Here’s an example of why Mississippi will be last to issue expense reports without being forced to:

We recently received another set of documents related to University of Southern Mississippi President Saunders’ airplane, N777AQ, through Mississippi Open Records Act (MORA) requests. MORA documents, USM’s own records, provide verification of misrepresentations made by President Saunders and Provost Lyman about N777AQ. USM President Saunders and Provost Lyman publicly represented that the airplane they bought with taxpayer and student money had an estimated (budgeted) cost of $800 per flight hour. (Let’s ignore for the time being that it was bought during a recession and during decade long increases of tuition.) USM’s own documents report the actual cost per flight hour is $5,971.11. (Don’t believe it? Go to http://www.usmnews.net and read all the detailed documents for yourself.) To provide perspective, USM pilots Allen and Price flew the airplane round trip from Hattiesburg, MS to Rustin, LA. Passengers were President Martha Saunders and her husband Joe Bailey and Institutions of Higher Learning Board Member Doug Rouse and his wife Pam Rouse. (Keep in mind, the IHL is supposed to oversee the accountability of the use of taxpayers’ money.) Actual flight hours were 1.8. Applying Saunders’ inaccurate estimate (budget) of $800 per flight hour, USM charged $1,440 to the President’s Office–that is to students and taxpayers. The actual cost to fly the airplane was 1.8 actual flight hours times $5,971.11 actual cost per flight hour equals $10,747.99.

The purpose of the flight was to attend USM vs. LA Tech Football game.

Administrators and politicians don’t reveal this kind of corruption without being forced to.

Chauncey M. DePree, Jr., DBA
Professor
School of Accountancy
University of Southern Mississippi
m.depree@usm.edu

I wonder if it’s not a culture thing . . . when it comes to football, basketball, poker, et. als. the RULEBOOK applies. If disputes arise, the referees dig out the documents to make sure that what goes down is “fair’. Many of our fellow citizens spanning the full range of social stations seem to believe that fairness is a flexible notion designed to relieve them of discomfort, responsibility or duty as an honorable individual. Paying a speeding ticket, showing up for class, or revealing their skills through the written language is a trifle to be negotiated away if at all possible.

It is unfortunate that these young citizens are not abused of that idea before they come to college. They expend a lot of dollars for the privilege of tapping into the time, talent and resources of their teachers. They are seldom taught that the free market exchange of value is a two-way street. Both traders of time, talent, and resources walk away from the negotiation thinking they got the better part of the deal . . . each gave something they valued less than what they received.

When the trade demands more than a quantity of their parent’s (or borrowed) money they feel overly taxed, “Shucks, nobody every told me that my contribution required me to actually DO something too.” It’s like paying big dollars for a computer lacking an expectation of loading on some software and learning to USE it to add value to their lives.

At some point they need to learn that meaningful exchange of value ultimately demands more than putting quarters in the slot and pulling a handle.

My favorite wasn’t really a question – more like a comment, and it’s something that happened to my husband, an English professor.  A student came up to him and said “I really need to get an A in this class.  I’m going to law school.”  After he told her that he was happy to give A grades for A-level work, and wasn’t like some profs both of us had had in the past who said bluntly “I never give As, to anyone, ever”, she repeated “No, you don’t understand.  I need to get an A.”  (Running through his head – “Oh?  Gee, thanks for telling me – it’s good to know I have at least one student who wants an A, when everyone else surely wants Ds …”) So he talked to her about what sort of work would be expected from her in order to earn an A.  Then she repeated “No, I don’t want to hear about that – you just don’t get it.  I need an A, because I want to go to law school.”  She was telling him that she expected him to just hand her an A, because of her future plans, regardless of whether or not she earned one.  (Again, running through his head – “That’s very nice for you, but I’m sorry, I’m not your daddy.  It doesn’t matter much to me personally whether you become a lawyer or something else entirely.  I have 200+ students to whom I teach English – are you self-centered or crazy enough to think that I become intimately involved with the career aspirations of every single one of them?  I have enough to deal with teaching them English!”)  Ultimately, he told her that he hoped her aspirations were fulfilled, but under no circumstances did he give anyone a grade if they didn’t earn it, so his advice was to do the work conscientiously, come to him for help if she needed it, and attend class.

When I began life as an adjunct faculty member, I was advised to use the same process in my syllabus. Cover ALL bases in the syllabus! Absences, excused and non-excused, is an essential element of my syllabus. Expectations and goals of the class are well covered and a short contract must be signed and submitted by each student stating that they have read and understood the material that is in the syllabus. I keep all of these contracts for each semester. Any questions about information that has been presented in the syllabus, I can gently “remind” the student that they did, indeed, sign the contract stating that they understood all of the syllabus.

Thank you for this short article. I have heard the same question several times in my classes. Now I mention this question myself and let my students know that what they are telling me is that they prefer to “short change” themselves in education and in life experiences, which is OK with me. However, they are showing themselves a great deal of disrespect by asking such a question.