Index

"Where All of 'the Magic' Happens": An Investigative Report on Martha's $300,000+ Boudoir Makeover" According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the 2007 median value of new homes in Mississippi stood at $135,000. Unfortunately for Mississippi's taxpayers, this figure is less than 45 percent of the amount of money that USM President, Martha Saunders, requested to renovate her boudoir in the President's mansion in Hattiesburg...". See also, Saunders’ “Boudoir Makeover” Expenses Continue to Mount

(June 17, 2009) AIR FARCE ONE -- ROUNDTRIP BETWEEN HATTIESBURG, MS AND OMAHA, NE IS IT WORTH $16,000* PER MONTH (JUST IN LEASE FEES)? Actually it's more than that -- $16,662.98 per month for 59 months with the 60th payment, including a final balloon payment of $907,053.85. See DePree editorial in The Student Printz.

(Updated February 12, 2010) Index Lost, "the index below is dedicated to those former CoB faculty who exited the CoB with or after the arrival of Harold Doty in 2003...".

(March 31 2009) “The Plane, the Plane!” A Brief Examination of the Expense Associated with Saunders’ Plane "USM President Martha Saunders’ decision to lease a Beechcraft King Air turbo-prop airplane in 2009, in the midst of multi-million dollar budget shortfalls facing the University, will most likely go down as one of the more egregious acts of her presidency....".

(June 8, 2009) The Mermaid President "USM president Martha Saunders had some bad news to deliver USM faculty at the 5-June-09 Faculty Senate meeting. There she told those gathered that USM has many "underwater endowments" that will remain a problematic issue into the near future. Of 739 scholarship endowments at USM, Saunders told the Faculty Senate that 435 (or 58.9%) are underwater endowments at the current time. ...".

GH Chatter is a series at USMNEWS that provides a glimpse at what CoB faculty and students, are discussing throughout the corridors of Joseph Greene Hall.

For more news and editorials about USM's Financial Crisis, click here. For more other news and editorials .

Many years ago, a colleague who was a close friend of a prior provost at USM told me that the provost said that he preferred to use donated money from the USM Foundation because he didn't have to account for it. Because the colleague was unable to provide any direct evidence for his statements, I was unwilling to report it. However, when Dean Doty was interviewing for another Dean's position he proudly informed the audience that:

"The fun money is private money. At Southern Miss, I've got state dollars and I've got Foundation dollars. It's real easy to tell them apart. I tell people I've got two checkbooks. I've got my booze account and my non-booze account. Out of the state money I'm pretty constrained what in I can do. ... Foundation dollars, that's when I take my money out of my booze account, I can pretty much do anything I want with it." (For an introduction to USM Foundation issues, see DePree's guest editorial in the Meridian Star.)

Over the past several years, usmnews.net has published literally thousands of reports from current and former faculty who shared my belief that USM has ineffectively and inefficiently employed far too much of its resources, both in terms of money and people. The purpose of usmnews.net is not to provide a public relations view. That is amply supplied by The University of Southern Mississippi's public relations department.

(August 26, 2009) You Can't Handle the Truth "N777AQ may be familiar. If not, it should be. It is a tail number used for identifying and tracking airplanes. This particular number is the found on President Saunders’ plane...".

(Updated February 11, 2010) The CoB's Brain Drain, 2003-Present -- Part 3 An Illustrated History "There is little argument with the notion that the College of Business at USM has been severely diminished by the faculty flight that has occurred since former CoB dean, Harold Doty, assumed the reins of management. ...".

(GH Chatter, 2 March, 2010) "Some real interesting chatter of late - some are saying that Mississippi IHL Commissioner Hank Bounds will be the next president of USM. And, the story has Bounds forcing current USM president Martha Saunders out sooner rather than later, and assuming the position at that point...".

(November 23, 2009) When it Rains, It Pours, A Synopsis of usmnews.net Brain Drain Data "With the faculty who have departed USM's b-school since 2003, the CoB has lost 42 A-level journal publications...".

(January 18, 2010) It’s Your Academic Integrity Policy, Now "Dear Skip, We tried years ago to have a dialogue with SoA/CoB/USM administrators, now chronicled in “Without Proper Citation.” It was and continues to be an education/learning opportunity...".

(January 9, 2009) More than a year has passed and citizens are still denied the opportunity to determine whether Dr. Saunders' plane is cost effective. USM Moves to Block Info on the USM Plane’s Movements "Reporters at USMNEWS.net have learned that USM has completed the necessary steps to prevent the general public from finding out about the movements (whereabouts) of the newly-leased USM airplane...so much for 'building trust' and 'transparen[cy]'."

(update March 8, 2010) Will 2009-10 be a Banner Year? "During the 2008-09 academic year, USMNEWS.net staff followed the progress of USM's athletics. As you can see, the Golden Eagle sports units won only 48.6% of their contests...".

When your job is on the table, remember President Saunders' airplane costs $16,662.98 per month for
59 months with the 60th payment, to include a final balloon payment of $907,053.85

(June 24, 2008) Built by Englebrecht: An Examination of the Subtext in Mary Morgan Anderson's Research Record "CoB assistant professor of accounting, Mary Morgan Anderson, was recently deposed (as a defendant) in a case before the United States District Court. Part of her deposition concerned USMNEWS.NET...".

(February 22, 2010) Dear usmnews.net: "Thanks for the reminder about Mona Amodeo, idgroup and President Saunders...".

(February 23, 2010) Letter to the Editor: business ethics at USM (published in today's Student Printz)

(February 25, 2010) Questions to Dr. Saunders "After USMNEWS.NET reporters reached out to colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, some interesting claims began to emerge and reporters began to receive information...".

(February 26, 2010) Put Joe Bailey on a Plane "The recent release of University of Wisconsin - Whitewater documents indicate that both Martha Saunders, then UWW Chancellor, and her husband Joe Bailey were travelling by air on the State of Wisconsin's dime...".

(February 26, 2010) Shattered "The recent elimination of economics majors/faculty in USM's b-school have left USM economics faculty shattered. Table 1 below shows just how many economics faculty were at USM at about the middle of 2009 ("Then")...".

(March 1, 2010) A Right to Know "More documents have arrived from colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The most recent is a credit card receipt showing $1974.77 charged to Dr. Saunders’ UW-W credit card to pay for her husband, Joe Bailey, joining her on a flight to London, England...".

(March 1, 2010) More than 3 Million Served "The tally on the front page of USMNEWS.net says more than 3,003,000 hits. That's right, more than 3 million served...".

(June 11, 2007, reprint) For the old-timers at CoB, we continue to look back to the days of Dean Ty Black Black Knew Then What We Know Now "So many CBA faculty thought it completely silly that, during the Ty Black administration of the college, faculty had to submit actual copies of their scholarship at annual review time...".

(March 2, 2010) No Comment "As previously reported, usmnews.net has been receiving documents from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater concerning Dr. Saunders’ use of state resources during the brief time she held the job as Chancellor...".

(April 9, 2008) Accounting Gets Defensive; Jackson Appears Agitated "Charmaine Williams’ 9-April-08 presser entitled “Master of Professional Accountancy to be Offered at Southern Miss Gulf Coast in Fall” contains some quotes from Interim SAIS Director, Steven Jackson, that indicate just how stressed the CoB’s accountants are becoming at news about the AACSB’s criticisms of the intellectual activity in the accounting division of USM’s SAIS...".

(March 3, 2010) 'Nuff Said "...We attach a third receipt for air travel by the First Husband, Joe Bailey, which appears to have been paid with Dr. Saunders’ UW-W credit card and reimbursed by the UW-W Foundation..."

(March 3, 2010) USM Could Lose 100 Faculty "USM provost Robert Lyman told USM constituents that USM could lose 100 faculty in the coming months as the institution struggles to deal with what some believe will be a total budget cut of $30-$35 million from 2009 levels...".

(March 3, 2010) Traveling with Dr. Saunders and Mr. Bailey "As previously reported, usmnews.net has been receiving documents from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater concerning Dr. Saunders’ use of state and/or UW-W Foundation resources during the brief time she held the job as Chancellor...".

(March 4, 2010) What Dr. Saunders Said, What Dr. Saunders Did "Dear Dr. Saunders, As we have looked through records of your chancellorship at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, usmnews.net reporters have identified some troubling issues...".

(March 24, 2008) Saunders’ “Boudoir Makeover” Expenses Continue to Mount "The recent news item, broken by USMNEWS.NET reporters, entitled “Where All of ‘the Magic’ Happens” describes the $324,622.63 renovation to the “bedroom wing” of the USM President’s mansion in Hattiesburg...".

(March 5, 2010) More Traveling "...We attach a fifth receipt for air travel by the First Husband, Joe Bailey, which appears to have been paid with Dr. Saunders’ UW-W credit card...".

(May 22, 2008) What do We Really Know about USM President Martha Saunders? by Duane Cobb "It seems that just about each news article, press release or Internet bio of USM President Martha Saunders has five things in common...".

(March 8, 2010) Skip Hughes' Trap "The USMNEWS.net audio library received some new volumes recently. These came courtesy of new accounting director, Kirby E. "Skip" Hughes. I fully expect these volumes to be checked out regularly by USMNEWS.net reporters. They are full of juicy bits, and ones that will surely put more light on the administrative deficiencies that have been hounding USM for years and years...".

This and That: Businesses, Educational Institutions & Other Organizations Visiting usmnews.net (March 8, 2010)

(March 9, 2010 ) The Incredible Shrinking Dome "Recent disclosure of University of Wisconsin at Whitewater documents show that USM president Martha Saunders engaged in a number of financial shenanigans while chancellor there. With what we know about Saunders’ behavior at UWW, what might be going on at USM?...".

(March 9, 2010 ) The Last Paradigm Shift "As Donna Davis heads into retirement (phased or otherwise), it is increasingly clear that she is no longer a player in the College of Business. Realistically she has less and less department for which to be Chair with Economics being retired and the remainder shifted to CoAL, and MIS shifted to FINREBL on January 1st...".

(March 11, 2010 - update) How Was London? "A sharp-eyed reader pointed out something interesting about the receipt for Dr. Saunders’ and Mr. Bailey’s luxury trip to London in September 2006...".

(August 7, 2008) Tedious "USMNEWS.net hears from readers from time to time, and one theme that has come across over the past three years pertains to the research records of CoB accounting professors Stanley Clark and Charles Jordan...".

(March 11, 2010) "Dear USMNEWS.NET, I have been following your reports about how President Saunders spent money while she was Chancellor at UW-W with great interest. After one of your readers pointed out that UW-W paid for a very expensive trip to London for Chancellor and spouse, I found...".

(March 11, 2010) Three Days in D.C. "Dear Dr. Saunders, here are some questions about your trip: Did you and your “traveling companions” fly to DC in your plane that is costing taxpayers and students $16,662.98 per month for 59 months, with a $907,053.85 balloon payment due on the 60th month?...".

(March 12, 2010) What did UW-W Get for Its Money? "Reporters at usmnews.net continue to review records provided by colleagues at UW-W detailing Dr. Saunders’ use of UW-W and UW-W Foundation resources...".

(June 21, 2008 reprint) Boilerplate Language? "As has been reported in this forum, the USMNEWS.net editor, Dr. C.M. DePree, Jr., filed a complaint with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and with USM regarding CoB administrators’ plagiarism of materials from Central Missouri State University and Syracuse University...".