usmnews.net
Reports for November 28 - December 9, 2011
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.

Based on recommendations from usmnews.net's readers, we are relaunching usmnews.net. Your comments, criticisms, recommendations and news are greatly appreciated. Also, as we troubleshoot links, please let us know if you find any broken or missing links.

Chauncey M. DePree, Jr., Editor
marcdepree@gmail.com


Welcome to usmnews.net
Click here for reports and editorials for November 14 - 24, 2011
November 28, 2011
Special Report Series Policies? . . . What Policies? Former CoB Dean in Hot Water Once Again PART 13 As the excerpt above indicates, Jeremy St. John’s mobbing saga picks up in April of this year (2011), when St. John was waiting for his “summer contract” to be issued. When he asked UT-T management chairman Stephen Bushardt about it, St. John was told that the summer contracts were being developed, and would continued to be so up until summer 2011 classes began in May-2011. When that day arrived, however, St. John’s contract had not been issued. At that point, Bushardt, the former management chair in USM’s b-school, informed St. John that there would be no contract, at least not one for him (St. John), though he (St. John) would still be allowed to teach during summer semester 2011.
Learning from Larry? Another Look at Joye Lee-McNelis’ Destruction of USM Women’s Basketball After seven complete seasons at the helm of the University of Southern Mississippi women’s basketball program, Joye Lee-McNelis’ career USM record is a troubling 98-116 (0.458). If contests against William Carey are thrown out, that record falls to an even worse 96-116 (0.453).
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.
Special Report Series Hurricane Michala Former CoB Dean in Hot Water Once Again PART 14 One very interesting aspect of Jeremy St. John’s legal complaint against UT-T administrators involves Michala Doty, Harold Doty’s daughter. As St. John notes above, Michala Doty was enrolled in St. John’s summer 2011 quantitative analysis course. On 24-July-2011, near the end of the semester, Michala approached St. John and told him that she wanted to take the chapter 2 quiz/assignment that she had up to that point neglected to take.
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.
Baby St. John: HOW FAR DID HAROLD DOTY’S MALICE GO? HOW FAR COULD IT HAVE GONE? A number of USMNEWS.net readers and others have inquired about Karen St. John’s high-risk pregnancy, and what, if any, detrimental effects University of Texas-Tyler business school dean Harold Doty’s mobbing campaign against her had on her pregnancy. Fortunately, St. John’s high-risk pregnancy ended well, as she delivered her sixth child – a baby boy – on 5-July-2011.
December 5, 2011
. . . breaking news . . . USM Fans Furious Over Bowl Situation HATTIESBURG – At the end of the 2011 C-USA Championship Game on 3-Dec-2011, the scoreboard read USM 49, Houston 28. With that result, USM had defeated 6th-ranked Houston, who was 12-0 on the season, and shut down UH’s Heisman Trophy candidate Case Keenum in the process.
December 6, 2011
Special Report WSPBB? Where should Parham-Bridges be? WSPBB? That is essentially the question posted in a 1-Dec-2011 installment of The Farm detailing the recent announcement that CoB assistant professor of finance and real estate, Kimberly Goodwin, has received the long-dormant Parham-Bridges Chair in Real Estate.
. . . breaking news . . . “Who Knew What When?” HATTIESBURG – The question posed in the title of this report above is the very one posed to USM faculty senate president Timothy Rehner at the faculty senate’s 2-Dec-2011 meeting. That Watergate-esque question refers, of course, to the recent Tabletgate scandal that has been covered extensively by USMNEWS.net and many other media outlets.
. . . breaking news . . . USM Sports HATTIESBURG - Following initial reports from CBS Sports, that USM Coach Larry Fedora had been offered the head coaching position at the University of North Carolina, NBC Sportshas now confirmed that Fedora has accepted an offer to take the reins at North Carolina.
"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."

The Farm News Briefs from Southern Miss 1-December-2011 USM Student Reacts to “Blackface Scandal” USM student Raymond Davis recently responded to the ongoing “blackface scandal” at USM by writing a letter to the editor of The Student Printz. The text of that letter is inserted below:
December 1, 2011
They're baaack! The Mississippi Department of Technology, that is.
an update to Who Reads usmnews.net?
December 2, 2011
POTUSM: A MOCK Interview with USM President Martha Saunders ByUSMNEWS.net Columnist Hal Greene I recently sat down for a mock interview with embattled USM president Martha Saunders.
December 7, 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."

. . . breaking news . . . Insiders Say Fedora Now a Tar Heel HATTIESBURG – Citing three sources close to the search for a head football coach at the University of North Carolina, the Winston-Salem Journal’s Bill Cole is reporting that USM football coach Larry Fedora has agreed to become UNC’s next head football coach. That same evening report on 6-Dec-2011 from Cole was followed up by reporters at The Hattiesburg American. Though it is not now known whether Fedora will coach the Golden Eagles in the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl against Nevada on 24-Dec-2011, sources tell USMNEWS.net that it is likely that he will do so. They also say that it is likely that UNC’s interim head coach Everett Withers will lead the Tar Heels on 26-Dec-2011 against Missouri in the Independence Bowl.
December 8, 2011
‘Clear Eyes, Full Hearts’ NEW INTERIM PROVOST LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR New interim provost Denis Wiesenburg walked into the USM faculty senate meeting room on 2-Dec-2011 and delivered “the provost’s message” like he has held the job for most of his career.
31st & Pearl Notorious D.H.D. The storm of allegations of administrative cover-up swirling around the Penn State University campus regarding acts of child molestation perpetrated by former PSU football coach Jerry Sandusky provides an extreme example of just how polluted higher education administration has become in recent years. Former PSU president Graham Spanier and other high-ranking administrators in his administration appear to have covered up, for more than a decade, the dastardly acts of one of their own. Of course, this was all done to protect their reputations and their places at the public trough, key elements in their desire for a cushy lifestyle.
They Owe It to the World It is sad to report another shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. However, it is time that the School of Accountancy comes to the assistance of Virginia Tech and other universities. School of Accountancy faculty, including Patricia Munn, Steven Jackson, Gwen Pate, and Mary Anderson, claim they can predict who is dangerous, can snap, and shoot people. This is wonderful! Experienced forensic psychiatrists admit that they cannot make such predictions. Yet these accounting faculty claim they can.
Dear usmnews.net, I just read the recent story on the Galaxy Tab. It appears that Saunders may have thrown Lyman under the bus to save herself.
. . . breaking news . . . Giannini Out as USM AD HATTIESBURG – According to afternoon reports (on 8-Dec-2011) from The Hattiesburg American, embattled USM athletic director Richard Giannini was set to step down from that high-level position on 9-Dec-2011. By the evening of 8-Dec-2011, that story had changed to one indicating that Giannini would retire in Jan-2012, after assisting USM with the transition from former head football coach Larry Fedora to Fedora’s successor.
December 9, 2011