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(May 11, 2010) Provost Lyman Implies CFO Morgan was Relieved of Duty "USM provost Robert Lyman was questioned by the USM faculty senate on 7-May-2010 about the recent "resignation" of Joe Morgan from the position of USM chief financial officer...".

(May 11, 2010) CoAL Hires Green, Monchuk Again "According to the 10-May-2010 update to the Fall 2010 USM course schedule guide, the CoAL has found its two additional economists in former CoB economist Trellis Green, and current CoAL economist Daniel Monchuk...".

(May 13, 2010) The CoB has Dugan by the Horne: The Story Behind Dugan’s Hiring Keeps Shifting, While Dugan’s Job Keeps Morphing "With its 11-May-2010 press release entitled “Dugan to Join School of Accountancy Faculty in Fall,” the USM public relations team is late to the party..."

(May 12, 2010) The Morgan Dynasty - Just Another Piece of The Dirty Southern Miss? "The recent news (see below) that USM provost Robert Lyman alluded to USM chief financial officer Joe Morgan being relieved of his CFO duties by USM president Martha Saunders, effective 30-Aug-2010, was sweeping...".

(May 13, 2010) Consummate Caregivers "Even though the CoB’s School of Accountancy seems interested in hiring mainly older white guys, the unit has still managed to undergo a feminization of sorts...""

(May 24, 2010) Responsibility for Carter’s Bitterness Misplaced: A Guest Editorial by Victoria Tyler "Former EFIB chairman and outgoing CoB/USM economist George Carter is extremely bitter these days...".

(May 18, 2010) Sayre Saves the Day; von Herrmann in Negative: Light New Information on CoAL-ECO’s Staffing Problems "Based on recent updates to the USM fall 2010 schedule guide from the USM registrar, it seems that the CoAL has finally resolved it CoAL-ECO staffing problems for fall semester 2010...".

(May 19, 2010) USM’s 'Kaetsu Court' "USM public relations specialist Van Arnold introduced what some refer to as USM’s “Kaetsu Court” via his 18-May-2010 press release on the relationship between USM and Japan’s Kaetsu University...".

(May 19, 2010) Accounting Up Two: Another Pillar in the USM Faculty Senate’s Case Against the CoB "Various news reports and editorials here at USMNEWS.net have pointed out that various corners of the USM campus are becoming more and more concerned about what they view as CoB largesse,...".

(May 20, 2010) Hughes, Sequeira Tenured; What About Monchuk? "CoB faculty Kirby "Skip" Hughes and Jennifer Sequeira were awarded tenure by the Mississippi IHL at its May 2010 monthly meeting...".

(May 20, 2010) Notes from the Mississippi IHL - May 2010 "With the approval of the April-2010 IHL Meeting Minutes, the enrollment has been suspended in the CoB’s degree programs in economics and management information systems, and the IHL notes that these programs are expected to be deleted...".

(May 20, 2010) "Donna Davis on the Dugan Hire "In her capacity as a USM faculty senator, CoB MIS professor Donna Davis defended, during the faculty senate’s May-2010 meeting, ...".

(May 25, 2010) Thin-Skinned Carter "Former EFIB chairman George Carter may have once told anyone who would listen that he is a “what is kinda guy,” but this past year has shown that Carter’s statement was anything but accurate...".

(June 1, 2010) Warnings Unheeded "Americans all over are glued to the news these days, worried about the long-term damage being done to the Gulf of Mexico by the BP oil rig disaster...".

(May 24, 2010) Mississippi Junior Colleges Show The Way: An Approach to Budget Cutting that Senior Institutions can Use "Higher education reporter Ed Kemp indirectly provided USM’s faculty senate with the kinds of information it needs to combat “draconian” approaches to budget cutting chosen by the USM central administration...".

(May 24, 2010) Niroomand Brings AACSB Reaccreditation to UH-V "Former CoB associate dean Farhang Niroomand recently helped bring AACSB reaccreditation to his new institutional home, the University of Houston - Victoria...".

(May 26, 2010) Tracking Turnover through Tenure: A Look at How Bad Leadership has Impacted USM "Regular followers of happenings at the University of Southern Mississippi are well aware of the damage done to the institution by the Shelby F. Thames administration (2002-07)...".

(May 27, 2010) It’s Simple . . . Not Much! How CoB Administrators Continue to Associate with Thamesian Thinkers "Way back on 25-Sept-07 USMNEWS.net asked the question: How Much has Really Changed? That report contained “The Debrow Photos,” showing that then-new USM president Martha Saunders was socializing with the likes of Fred and Bonnie Drews, two staunch supporters of the disastrous Shelby F. Thames administration (2002-07) of USM...".

(May 28, 2010) USM’s Oil Spill Response Team - Not a CoBer in Sight "Shortly after the spring 2010 oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, USM president Martha Saunders put together a USM oil spill response team. That team consists of “experts” from the USM academic community, and includes almost 40 USM faculty...".

(June 1, 2010) The Parker-Hughes Audit: More on 'the Bottom Line' in the CoB’s School of Accountancy "The recent USMNEWS.net report, “How is Hiring Michael Dugan a Good Deal?” sparked a great deal of interest among readers. That report explained how incoming CoB accounting professor Michael Dugan (from the University of Alabama) will actually generate a net Fall 2010 loss to the CoB of anywhere from $45,000 to $57,000, ...".

(June 1, 2010) The Rat Pack: More on 'the Bottom Line' in the CoB’s School of Accountancy "... This report provides similar analyses of 'the bottom lines' pertaining to accounting professors Stanley Clark, Charles Jordan, and Roderick Posey...".

(May 12, 2010) Around the CoB: Thoughts on Skip Hughes and Trellis Green "Why does Skip need an office far from the accounting faculty? How much ego does Skip Hughes have that he has to have to biggest office on the third floor when the accountants move to the third floor...".

(June 2, 2010) Best Case, Worst Case, More on 'the Bottom Line' in the CoB's School of Accountancy "...There are, of course, other accountants in the SoA, including Mary Anderson, Marc DePree, Steven Jackson, Gwen Pate, and Robert Smith. This report throws all of the other accountants into the mix, and produces a “best case, worst case” scenario in terms of fall 2010 tuition revenue production for the CoB’s SoA...".

(June 3, 2010) The 2007 AACSB Debacle all over Again? Cherylynn Becker Now Teaching Graduate MGT Course At COB-GC "The CoB’s problematic 2007 attempt to maintain its AACSB accreditation is a story that is covered on many of the pages here at USMNEWS.net...".”

(June 4, 2010) BP Oil Spill Threatening Pensacola Beach: Is President Saunders’ Beach Home in Harm’s Way? "Reports from various national news media indicate that the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster is now threatening the Florida panhandle...".

(June 4, 2010) Hovering Lieutenants: A Look at Thames Era Leaders who Remain Near the Top of USM "The ongoing USM Research Foundation (Pinion Properties) scandal involving Jay Grimes and Richard Hadden, two highly-placed officials from the Shelby Thames administration (2002-07), coupled with...".

(June 2, 2010) Is the SoA the CoB’s Deepwater Horizon? "The recent reports indicating how the CoB’s School of Accountancy is spewing negative net tuition revenue all over the place serve to really highlight the weaknesses in the University Priorities Committee’s response to cutting the institution’s overall budget...".

(June 3, 2010) Dakhlia’s Follies: A Guest Editorial by Susan Greene-Lewis "Browsing through both the USMNEWS.net Archives and heretofore untapped files yields a number of interesting situations pertaining to outgoing CoB associate professor of economics Sami Dakhlia. Dakhlia joined the CoB in August-2006, after a failed tenure-track run with the University of Alabama...".

(June 8, 2010) Down and Dirty: A Guest Editorial by Susan Greene-Lewis "Sometimes the bedfellows-ism at USM is stranger than strange. Such is the case in the new photo posted on the front page of usm.edu, wherein USM president Martha Saunders is shown with Jimmy Buffett and a number of USM Gulf Coast Research Lab scientists, including Jay Grimes, a former USM provost...".

(June 8, 2010) Aunt Martha’s Sandbox: A Look at How USM’s Prez is Managing Athletics "The “Banner Year” series here at USMNEWS.net has pointed out that USM’s varsity sports programs appear to be slipping under USM president Martha Saunders’ stewardship...". For news on How USM's Prez is Managing Baseball, click here.

(June 9, 2010) The Lambert Files: More News on the CoB’s Sole IB Faculty John Lambert "The recent USMNEWS.net report on CoB associate professor Cherylynn Becker’s assignment to teach a summer 2010 section of MGT 640 for CoB-GC received a lot of attention. Since then USMNEWS.net readers informed reporters that a similar case,...".

(June 9, 2010) Doty-Era Former B-Schooler Appointed Dean at Troy "Former USM b-school faculty Judson Edwards was recently appointed dean of the Sorrell College of Business at Troy University...".

(June 15, 2010) Bonaparte Lands Job in Cali "Outgoing CoB-GC economist Yosef Bonaparte has landed a job in the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at Claremont McKenna College in California. As long-time readers of USMNEWS.net are aware, Bonaparte was, according to former EFIB chairman George Carter, terminated unexpectedly by the Lance Nail administration (2008-present) of the CoB during the 2008-09 academic year...".

(June 16, 2010) Lucas and Pierce to Get $370,000 "This week the Mississippi IHL is officially appointing former Millsaps president Frances Lucas to the post of USM vice president and campus executive officer for the Gulf Coast campus. While this is not news to most in the USM community, what may be news is that Lucas’ salary will be $185,000 per year...".

(June 18, 2010) Gaines-Littles Departing, Tucker Returning "CoB alternative learning coordinator/executive assistant Sonia Gaines-Littles is set to depart the CoB in the coming days. The controversial Gaines-Littles, pictured below, is reportedly headed back to California (reports here at USMNEWS.net indicate that she is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz)...".

(June 21, 2010) Catch Him if You Can: Former CoB Associate Dean Still a Jet Setter Extraordinaire "Former CoB associate dean Farhang Niroomand became famous for travelling the globe while part of the CoB administration (1998-2007)...".

(June 29, 2010) Former, Current & Future CoBers Making out Extremely Well at USM: A Look at how the Martha Saunders Administration Favors CoBers "The recent news that Jerry DeFatta, who is reportedly a former CoB student, has been named to succeed Bob Pierce as the executive director of the USM alumni association will likely turn several heads around the USM campus...".

(June 17, 2010) Canonized "The new USMNEWS.net series about USM scientist Gordon Cannon’s recent stint as ombudsman is opening eyes. Cannon’s work on behalf of the Martha Saunders administration’s investigation of the USMNEWS.net editor is looking like one of the more glaring examples of sycophancy seen in quite some time...".

(July 7, 2010) True Colors: CoAL Dean Cans Barthelme, Violates Dictum in Doing So "In his 6-July-2010 article for The Hattiesburg American entitled "Center loses its director," THA higher education reporter Ed Kemp tells the story of how CoAL dean Denise von Herrmann eliminated Frederick Barthelme, ...".

(July 12, 2010) CoB Website Gets Shake Up "The CoB website has just recently undergone a transformation. The primary goal of this shake up appears to have been the purging of the USM economists,...".

(July 14, 2010) With Faculty Cuts Looming, USM Spending Big Pots of Money: Campus Construction Projects Continue Unabated "As David Tisdale’s 13-July-2010 USM presser indicates, USM is spending more than $50 million constructing (1) the Century Park student housing complex and (2) the new student parking garage...".

(July 1, 2010) Standing Alone "The new fiscal year is here, meaning that we have turned the calendar to 1-July-2010. This date also marks another turning point for USM’s CoB - the economists have departed...".

(July 5, 2010) Separate Worlds "While Hattiesburg’s William Carey University is set to launch a new medical school (new med school facility is pictured below), its University of Southern Mississippi appears to be gearing up for life without economics..".

(July 9, 2010) Little by Little "With its 7-July-2010 editorial entitled “USM decision hurts writing program,” even The Hattiesburg American has figured out that something is amiss vis-à-vis USM’s decision to can English professor Frederick Barthelme, an award-winning, nationally renowned author of almost 20 books...".

(July 15, 2010) USM English Department Put in Receivership "Ed Kemp’s 15-July-2010 follow-up to The Hattiesburg American’s earlier story about the non-renewal of Frederick Barthelme, a nationally-renowned writer in USM’s English department, revealed a detail...".

(July 16, 2010) Will USM Scientists Join Others in Assisting BP? "A new report by The Mobile Press-Register’s Ben Raines indicates that BP is offering university scientists “signing bonuses” and “lucrative pay” to assist in its legal defense vis-à-vis the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico...". For more on this issue of concern to the academic community, see "The Risk to Academic Freedom that Lurks in Corporate Consulting Contracts" by Marc Lipsitch, The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 27, 2010

(July 19, 2010) USM English Faculty ‘Jaded’ Heading into 2010-11: Fallout from Saunders Administration’s Actions Regarding Center for Writers Continues "Though USM’s liberal arts dean Denise von Herrmann argues that USM doesn’t actually have a creative writing center, faculty morale continues to sink as a result of the Martha Saunders administration’s decision to sever employment ties with the USM Center for Writers director...".

(July 19, 2010) 'Like Virgil Led Dante' "If readers’ responses to The Hattiesburg American’s 6-July-2010 report about problems in USM’s Center for Writers are any indication, the kinds of problems caused by the Shelby Thames administration (2002-07) have continued well into the Martha Saunders administration (2007-present).

(July 13, 2010) "Dear usmnews.net Editor: When I read the recent re-print of Built By Englebrecht, I was surprised to see that during her 2008 deposition, Mary Anderson claimed an Accounting Horizon’s publication...".

(July 20, 2010) Bushardt Assumes Control in Tyler "Former CoB management professor Stephen Bushardt has officially assumed control of the MGT and MKT department at the University of Texas at Tyler, where former CoB dean Harold Doty is the top business school official...".

(July 21, 2010) Bushardt and Doty 'Leading by Example': Dynamic Duo also Enlists Services of David Glascoff "According to the University of Texas at Tyler website, former CoB management professors Stephen Bushardt and Harold Doty have teamed with another former CoBer...".

(July 22, 2010) Chameleon: Former CoBer has Costume for Every Institution "Former CoB management professor Stephen Bushardt is famous for his bow ties. Some sources tell USMNEWS.net that Bushardt chose the bow tie route after seeing former USM president Aubrey Lucas rise to among USM’s most beloved presidents while sporting the bow tie himself...".

(July 21, 2010) Haddens Deny Allegations in USMRF Case "Former USM employees Richard and Helene Hadden have, according to The Hattiesburg American’s Ed Kemp, denied any wrongdoing claims being made by the USM Research Foundation against them vis-à-vis Richard Hadden’s management of a USMRF-owned commercial concern...".

(July 28, 2010) Just Plain Tired "USM president Martha Saunders hasn’t blogged in a month. The USM faculty senate is dormaant for the summer. One has to wonder what is going on over at the Hattiesburg campus...".

(July 23, 2010) Marvasti Leaving USM "Numerous reports coming into USMNEWS.net indicate that Akbar Marvasti, one of the four former CoB economists forced to move to the CoAL in order to avoid termination at the hands of the Martha Saunders administration, is leaving USM before the 2010-11 academic year...".

(July 29, 2010) Two in One? "A few reports and editorials here at USMNEWS.net have pointed out the similarities in the backgrounds of current USM president Martha Saunders and former USM vice president Angeline Godwin,...".

(July 27, 2010) "Dear usmnews.net : "... Dr. Saunders is not only an embarrassment, she is an unmitigated disaster for the University of Southern Mississippi. It is long past time that the IHL replace Dr. Saunders...". ...".

(July 26, 2010) The Marvasti Hole: Loss of CoAL-ECOer Leaves Uncovered Courses for Fall 2010 "The recent news that former CoB economist Akbar Marvasti will be departing USM before the 2010-11 academic year led USMNEWS.net staff to examine the fall 2010 USM teaching schedule...".

(July 29, 2010) The CoB Honors House - A Virtual Tour "This report provides USMNEWS.net readers with a bit of information about the new CoB Honors House, an on-campus living/learning environment for a select group of USM business majors...".

(August 9, 2010) Rainbows and Butterflies "USM president Martha Saunders may have been living on summer time the past few weeks, but the 600 or so USM faculty she supervises have likely been fretting the possibility of being among the potentially 100 USM faculty who will be losing their jobs after 2010-11 as a result of the coming $15 million cut in the institution’s budget...".

(August 9, 2010) Sound Off [8-Aug-2010] "A reader recently sent USMNEWS.net a note stating - “Thought you’d like to see this. The language is absurd.” An e-mail from the USM administration was included (and referenced). That e-mail is inserted below:...".

(August 11, 2010) Arnold Lasts One Year at MO State: Two-Time CoB Dean Candidate Now Dean at Stephen F. Austin State University "Marketing professor Danny Arnold, the former Mississippi State University faculty whose two attempts to win the USM b-school deanship failed, is now the new business dean at Stephen F. Austin State University...".

(August 11, 2010) AACSB Express "The recent news of Danny Arnold’s curious move from Missouri State to Stephen F. Austin State reminds some of his role in the CoB’s 2007 AACSB effort...".

(August 23, 2010) Saunders Like Thames, Doty by Duane Cobb "After watching all of the new Student Powered Videos at usm.edu, it was interesting to see that USM chose to air (on local television) one featuring new President Martha Saunders playing piano and continuing to wear out the borrowed "ride all the rides" phrase. The "USM family" got a steady dose of such self-promotion from former President Shelby Thames, so it seems now as though nothing much has changed...".

(September 1, 2010) Grin and Bear Her: Saunders Already Bored with $15 Million Budget Cut Issues "It has been mere hours since the Martha Saunders administration of USM announced that at least 29 faculty would be losing their jobs thanks to a $15 million budget cut, and already Saunders’ mind is back on USM’s centennial celebration...".

(September 7, 2010) ‘Hughes-Dugan Bromance’ Still White Hot The professional “bromance” that has been going on between the CoB’s director of accounting, Kirby “Skip” Hughes, and the new Horne Professor of Accounting, Michael Dugan, is as hot as ever. What began with Hughes’ praise of Dugan as one of the most caring professors in higher education, and then continued...".

(September 2, 2010) Just Plane Ridiculous by Duane Cobb "Many of the followers of the trials surrounding the recent round of budget cuts at USM are as sharp as tacks. The online readers of The Hattiesburg American are noticing that USM seems to be alone, at least among Mississippi’s eight public universities, in terminating tenured and tenure-track faculty...".

(September 2, 2010) Floating Scenarios "A number of CoB faculty termination scenarios are being brought to USMNEWS.net's attention. From the USM administration and media reports, we know that three CoB faculty have been terminated as a result of the FY2011 budget cut of $15 million. Each scenario discussed below includes...".

(September 7, 2010) Got Confidence? "With all of the incompetence at the top of the management hierarchy at Southern Miss, there is still nothing resembling even a whisper about holding a “no confidence” election regarding USM president Martha Saunders. Sure, the fact that the institution has had to shave $25 million from its state allocation in 2010 and 2011 is not Saunders’ fault...".

(September 15, 2010) It’s Not an Elephant, It’s a Plane "USM president Martha Saunders told the USM family members gathered on 14-Sept-2010 for the fall 2010 convocation that it would be insulting of her to deliver the 2010-11 State of the University address and not mention the “elephant in the room.” That elephant is, of course, the recent $15 million budget cut that has left 29 tenured and tenure-track faculty members without jobs, and a much larger number of USM students without their academic majors (programs)...".

(September 16, 2010) USM Students, Not Faculty, Take the Lead on Cuts, A Guest Editorial by Susan Green-Lewis "When it comes to taking the lead in holding the USM administration’s “feet to the fire” over the recent termination of almost 30 USM faculty, USM students, not faculty, are taking the lead. Some would say that this is per usual for USM, though I’m sure some faculty would disagree. At this point, though, none of that even matters...".

(September 17, 2010) Does President Saunders Need a Larger Plane? "One of the greatest scrolls in the history of USMNEWS.net occurred on 16-Sept-2010, announcing all of the individuals who traveled with USM president Martha Saunders aboard “USM air” to Omaha, Nebraska, in June of 2009 for a USM baseball game. A facsimile of that scroll, containing a partial list of the passengers for that trip, appears below. The names run from Saunders to Chad and Jack Driskell, Joe Bailey, Doug Rouse, Joe and Connie Morgan, Bob Pierce, Johnny Atherton, Jay McDowell, Billy Hewes, Richard Giannini, Johnny Dupree and John Brown...".

(September 17, 2010) More to Come? Time to Fish the Revenue Streams A View of the USM Budget Crisis from the Lighter Side by Hal Greene "This year’s FY 2012 USM budget cuts totaled about $15 million. Last year’s FY 2011 cuts came to about $10 million. What about next year? Early reports indicate that another $10 million is coming in cuts for FY 2013, taking the three-year total to about $35 million...".

(September 20, 2010) Jocks at the Trough "Higher education reporter Ed Kemp’s 19-Sept-2010 news story for The Hattiesburg American has opened some eyes about all of the propaganda surrounding debates over funding for USM athletics...".

(September 24, 2010) Takin It to the Streets "... Like the other presentations, the editorial video is not flattering. It paints a picture of desperation, of someone more interested in being liked in the community and wanting to hang on to a rich administrative position than being a leader who is on top of the situation, doing what’s best for the institution and its students. She also appears completely out of touch, beginning the viewpoint by saying:...".

(September 27, 2010) USM President Say What? "In her recent Viewpoint editorial for WDAM-TV News, USM president Martha Saunders said that “[t]o meet our budget for next year, we’ve decided not to renew the contracts of several good teachers [emphasis added].” In using that one word - “teachers” - Saunders reduced a number of PhD-trained scholars to nothing more than K-12 educators (junior college educators)...".

(September 29, 2010) A Mock Letter to the USM Community "Dear USM Family, After two years of the worst economic crisis the citizens of the United States have ever faced, state funding for Mississippi’s colleges and universities is down. Families across the state are also falling on hard times. Tough choices are being made. Many families are extending their leases on European vehicles, dropping memberships in local country clubs, not eating out as much, scaling back their Mardis Gras krewes, skipping trips to the day spa, flying coach, going without mani-pedis, and the list goes on - all to make ends meet. Of course, this “cutting back” has an outward face. ...".

(September 30, 2010) Aren't You Happy that Van is Happy? "... Like some, Arnold believes that Southern Miss “has matured into a vibrant, respected beacon of education” primarily because of brick gateways and New Orleans Bowls. It is all a whitewash of the fact that Southern Miss is a bottom-tier institution that is made, over and over, a national laughing stock by terrible decisions coming from its administration. USM may or may not have one of the “spiffiest” entrances of any college campus in the country. What it certainly doesn’t have is Latin or Greek or Philosophy or Economics, facts that call into question whether Southern Miss is actually a collegiate institution in the first place."

(October 4, 2010) One Heckuva Plan "It has been about one year since the Martha Saunders administration of USM agreed to a plan put forth by the USM b-school economics faculty that would allow the unit, which had recently been eliminated by the Saunders administration, to survive as a smaller group over in USM’s liberal arts college...".

(October 5, 2010) Walking the Talk by Susan Green-Lewis "... Given the data above, it’s no wonder why USM students are not interested in supporting these programs by attending their contests. What, then, should be done? In her recent editorial viewpoint for WDAM-TV News, Saunders explained that the Southern Miss of the future will be shaped by areas of student interest and demand (the needs and plans of the students). According to Saunders, that vision guided the USM administration in cutting academic programs that, even though they were good programs, USM students exhibited little interest (in terms of majors) in having...".

(October 7, 2010) Dr. Lyman & “Mr. Kemp” A Guest Editorial "At the 1-Oct-2010 USM faculty senate meeting, USM provost Robert Lyman stated that “Mr. Kemp” - referring to The Hattiesburg American’s higher education reporter Ed Kemp - had done a number of “jobs” on USM in his reporting of the latest financial crisis to shake the 100-year old institution. With the support of at least one USM faculty senator, Lyman denigrated Kemp’s reporting work on USM athletics funding and other issues related to USM’s management..."

(October 7, 2010) A Voice of One? More Questions About the 1-Oct-2010 Faculty Senate Meeting "The quote below comes from the final portion of the 1-Oct-2010 USM faculty senate meeting: 'The house is burning down, and we’re spending too much time on committee reports. Whereas today we should’ve debated . . . a fierce debate on what we want the administration to know.' The faculty senator who produced the quote above is clearly frustrated with the lack of action the first two faculty senate meetings of 2010-11 have generated...".

(October 8, 2010) Bend it Like Latin: A Fresh Look At The Stale USM Soccer Program by Victoria Tyler "Much has been reported about USM’s use of roughly $7 million in student and taxpayer money to support the institution’s $19 million athletics department. Some of the discussion thus far has centered on the dismal state of USM’s soccer program, which is led by Scott Ebke...".

(October 8, 2010) (first published September 2008) Is USM Becoming a Party School Under Saunders? "... When she is not consumed with the details of her $330,000 boudoir renovation, Saunders is gushing over the finer things in her luxury suite at M.M. Roberts Stadium. Like the boudoir renovation, the details of Saunders' luxury suite have not escaped the attention of USMNEWS.net, nor of The Hattiesburg American. According to Earlesha Butler's 31-August-08 story for THA ('USM luxury suite tested and approved'), Saunders' luxury suite at M.M. Roberts Stadium is filled with '[d]esigner leather sofas and chairs . . . [f]lat-screen televisions . . . [and f]loral creations in gold and red vases.' In the luxury suite that Butler described as 'posh,' more than 80 invited guests visited Saunders during the USM-ULL football game on 30-August-08. And according the Butler, it was the 'lavish décor . . . that amazed the guests'...".

(October 11, 2010) Rich Man, Poor Man: Larry Fedora, Jeff Bower, and USM Football "Much has been reported about USM’s use of roughly $7 million in student and taxpayer money to support the institution’s $19 million athletics department. As one might expect, such reports have generated some discussion about the current state of USM's football program, which is only growing with the Centennial Homecoming meltdown against a mediocre East Carolina team...".

(October 12, 2010) Lindy Tolar’s Home Cookin’ by Susan Green-Lewis "USM athletics supporter Lindy Tolar recently penned a guest editorial accusing USMNEWS.net, and The Hattiesburg American for that matter, of disingenuously representing information surrounding USM’s use of fees to support the USM athletics department’s $19 million budget. Much of his guest editorial also takes issue with my recent editorial urging the Martha Saunders administration to consider cutting some of USM’s underperforming and low subscription (by USM students) athletics programs, such as women’s soccer, track, and men’s and women’s basketball. To do otherwise, I argue, would be inconsistent with the way that very administration slashed a number of academic programs in an effort to shave $25 million from its FY 2011 and FY 2012 budgets...".

(October 14, 2010) "Tuitionation without Benefitation" "So much has been said by the Martha Saunders administration about focusing USM’s diminishing state dollars on academic and other programs that are aimed at large numbers of students, not just smallish cliques. Susan Green-Lewis has applied Saunders’ thinking to USM sports, identifying men’s and women’s basketball, track, and soccer as ideal candidates for elimination. These programs seriously underperform, and very few students attend their contests...".

(October 12, 2010) It Ain’t Martyrdom "Operating on the premise that many USM faculty do not know how budget cut preparations are being made in colleges other than their own, if even then, it’s time to shine some light on one of the practices that CoB administrators have employed in order to shelter certain favored faculty from termination. For example, many USM faculty are aware that the CoB’s information systems program has been eliminated...".

(October 14, 2010) The U.S.M. Court of Appeals by Duane Cobb "'Maybe if . . . they knew better than to blow millions of dollars on a pointless wall in front of campus . . . maybe if they don’t own a jet, maybe then I would have an inkling of respect for the administrative bullshit that we call the leadership of USM.' - USM student Floyd Maseda, TSP interview, 31-August-2010...".

(October 18, 2010) Dear usmnews, "Why is Lee Gore retiring as university counsel at USM? Does he have his 25 years in and is ready to go like most other USM employees or is he being forced out so president Martha Saunders can have her own person as an advisor? [name withheld out of fear] ...".

(October 19, 2010) It's Simple . . . Martha's Plane May Cost Jobs A Guest Editorial by Victoria Tyler "Maybe, just maybe, as a result of USM president Martha Saunders' decision to spend $2 million in taxpayer funds to lease a Beechcraft plane, there's a pilot (or two or three according to USM records) out there who is now considering membership in the Hattiesburg Country Club. That's nice. However, there are approximately fifty USM faculty out there now, some tenured, who can blame Saunders for their terminal contracts that are the result of financial exigencies...".

(October 21, 2010) Answering a Reader's Question "Today, I’d like to take a day off of our series, “MS Open Records Request Reveals USM's Actual Costs of President Saunders' Plane”, and answer a question to the editor which we reported a few days ago. The question was contained in the following letter to the editor:..".

(October 22, 2010) Dear usmnews.net, "Thanks for an explanation of what happened in the editor’s litigation [against Dr. Saunders, et al.]. I realize it is only one side of the story, but I have asked around, listened to some of the longtime faculty in the CoB, and have been able to confirm a lot of what the editor said. I have another question that I hope you will answer....".

(October 25, 2010) "Dear USM Colleagues, My heartfelt sympathy goes to Dr. Greer for trying to work with President Saunders and her fellow administrators. (See text of Dr. Greer's email to faculty.) President Saunders and her colleague administrators are different than you. They do not adhere to the same academic principles you do. Integrity, for example, means something entirely different. They have in “their minds” a fuzzy notion of lockstep institutional public relations, not personal honesty. We’ll discuss “integrity” in detail another day. However, you will get an inkling of what President Saunders’ means by integrity in this report...".

(October 27, 2010) 31st & Pearl: Lots o’ Laughs "Regular followers of USMNEWS.net who haven’t yet visited usmlite.com should do so after reading this column. The anonymous weblog specializes in a satirical take on the issues of the day at USM, which under current president Martha Saunders are many...".

(October 27, 2010) Foundation of Sand: A Guest Column "USM sophomore Daniel Miles’ plan to save several of USM's academic programs, by splitting in half each student’s “athletics assessment” and giving one half to academic affairs, will work. It will, as pointed out, also expose Richard Giannini’s athletics department, which will, under Miles’ proposal, have to generate at least $3 million in ticket sales to cover the lost tuition taxes...".

(November 5, 2010) Aunt Martha’s Next Can of Worms? A Guest Column "The chalked and (water-soluble) shoe-polished “Impeach Saunders” graffiti that the USM family awoke to on the morning of 29-October-2010 is dominating campus chatter. Just about every Saunders supporter on the list,... are referring to the “three males” suspected of the political art as vandals, and to their actions as “vandalism.” ...".

(November 5, 2010) 31st & Pearl Permanent Markers "Although it was meant to be humorous, Hal Greene’s editorial column about the possibilities for additional revenue streams at USM contained one item that strikes a chord with USM family members these days. Among all of the hypothetical bumper stickers arranged together in Greene's lighter-side view of the USM budget crisis, one rings truer than the rest - 'Impeach Saunders.'...".

(January 4, 2011) Dear usmnews.net, "Perhaps the Xmas break has given me entirely too much time to think, but how does President Saunders justify honoring Stephen Bushardt as an emeritus professor at USM? Isn’t Dr. Saunders the person who said she takes allegations of violence seriously? However, even after Dr. Lisa Bushardt submitted an affidavit claiming that Dr. Stephen Bushardt, her (former?) husband, abused alcohol and put her children and her fear of injury, Dr. Bushardt retains the title of emeritus professor and has full run of the campus...".

(January 6, 2011) Dear usmnews.net, "I am a new visitor to usmnews.net. When I reached the section called 'What Martha Saunders Thinks, or How Dr. Saunders Really “Builds Trust, a Team, and a Campus", I recalled the old “Fire Shelby” board had changed its name to something like USM Forum - To Build Trust, a Team, and a Campus Message Board. The name change was borrowed from a comment by Dr. Saunders at the beginning of her presidency, when we were all hopeful that she would be and do what she claimed...".

(November 11, 2010) The Ghosts of Christmas Present "If you’ve been keeping track of all of the nonsense occurring almost daily at USM, you probably can’t help but think that the campus is caught in the grip of some type of inaction specter...".

(November 19, 2010) "Thanksgiving "Did you know? Did you know that your president, Martha Saunders, decided to provide (1) raises to those USM colleagues of yours who were promoted to either associate professor or professor heading into this academic year (2010-11)? Well, she did...".

(January 7, 2011) Dear USM News, "I have a new year's prediction for you: Former COB Dean Harold Doty will continue to apply for every dean job that posts, and that market will continue to function properly. Without inside help, like that that got him the dean job at Texas - Tyler, he is stuck where he is (Texas - Tyler) until fired by a new provost or president...".

(January 10, 2011) 31st & Pearl: Memo to Jackson Once again USM president Martha Saunders has retread the old, tired statements about making USM a student-centered campus, launching the careers of its graduates, and building internationally-recognized programs.

(November 22, 2010) The New U? The Rocky Marriage of Academics & Athletics at Southern Miss "In hustling to keep up with the sordid events surrounding the Southern Miss football program, particularly the kinds of episodes described by ...".

(January 10, 2011) 31st & Pearl: More than 4 Million Served "The tally on the front page of usmnews.net says more than 4,390,000 hits. That's right, more than 4 million served. On March 1, 2010, usmnews.net was reporting more than 3,003,000 hits. In barely ten months, the count has increased by more than a 1,387,000 hits...".

(January 11, 2011) Dear usmnews.net, Like many people at “Southern Miss”, I have become a regular reader of usmnews.net. More recently, I have been reviewing the archives in an effort to gain some perspective. In that process I came across an editorial entitled, Here's What we Know about Martha Saunders and an earlier report that asked the question, What do We Really Know about USM President Martha Saunders?...".

(January 12, 2011) Christmas 2010-11 not Great for Eagles A GUEST EDITORIAL "... As Huntington’s Herald-Dispatch described the event, 'Marshall continued to roll in the second half and had a 24-point advantage when play was halted again with 10:43 remaining. Southern Miss player Sai’Quon Stone was called for a foul after a dunk by Flowers and Stone also picked up a technical foul. Eustachy protested and a second technical foul was called...".

(November 23, 2010) Saunders’ Spin Machine "Regular readers of USMNEWS.net, and followers of happenings at USM, are well aware by now that USM president Martha Saunders is an image-shaper, a self-anointed public relations queen. As reports and editorials here at USMNEWS.net indicate, Saunders governs in a style over substance fashion, and the 100-year-old institution now confronts many problems as a result of that type of leadership...".

(January 12, 2011) Dear usmnews, "Thank you so, so much for putting together the new series on Dean Farhang Niroomand’s travel habits. It has been both interesting and astonishing to this point, and it is going to be very, very helpful to some of your readers. anonymous ...".

(November 23, 2010) It’s Easy to Like ‘Senator B’ by Victoria Tyler "The recent USMNEWS.net Special Report entitled IMPEACH is one of the more eye-opening reports posted to this website in a quite a while. That report details, through the example of USM’s new retention rewards program, the shoddy way in which the institution is being managed...".

(January 18, 2011) "Dear USM news: In response to a previous letter I can say I have heard that the CoAL Dean is not nearly held in such high regard anymore by the dome powers. She has stalled, whined, and fussed too much now and refuses to deal with the reality of the situation: she has the largest college budget so naturally it can take a bigger hit than smaller budgets...".

(January 19, 2011) Miles 2.0 With all of the talk about budget cuts anywhere from $10 million to $25 million over 2011 and 2012, one would think that plans other than Daniel Miles’ proposal to reallocate the current USM athletics “tuition tax” to academic affairs would be circulating among the faculty, staff, and students.

(December 1, 2010) How Much Would Doty Have Loved the New U? "With all of the talk about USM becoming “the new U,” one can’t help but think that former CoB dean Harold Doty, now the b-school dean at the University of Texas at Tyler, would’ve loved to have been CoB dean now, with all of the turmoil around...".

(January 20, 2011) "... Dear usmnews.net, If one of your contributors named a “USM Person of the Year,” a la Duane Cobb’s top 10 stories of the year, that person would have to be Bill Powell. How he married his position as president [Martha] Saunders’ associate provost to also being a co-chair of the university priorities committee without taking a hit is worthy of recognition. ...".

(January 21, 2011) Is Saunders’ Decision-Making Process Like a Roulette Wheel? Provost Lyman’s Remarks Suggest It is So "USM has released the appeals committee’s recommendations regarding more than 20 of the academic programs that were cut by USM president Martha Saunders in response to the expected FY2012 budget cut of $15 million. That release brought a flood of media coverage and Internet discussion about the matter, including Ed Kemp’s 20-Jan-2011 story for The Hattiesburg American entitled “USM programs may be saved.” ...".

(December 2, 2010) Coiffe -- OVER -- Profs An Editorial by Victoria Tyler "It’s quite clear (see montage below) that USM president Martha Saunders’ appearance is important to her. From changing hairstyles to expensive clothing, Saunders is not bashful about keeping herself up-to-date on all things hair and outfits...".

(January 24, 2011) Might USM Lose One-Sixth of its Faculty? by Duane Cobb "According to Elizabeth Crisp’s 23-Jan-2011 report for The Clarion Ledger, more than one-third of USM’s psychology faculty “has offers in hand for better paying jobs.” Wow! ...".

(January 31, 2011) Subventions Return "As a regular follower of this website for some time now, I can say that the news and editorials that appear here are well received by many readers. Your recent Special Report about the new “University Historian,” Bo Morgan, who is assigned to the “Office Of President,” jogged the memory bank. That report mentions his new history of Southern Miss, Treasured Past, Golden Future, that was published by the University Press of Mississippi last year (2010)...".

(February 1, 2011) Wiki Tweaks: An Editorial by Susan Green-Lewis "If you visit the Wikipedia entry entitled “University of Southern Mississippi,” you will find that many of the sordid details of the Shelby F. Thames administration of USM (2002-07) are contained there (see the “Recent Developments” section). For example, one paragraph begins with 'The beginning of the 21st century at Southern Miss saw controversy, in the person of Dr. Shelby Thames.'...".

(December 17, 2010) Dear usmnews.net, "Thanks for the reports about Niroomand's travel . Apparently not much has changed since he left USM for UH-V. As I read about his week in Washington, I couldn’t help but laugh...".

(December 21, 2010) BHAG? A Guest Editorial by Victoria Tyler "USM faculty senate president Anita Davis opened the 3-Dec-2010 faculty senate meeting by stating, and I paraphrase throughout, that there are disparities with values that are commonly held by USM faculty...".

(February 8, 2011) "Dear usmnews.net: Following in the RATR tradition, have you heard anything about [President Martha] Saunders planning to upgrade the airplane so she will have faster trips and greater range...".

(February 10, 2011) "Dear usmnews.net, I have been following the information about Martha’s airplane with great interest, but I have to ask a question. You are making these numbers up … aren’t you? If your numbers are right or even close to right, her behavior is beyond reprehensible. If your numbers are right, she is betraying the trust of every faculty and student. If your numbers are right, IMPEACH SAUNDERS!!!...".