations about the cost of USM sports is as inaccurate as the public representation of cost per flight hour and total cost of President Bennett's airplane.

By reader request, what usmnews.net was published just a year ago -- Editorial BigGoldNation sees only an abysmal football team The legacy of Martha Saunders The following is a comment offered on BigGoldNation website by slakfish:

USM Traditionally Ignores Financial Signals and Reputational Risks Somehow USM tends to act counter to sound academic principles and economics. Usmnews.net has chronicled the behaviors of administrators and faculty that have time and again squandered student and taxpayer resources.

Revisiting the Joye Lee Experiment A Guest Column by Susan Green-Lewis What will USM athletics director Bill McGillis say when he sits down to evaluate the job women’s basketball coach Joye Lee-McNelis did in her ninth season (in 2012-13) at the helm? Does he, like his preciessor, Jeff Hamond view Lee-McNelis as a hard worker who deserves the job?

A report in The Chronicle of Higher Education is must reading before parents who offer up their sons to the football gods After reading the article quoted in its entirety below, I have to admit I will never look at football in the same way. Is the entertainment value of the game worth the damage being done to thousands of young men?

More Bad News from USM and Kappa Sigma In his 30-Oct-2013 article for The Hattiesburg American entitled "Sexual assault reported at USM," THA reporter, Jessie Bass, had the responsibility of telling Pine Belt area citizens that the environment at USM had taken a turn for the worse.