In Tuesday afternoon’s meeting with members of the college board, Douglass Sullivan-González, dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, began the conversation by addressing the elephant in the room: trust.
“There is a trust deficit here,” Sullivan-González said. “(The removal of the previous chancellor) deeply hurt us because we don’t understand what happened here.”
“There is a trust deficit here. (The removal of the previous chancellor) deeply hurt us because we don’t understand what happened here,” said Douglass Sullivan-González, dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. (Photo by Logan Kirkland)
Whereas the morning meeting designated for alumni was quiet, the session geared toward faculty, staff and students brought a profusion of participation through speakers and applause from the audience of nearly 60 people.
Only one of the eight board members present spoke: Alan Perry, board search committee chair and president of the Institutes of Higher Learning board.
Though graduate student and president of graduate student council Alexandros Vasiossivvopoulos broke the silence with words on the need for an academic leader, it was recent graduate, Katie Williamson, who first roused applause from the crowd.
“I think our chancellor needs to have no connection in Mississippi politics,” Williamson said.
“I think our chancellor needs to have no connection in Mississippi politics,” Katie Williamson, recent Ole Miss graduate said. (Photo by: Logan Kirkland)
Williamson said the close connections between politicians and university leaders is corrupting progress.
Norris ‘E.J.’ Edney roused a similar point when he reiterated, not the hardship of keeping the job, but that of retaining it.
“In order to continue the momentum and to address the deficiencies between the university and the IHL, (the next chancellor) will have to disagree with the IHL,” Edney said. “We need someone who isn’t afraid to ask, ‘If I get (the position), how do I keep it?”
Edney posed a question that summed up his position: After what happened to Dan Jones, who wants this position?
The board did not respond to these points.
It did reply, however, to the plea of Kirsten Dellinger, the chair of sociology.
“In order to continue the momentum and to address the deficiencies between the university and the IHL, (the next chancellor) will have to disagree with the IHL,” Norris ‘E.J.’ Edney said. (Photo by: Logan Kirkland)
“Consider deeply, seeking a diverse pool of people,” Dellinger said. “We can look for candidates that value diversity. We were sad to see Dan Jones go because of his regard for this issue, but we know there is someone out there (who has a similar regard).”
To this, Alan Perry broke his silence and asserted the importance that the IHL places on diversity.
Other speakers raised points of respect and understanding of the research done on campus, the need for someone who can and will continue the momentum the university has held and the understanding of the university’s past and future.
Sept. 1, Perry said, is the tentative date at which the board will stop taking nominations. Though Perry said anything voiced on time frames was supposition and not a promise, he said a smooth execution of the 20-step program could have a candidate ready for the questioning by the university as soon as three months later, on December 1.
Details about the applicants and interviews will be kept private, Perry said.
“It’s all private,” Perry said. “You get to talk to the prefered candidate.”
The recommended candidate will be chosen by the board search committee, composed entirely of IHL board members.
The remaining listening sessions are August 20 at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and August 27 on the Oxford campus, three days after students have returned.
Alan Perry, board search committee chair and president of the Institutes of Higher Learning board, conducted the majority of Tuesday evening’s listening session. (Photo by Logan Kirkland)
