Sixty-six faculty members representing 20 University of Mississippi departments or schools signed a petition drafted in response to a letter Physical Plant Director Ashton Pearson distributed to all physical plant employees Oct. 22. The petition’s author, associate professor of history and director of the university’s Center for Civil War Research John Neff, delivered the petition, which can be found in its entirety on page one of today’s issue of The DM, to the offices of Chancellor Dan Jones and Provost Morris Stocks on Nov. 8. Pearson’s letter is also printed on page one.
“This petition is about respect for all employees,” Neff said. “I felt certain that the university would not cheerfully agree with many of the provisions in (Pearson’s) letter. This was an effort to try to give the administration an opportunity to distance themselves from some of (the letter’s) components.”
Jones gave The Daily Mississippian a statement Wednesday afternoon in response to the petition.
“The Provost and I share a commitment to free speech and a diverse intellectual environment and agree that supervisors have the right to curtail the use of social media during work hours,” Jones said. “We have shared our personal commitment to those values in conversations with faculty who expressed concern, and we continue to be available to those who have ongoing concerns.”
Neff drafted the petition and distributed it via email to several department heads, faculty and staff members on campus. He never received a response from the chancellor or the provost – something he is hopeful will be changed before the end of the week.
“I would like the administration to make a public announcement about where they stand in relationship to Ashton Pearson’s more outrageous comments about intellectual restraint and demanding silence if you can’t support the university,” Neff said. “Somehow the sin of an LSU-supporting social media post was so grievous that it inspired Pearson to think he has enormous amount of control over what his employees say, think or do.”
According to Neff, one part of the petition cites the last provision of the university’s Institutional Core Values: “The University of Mississippi honors the dignity of all employees and compensates them fairly.”
“The administration must recognize the dignity of all employees on the campus of the University of Mississippi,” the petition reads. “No authority on campus should ever pretend to exercise power over whom we cheer, the clothed we wear, the loyalties we embrace, or the forms through which we express ourselves.”
Neff said the petition is not an attack on the university and does not intend to accuse the university of any wrongdoing.
“We are all employees of the university and there should never be any rules that suggest that some have access to certain rights over others,” he said.
Adam Ganucheau
dmeditor@gmail.com
