weeklyreports_11_2015_01

Ethics, Power and Academic Corruption, part 19 What USM and AACSB Say USM's Faculty Handbook promises diversity of thought, academic freedom of inquiry and speech, protection from retaliation, and the decentralization of shared governance:

Ethics, Power and Academic Corruption, part 20 What USM and AACSB Actually Do USM and AACSB representations advocating diversity are promises. Their actual practice, however, must be observed and the observations documented. A brief summary of their actual practices is provided as an overview before the detailed documentary evidence is presented (Also, see Part 1.):

Ethics, Power and Academic Corruption, part 21 Documentation: What University Does in Practice Then-College of Business Interim Dean, Alvin Williams-now a faculty member at The University of South Alabama, in a petition to University President Martha Saunders, wrote, "Professor DePree worked exceptionally hard to derail our attempts at AACSB accreditation. He contacted the AACSB office and made allegations about our programs and processes that were not based on facts.

Ethics, Power and Academic Corruption, part 23 Race and Gender Implications USM's President is [was] a white woman [Martha Saunders]; [then] Interim Dean Alvin Williams is African American male; Dean Harold Doty is a white male; Executive Vice President AACSB is a white male; and involved faculty included white and African American males and females from all disciplines in the College of Business. Diversity of race, gender, and background, therefore, does not imply tolerance of different ideas.

Ethics, Power and Academic Corruption, part 22 Documentation: What AACSB Does in Practice Although Researcher DePree offered an opportunity informally to discuss the apparent plagiarism with administrators and faculty who were involved in copying the AACSB submissions "without proper citation," when ignored, he complied with the University Faculty Handbook. Its states the following procedures:

PAYING FIRED COACHES NOT TO WORK A recent Washington Post article, "College sports' fastest-rising expense: Paying coaches not to work," highlights one of the many idiotic behaviors college administrators perpetrate.... If you think these are bad deals, take a look at Southern Miss' even more moronic participation in this nonsense. As USMNEWS.net has reported, it is customary for coaching contracts to contain buyout offsets to account for payments made when the coach obtains employment elsewhere.

Deja vu all over again 4.1 Percent Additional Tuition Hikes at USM Jeff Amy's 19-November-2015 report for The Hattiesburg American confirms a 4.1% tuition increase facing in-state USM students beginning in Fall 2016. Amy states, "[s]till, increasing college costs are outstripping family incomes. In-state tuition will have risen 64 percent from fall 2006 to fall 2016, while household incomes in Mississippi have grown less than 20 percent in that time. The typical Mississippi family must pay 17 percent of its income for tuition at a state university, not counting room and board." What will this mean in dollars and cents to USM students and their families?

Dear usmnews.net, Since I know you are interested in business issues and the cost of education, I am sending you a link to a very interesting article -- particularly if you are a parent or a student. Why 2016 Will Be a Big Year For Student Loans. According to the article, the class of 2015 will have an average student loan debt of more than $35,000. As you reported yesterday, tuition at a bottom tier university like Southern Miss will soon exceed $7,000 per year. That's just tuition. It doesn't include books, food, a place to live, transportation, and the list goes on.

A comment on Did Byxbe Smell the Tabletgate Smoke? usmnews.net's editorial policy is quoted in relevant part for our reader's convenience: We pride ourselves on the documents and evidence that support our news. We also encourage different points of view in opinion reports. Your news and opinions are valued. Of paramount importance, we welcome corrections to our news reports. Our goal is to establish a foundation for a proud, confident academy that publicly implements a policy of openness and honesty.

Supporting Public Higher Education As many usmnews.net reports fully document, The University of Southern Mississippi squanders taxpayer and student money. So, why should taxpayers support USM by giving them anymore state funds? Add to this waste and squandering of our resources, Mississippi is identified as earning the grade of D in its support of higher ed. (See the article below.) Maybe USM should spend the money it gets from taxpayers wisely.

USM's Accounting Department and its Record of Publications
Weak leadership - Chair Gwendolyn Pate - and weak publications set a future course at USM's School of Accountancy to continuing as a forth rate school. Look at the Accounting Department list of publications currently posted. They are predominantly low level and irrelevant to the profession AND far too many--and some might say--are most published by faculty long gone from USM. Stand by for more detailed reports.

Gwen Pate Gwen Pate has always had a pitifully weak research record, both in quality of publications and numbers of publications. Her path to full professor was through administration; but she spent many, many years as a teacher and produced very little research then, too. How did she attain academic rank when a huge portion of evaluation is research and publication related? And just what does her current administrative position portend for a fourth tier institution like USM and its School of Accountancy?

"Ghosting" Following the last two days of reports about Full Professor Gwen Pate, Director of USM's School of Accountancy, we note in this report the practice called "ghosting." "Ghosting" is common knowledge in higher education, but our citizens and students may not know about it. Let's begin by explaining the term. I write a paper. You write a paper. Our friend writes a paper, and so on. We put each other's name on each paper. Each author gets credit for two or three or four papers, instead of just the one each of us wrote.

reprinted by request "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" ... Anderson was, however, subsequently exposed as a "slipstream artist" by a report here at USMNEWS.net showing that Anderson's work is (1) almost exclusively the result of her relationship with Ted Englebrecht, Anderson's mentor at Louisiana Tech University, and (2) literally (at this point) uncited.

Dear usmnews.net, Please re-print some of the articles about [former President] Saunders', now President [Rodney] Bennett's airplane. In my humble opinion it is unforgivable that they wasted and waste our students' and taxpayers' money. According to the Hattiesburg American, in-state tuition will increase by 4.1% tuition beginning in Fall 2016. That translates to a 64 percent from fall 2006 to fall 2016!

Dear usmnews.net, Here we go again. Southern Miss just announced yet another in a series of increases in tuition. In ten years, tuition has increase by more than 60 per cent. (I'd like a job that would give me pay raises like that!)