Reports for April 1, 2015 - May 31, 2015
Click here for reports and editorials from March 1, 2015 - March 31, 2015
usmnews.net
April 6, 2015
SHAME ON USM USM is requesting views about its mission, values, vision and plan. Its shame is raised every time USM bureaucrats raise issues of ethics and conduct. The following is an excerpt from USM request for information and my comments.


April 7, 2015
"Student Athletes": SNL Exposes The Farce. Laugh, the joke is on the athletes. They get an "education."
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/04/06/snl-imagin es-academic-primacy-over-athletics

April 8, 2015
Dear usmnews.net, You probably got a copy of a letter from Dr. John Warrick, Producer of Southern Arena Theatre announcing SAT will not run a summer repertory theatre at Southern Miss for the first time in nearly 40 years." Why? According to Dr. Warrick, "this necessary closure" is directly "associated with low enrollment for the 2014-15 academic year."
April 13, 2015
What's Niroomand Up To At UH-Victoria? Given Farhang Niroomand's shenanigans at USM, you have to wonder what he's up to a UH-Victoria.

April 17, 2015
Branding. Glib Expensive Clichés by and for Morons? A Chronicle of Higher Education article, "Colleges Embrace Branding Strategies, Report Indicates," says, "Formal, research-based branding is increasingly common at colleges, often in response to increased competition. The institutions pay substantial sums to consultants to offer branding expertise, most often at the behest of the president or chancellor."


April 20, 2015
"Ethical fading"? Or Misconduct So Obvious Administrators And Faculty Know What They Are Doing is Wrong? A recent interesting article in The Chronicle of Higher Education is relevant to behavior of faculty and administrators at The University of Southern Mississippi: Mr. Harris found, among other issues promoting "ethical fading," that: "Administrators and trustees "sanitized their involvement" by employing positive, euphemistic language.



April 22, 2015
Weisenburg A press release from USM reports that "University of Southern Mississippi Provost Denis Wiesenburg will return to the faculty in the Department of Marine Science, effective July 1, 2015. 'Late yesterday, Provost Wiesenburg shared with me his intention to resign from his position as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs,' University President Rodney D. Bennett said. 'He also indicated his desire to return to our faculty as a tenured professor of Marine Science."


April 23, 2015
SOUTHERN MISS CAN'T EVEN CHEAT THE SMART WAY
In a national scandal, Southern Miss and former head basketball coach Donnie Tyndall have been under investigation for financial assistance to Southern Miss players who were academically ineligible at the time. Multiple sources have reported the violations stem from how non-scholarship athletes paid for tuition and living expenses, along with potential academic improprieties. The oft repeated question is how could Southern Miss and Tyndall have been so stupid.


April 24, 2015
Dear usmnews.net, Thanks for the report about Southern Miss' and [Donnie] Tyndall's inability to cheat without getting caught. As I recall, this is not the first time Southern Miss has been disciplined by the NCAA for misconduct.

April 27, 2015
Dear usmnews.net, Try your hand at making sense of another of USM's slogans: "Stay here. Go Far." Looks like someone, perhaps [former USM President] Saunders, lifted the slogan from Whitewater!!


May 8, 2015
Editorial USM and AACSB: Willful and Ongoing Failures of Integrity James Lang in "Cheating Inadvertently," Chronicle of Higher Education reported "Academe doesn't have hard-and-fast criteria for what constitutes plagiarism..." So true. Our case research reported the behavior of faculty and administrators at the University of Southern Mississippi and the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) when concern was expressed that they had copied without proper citation other school's documents during reaccreditation.


May 11, 2015
Guest Editorial "Raises at USM - the first in years" The Hattiesburg American reported recently "Raises at USM - the first in years." HA says "In a letter to faculty and staff, Southern Miss President Rodney Bennett said he and the seven other university presidents in the state College Board system had decided to advocate to the Legislature for an appropriation to cover raises at 1 percent to 5 percent levels."



May 12, 2015
Editorial Is there a word for this behavior? The Clarion Ledger reported recently that "Six days after news hit that Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones' contract would not be renewed, the state College Board asked a public relations and messaging firm for help..." When the College Board felt it couldn't withstand the criticism for its decision, it blubbered for help.


May 13, 2015
Continuing Interest in USM and AACSB: Willful and Ongoing Failures of Integrity A follow-up question (see, pbrown1991 below) to my comment on a Chronicle of Higher Education article was posted today. I offered a response. See it below. The article's title was "Cheating Inadvertently." An excellent article, by the way.


May 14, 2015
Dear usmnews.net, The Hattiesburg American ran yet another puff piece for Southern Miss. The most recent article praises the online MBA program. I know Southern Miss is desperate for paying students, but Dean Gilbert had to be either holding her nose or giggling as she either cherry picked and/or wildly overstated the quality of the program.

Dear usmnews.net, When you read The Hattiesburg American article in praise of Southern Miss' online MBA program, you have to question who would pay to attend an online "unranked" graduate business program at a bottom tier university. If I'm getting my degree online -- it won't matter where I'm located -- I'm going to attend a ranked program at a top tier university (or at least as high up in the rankings as I can get admitted.)

May 15, 2015
May 28, 2015
Guest Editorial More Trouble in Southern Miss' Failed Football Program On May 20, 2015, The Hattiesburg American reported that two Southern Miss football players were arrested and charged with armed robbery, kidnapping, and burglary of an occupied dwelling. This troubling announcement comes close on the heels of two basketball players being removed from the team and presumably leaving Southern Miss under the cloud of an NCAA Prop 48 violation.

May 29, 2015
More Fees On The Way For USM Students As recently as 19-November-2014, The Hattiesburg American reported a 3.2% tuition increase facing in-state USM students beginning 2014-15. According to that report, "... increasing college costs are far outstripping stagnant family incomes. In-state tuition will rise 66 percent from fall 2005 to fall 2015, while household incomes have been basically flat in Mississippi...".