College Board firm on firing Ole Miss chancellor
JACKSON – Members of Mississippi’s College Board met Monday and said they aren’t backing down from a decision to seek a new chancellor for the University of Mississippi, despite rising criticism of the move.
Board members, commenting publicly after an executive session lasting more than an hour, said Dan Jones never resolved problems with contract and financial management at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The members said the board had pushed repeatedly for a resolution of those problems without success over the years.
“This led to our conclusion that the only practical way to deal with this … was to make a change in the institutional head,” said Alan Perry, the board’s incoming president….
…Anthony Papa, president of the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation, said Monday that the foundation will retract the $20 million it’s promised for a new science building at Ole Miss unless the College Board retains Jones.
“For them to treat him this way, I just think it’s a dirty trick,” Papa said.
Papa said he wasn’t coordinating his opposition with other donors, but wants to. “The large donors need to get together and discuss this and see what we can do about it,” he said.
Barksdale said he wasn’t sure if he would withhold his money, because it could hurt students who benefit from scholarships.
Hattiesburg American
3/23/15
Magnolia Tribune
