saunders24

(March 30, 2009) "The Plane, the Plane!" A Brief Examination of the Expense Associated with Saunders' Plane USM President Martha Saunders' decision to lease a Beechcraft King Air turbo-prop airplane in 2009, in the midst of multi-million dollar budget shortfalls facing the University, will most likely go down as one of the more egregious acts of her presidency. That plane, which was purchased by the USM Foundation and is being leased to USM, is costing Mississippi taxpayers $31,500 per month, based on a 5-year lease (60 months) agreement at $1.89 million.

(April 1, 2009) Dear USMNEWS.net Like your last reader did with the first analysis of USM President Martha Saunders’ plane, I pulled your last reader's analysis and ran with it. Really, all I had to do was add the final March 31st return to Hattiesburg from Manassas to complete that reader’s analysis of the plane’s use during February and March of this year.

(April 2, 2009) GH Chatter The recent reader analyses of president Martha Saunders’ leased airplane are creating some buzz among CoB faculty, at least around the office water coolers. (the latest addition even showed some emotion). One recent conversation highlighted the fact that some people were essentially fired so that Saunders could have her expensive toy. Remember? Saunders said the plane lease was paid for by the cabinet reductions she effected upon assuming the USM throne. Cheers to the Queen.

(April 8, 2009) A Fun Spring Outing A Good Day On East Bay Wasn't the plane available for this vital university mission?

(April 7, 2009) 2008-09 No Banner Year Either During the 2007-08 academic year, USMNEWS.net staff followed the progress of USM's athletics teams in order to assess USM president Martha Saunders' Fall 2007 Convocation claim that Golden Eagles sports teams would be producing a "banner year" in 2007-08. The report that ultimately emerged from that assignment, "Aunt Martha's 'Banner Year'," is inserted below. As you can see, the Golden Eagles sports units won only 51.6% of their contests (i.e., 239 wins in 463 contests) during 2007-08, a result representing anything but a "banner year."

(April 21, 2009) Similarities? LOL We hope you learned a few tips for cleaning up some “urine” issues at Southern Miss.