Beginning of the Endgame at USM

It's getting near checkmate for the ruthless, tyrannical administration of Shelby F. Thames, President of the University of Southern Mississippi.

A written order to deans to violate the Mississippi Public Records law, or be fired, was a step over the cliff for Thames' carefully selected Chief Hatchet Man (er, Director of Risk Management), Jack Hanbury. As of 3:30 this afternoon, Central time, newspapers were confirming that Hanbury has been compelled to resign.

Here's the full text of the bulletin from the Hattiesburg American:

Jack Hanbury, risk manager at the University of Southern Mississippi, will be on administrative leave through June 30 after resigning, university spokeswoman Lisa Mader said in a prepared statement Thursday.

The official confirmation came about 24 hours after reports began circulating on campus that Hanbury was no longer employed by the university.

Hanbury, who came to USM a year ago from a private law practice in Kentucky, handled the investigation that resulted in an attempt to fire tenured professors Frank Glamser and Gary Stringer. The university reached a settlement with them April 28 that was accepted by the College Board Friday.

Details remain unavailable, but as Hanbury began reporting to state Attorney General Jim Hood just last Friday, it follows logically that Hood fired him.

And contributors to the Fire Shelby message board have visited the office of Mark Dvorak, the Director of Human Resources, and confirmed that his belongings are sitting there in boxes, ready to be taken away. Mark Dvorak is the husband of Angelina Dvorak, the Vice President for Research and Development, whose vita, and the representations it makes about being an Associate Professor of English at the University of Kentucky, have been at the center of the USM crisis since mid-January. Critics of the Thames administration have blasted the the decision to hire Mark Dvorak as flagrant nepotism.

There is still no announcement whether the state College Board will meet to consider putting an end to the employment of Thames himself. But two members of the Board have now told the media that they want to convene such a meeting. Meanwhile, Angie Dvorak was still in her position, as of a meeting with the deans earlier today. Lisa Mader is apparently still in hers, though unavailable for comment. And Ken Malone, a Thames protégé who has accumulated multiple offices and become sub-dictator (er, Chief Operating Officer) of the Gulf Coast satellite campus, is apparently still on the job. But the king is rapidly losing his protection.

More moves in the endgame as it becomes clear. In the meantime, keep track by checking the Fire Shelby site.

Unfortunately, the effort to convene an emergency meeting of the state College Board failed. Informed sources suggest that when Thames was chosen to be President, in May 2002, the Board split 7-5 behind the scenes but took a" consensus" vote of 11-1 in public. (The single public dissenter in 2002, Virginia Shanteau Newton, continues to lead the opposition to Thames on the Board today). Apparently some people have slow learning curves, and the same 7-5 split appears to be in force as I write. So the matter will have to be taken up on May 20, with four new Board members and a new President, Roy Klumb, whose partisan efforts to flatten the recent settlement and keep Thames in office for two more years should deeply embarrass all 11 of the other Board members.

One news report, as yet unverified, also implicates Thames himself in the firing of his Chief Hatchet Man, on the grounds that the incriminating memo was"unauthorized." If the story is true, it means that any administrator who carries out Thames' dictates will be promptly thrown to the wolves if trouble ensues.

Tomorrow, the USM Faculty Senate meets, to consider resolutions asking Thames to resign and calling for an end to email surveillance. There will at least one demonstration against Thames on campus. Anti-Thames slogans are being written on campus walls and sidewalks by"Night Chalkers." To be continued.