A Mississippi Faculty Is Divided Over a No-Confidence Vote by Its Senate

November 13, 2011, 9:52 pm

The Faculty Senate at Mississippi Valley State University informed state higher-education officials last week that it had approved a no-confidence motion against the institution’s president, Donna H. Oliver, but some faculty members are now saying that they are embarrassed by that vote and that the 17-member senate doesn’t speak for them. “This is totally not the wish of the faculty,” Barbara Baymon, director of theater, told The Clarion-Ledger, a newspaper in Jackson, Miss. She and other professors criticized the senate for keeping the faculty in the dark about the vote and not publishing minutes from the November 1 meeting on the university’s Web site. Ms. Oliver, who has been in office for two years, has said she does not believe the vote reflects the views of the whole faculty and rebuts some of the complaints raised by the senate. Samuel McNair, the senate’s president, stands behind the vote.

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Ms. Oliver, Ms. Baymon may not be an admin-toady and the faculty senate may not “reflect the views of the whole faculty,” but one thing is clear: there are serious problems with your leadership. Don’t worry, though, buy an airplane with taxpayer and student money and fly members of the IHL to sporting events and other recreational activities, like USM’s Ms. Saunders. Declare “financial exigency” and–sadly, of course–let most of the faculty senate go. That’ll scare the hell out of the rest of the faculty. You’ll be okay. (That’ll be $10,000, please. Consulting fee. Haley Barbour, BGR Group.)