USM: Black Friday for the College of Business

Shelby Thames, the President of the University of Southern Mississippi, may still believe that he can get away with absolutely anything. In the full article on his reaction to Wednesday's Faculty Senate motion against him, Thames claims to be having fun:

"Why would I retire? I'm having more fun than I've ever had in my life. I feel good. I enjoy coming to work," said Thames, who will turn 69 in August.

He explains that he won't read the Faculty Senate's resolution against him because:

"If I were distracted every time something from the external forces came about, then I would never get anything accomplished," Thames said."We're going to move forward and make Southern Miss that world class university we talked about."

In other words, the faculty at USM is an"external force," just like the accrediting agencies. Just like everyone besides Shelby Freland Thames, from his narcissistic standpoint.

Or maybe, despite his bravado, Thames at last senses that his time in power is about to be over--so before he has to go he wants to take down as much of the university as he can.

One of the foregoing has to be true. Otherwise there is no way to make sense of the move he has just made--while USM has been put under a microscope by its accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; while a SACS consultant is on campus every working day advising USM how to get off the probation that SACS recently put it on; while professors are taking on massive committee assignments to help bring their departments and colleges into compliance with SACS; and while the College of Business may already be in danger of losing its accreditation with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, because of the graduate programs in Economic Development run by Thames' chief remaining henchman, Ken Malone.

Yesterday afternoon, faculty members in USM's College of Business were summoned to a college meeting at which their Dean, Harold Doty, read to them portions of a letter he had received from the Provost, Jay Grimes.

Here is an eyewitness account, by"Shaken and Stirred" on the AAUP-USM message board:

Two passages (out of seven) were read to faculty verbatim, according to both the dean and associate dean.

Passage 1 indicated that the COB [College of Business] would offer an executive-type MBA by fall 2005 OR ELSE one would be offered elsewhere on campus. The letter specified that the program would compete for students with [William] Carey [College] and [the University of] Phoenix (both [referred to] by name). Apparently, this is an extension of an earlier discussion between the dean and provost, where the dean told the provost that having an MBA program not under the COB's control would forfeit AACSB [accreditation], and the provost's reply was"I don't care."

Passage 2 stated that COB faculty were spending too much time on"basic research" and that, since the COB does not grant a Ph.D., the faculty should cease"basic research" and focus on"applied research" that would directly benefit local business and industry. Also, no new hires will be allowed unless they have relevant industry experience and can do the type of research the provost previously identified as appropriate.

The eyewitness adds that Dean Doty mentioned"terse" language in the letter that was"not suitable for publication." That would imply a reference to firing the Dean, at the very least. Time for a Mississippi Public Records Act request.

The Executive MBA program that Provost Grimes is insisting on is another gleam in the eye of Thames and Malone. It has already led to trouble over the past six weeks. Malone had a secret plan to take over the third floor of the library on the Gulf Park campus, get rid of the books housed there, and convert it into a conference center for use in an online Executive MBA program. Provost Grimes initially ordered the two faculty members who revealed the plan, Will Watson and James Pat Smith, not to talk about it. Later he backed off and apologized, and Shelby Thames"assured" everyone that the the third floor of the library would not be taken over right away. Oh, and that it would not be reserved exclusively for the use of the Executive MBA program.

Beyond that, it is clearly payback time for Dean Doty and the Business faculty, for insisting that the Economic Development programs either be brought up to AACSB standards or moved out of their college.

At this point, the Business faculty at USM must wish that the recent rumors were true, and they were going to be spun off and merged with the College of Business and Industry at Mississippi State. For surely no one at MSU would order Business professors to open an Executive MBA program staffed with instructors whose qualifications resembled Ken Malone's--or to stop doing basic research.

By issuing these orders to the College of Business, Thames and his crew are kissing AACSB accreditation goodbye. It doesn't look a whole lot better for them under the SACS Principles of Accreditation, specifically

3.4.1 The institution demonstrates that each educational program for which academic credit is awarded (a) is approved by the faculty and the administration, and (b) establishes and evaluates program and learning outcomes.

and

3.4.12 The institution places primary responsibility for the content, quality, and effectiveness of its curriculum with its faculty.

What's more, USM's SACS consultant, Margaret Sullivan, has been telling administrators that it"would be inadvisable" to start any new academic programs while on probation."It would be inadvisable," in SACS language, translates into"Your funeral!" in the vernacular.

While the Provost, Jay Grimes, will take the fall for issuing this Diktat--and he deserves to--he was following orders. Ken Malone and Shelby Thames told him what to say, as they have done on so many other occasions.

Shelby Thames is now broadcasting his contemptuous disregard for the accrediting agencies. The regional news blackout, which protected his interests for all of 3 weeks, is emphatically over, and the Faculty Senate did not even have to vote 39-2 against him to break it. Black Friday would have ended the blackout all by itself. And unless the Mississippi IHL Board truly wants USM deaccredited, it will have to remove him from office immediately.

Two letters to the editor calling for Thames' immediate removal appeared in today's Hattiesburg American. One openly asks whether Roy Klumb and the rest of the Board have USM's best interests at heart. I am told that the other--which makes a suggestion that might already be familiar to readers of this blog--was accompanied in the print edition by a photo of Richard Crofts, the interim IHL Commissioner. The Board can replace Thames with Crofts in short order, if it wants to.