The Board of Trustees of Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning is no stranger to controversy over its long history of governing the state’s eight public universities.
Over the years, the board has acted to force the resignation of university presidents, which is the only position the board has authority over. The most notable in recent history was the forced resignation of Mississippi State president Robert “Doc” Fogelsong in 2008. There have also been non-renewal of contracts in the case of Mississippi University for Women presidents over the years.
In those cases the IHL’s action was expected and in many minds, justified.
Such was not the case with the board’s decision on Friday to remove Dr. Dan Jones as University of Mississippi Chancellor.
What is unique about the board’s decision is the bewilderment and universal outcry that accompanied it. Almost from the moment the board announced its decision late Friday afternoon, the reaction has been overwhelmingly negative. The furor seems to grow with each passing day.
Dr. Robert Khayat, who has remained largely silent on Ole Miss matters since he stepped down as the Ole Miss Chancellor in 2009, called the board’s decision “egregious” while notable alumni such as famed Rebel quarterback Archie Manning and novelist John Grisham appealed to the board to reconsider its decision and renew Jones’ contract.
Tuesday, the Ole Miss faculty senate passed a resolution without a dissenting vote calling for the IHL to renew Jones’ contract while on Wednesday more than 2,000 gathered on the Ole Miss campus to protest the IHL board’s decision.
More ominously, some of the university’s most prominent donors, including former Netscape CEO/ venture capitalist Jim Barksdale, have bitterly objected to the board’s decision. A spokesman for the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation, which has previously donated $25 million to build the university’s performing arts center that bears the Ford name, went even further, saying that the foundation would renege on a $20 million donation planned to help build a new science enter on the Oxford campus.
“Perhaps we should have said more earlier,” Alan Perry, vice president of the board, said after the board met in executive session for more than an hour.
Perry said the non-renewal of Jones’ contract was not a “right-wing political plot,” as had been speculated in some circles.
Instead, he said, the board moved to remove Jones because the Chancellor had not corrected some accounting and contract issues related to the University of Mississippi Medical Center to the board’s satisfaction.
Given that the board had three days to clarify its reasoning for its decision, we are obliged to take Perry’s statement as the board’s final say on the reason it moved not to renew Jones’ contract.
Based on that, we find little reason to justify the board’s decision.
Whatever irregularities”there may have been with UMMC’s financial administration, it is important to note two independent audits of UMMC found no significant issues. The hospital has grown enormously under Jones’ tenure as chancellor, both in size and prestige. It is projected to show a $35 million profit when the fiscal year ends in July.
Meanwhile, on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, enrollment is up, donations are up and the university, under the leadership of both Jones and his predecessor, Khayat, has done much to improve the university’s image by distancing the university from its unfortunate history in the area of civil rights.
By almost every measure, both UMMC and the Oxford campus have thrived under Jones’ leadership.
The decision not to retain him appears to defy logic.
Retaining Jones as the chancellor of the University of Mississippi is in the best interests of the university and higher education in our state.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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