Just in from USM: Two Years of Lame-Duckitude for Shelby Thames

by Liberty and Power

Once again the Mississippi IHL Board of Trustees controls the element of surprise. Nothing pertaining to the University of Southern Mississippi was on the agenda for the Board's monthly meeting today. When the acrimonious 3-hour meeting on May 6 ended without the 4 more years that his cheerleader Roy Klumb wanted, it was clear that USM President Shelby Thames was in trouble. But his opponents appeared to have such a thin margin on the Board as to preclude prompt action against him.

Well, now it's official. One of the worst university presidents in American history is a lame duck. Shelby Thames is being given a one-year extension, until May 2007, at which point he will be required to return to the faculty. He has already devoted a whole lot of paragraphs to denying the obvious fact that he did not choose his exit date.

Lame-duckitude for university presidents rarely lasts more than one year. Obviously Thames had enough support remaining on the Board for a semi-protective deal to be brokered. The official rationale for the extra year leaves something to be desired:

The College Board, in a prepared statement, told Thames to spend the rest of his presidency working on the university’s accreditation problems. In December, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put Southern Miss on a one-year probation.

We all know Thames is singularly ill-prepared to solve the accreditation problems that he brought on USM. It is the professors who will have to solve them, while working to neutralize the remainder of Thames' henchcrew, and remaining alert for spiteful and destructive presidential behavior.

So a hard road remains for the faculty, staff, and students at USM. But all who travel it will be buoyed by the good news. Despite his fervent efforts to the contrary, there will be life after Shelby Freland Thames.

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Robert L. Campbell - 5/19/2005

Charles,

I don't think there's any real mystery about the settlement that Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer agreed to just over a year ago. Had they not accepted the settlement, the Mississippi IHL Board could have, and most likely would have, upheld Shelby Thames' decision to fire them. Then they would have been hounded with meritless lawsuits brought by former VP for Research Angie Dvorak.

As for faculty rights not being vindicated... You're right, the IHL Board has yet to repudiate Thames' flagrant violations of USM's own rules and his efforts to nullify shared governance. Although Commissioner Crofts spoke to faculty leaders at USM while compiling his dossier on Thames, there is still no formal channel of communication to the Board from faculty at any of the 8 state universities in Misssissippi. The Board does not even formally acknowledge the receipt of Faculty Senate resolutions.

The Board may have to change its ways on faculty rights, if only to avoid being included in a future probation or other penalty from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Governance issues at USM are not included in the current probation but, unless corrected, will become an issue during the next SACS accreditation cycle. And the Board, which has extensive micromanagerial powers over each component institution, is implicated in any administrative end-runs around shared governance.

As for golden parachutes... Thames was a wealthy man before he was placed on the throne in 2002. He is far more interested in the power of the USM presidency than the salary or perks that go with it. On the other hand, the USM Foundation has unusually slack management as university foundations go, and has not been audited.

Robert Campbell

Charles W. Nuckolls - 5/19/2005

It is heartening to learn that the rogue Thames has been given his marching orders. Still, one wishes he had been dismissed and his record properly recognized for what it is: a sad, but all to typical account of an administrator gone wild. Faculty rights have certainly not been vindicated. We still know nothing, or practically nothing, about the terms of the secret deal that resulted in the exodus of the two professors last year. Why, exactly, did they agree to it? We will probably never know. Meanwhile, I'm sure Thames' golden parachute is second to none. Administrators always protect themselves, don't they, and in the end go laughng all the way to the bank.