Jackson Jambalaya

I'm sure the ratty Wendy's is next.

The Cabot Lodge on the Millsaps campus is nowhere near 50 years old, and may not be 30 years old. Does Millsaps get anything right these days?

That's a long run for the no-tell, motel, where if you were willing you could turn a D into an A.

A check cashing store, a pawn shop or a liquor store will fit in nicely in that space.

Shagged numerous Millsaps co-eds there.

11:18, I graduated from high school in Jackson in 1979, and I remember going to at least one function there. My math says it's got to be AT LEAST 40 years old....

In a previous life that was the Holiday Inn Medical Center. I ran educational meetings there more than 30 years ago.

Wasn’t that hotel built in the 80’s?

There was a lot of hands-on human anatomy lab work done there over the years, usually for extra-credit.

It was a Holiday Inn before MMI took over and changed the brand.

11:18 - do you ever get anything right?

What kind of calendar are you using to question whether the Cabot is even 30 years old? One that is looking at the name on the sign out front, or one that looks at the physical structure?

Prior to being a Cabot, it was a Holiday Inn based on my memory; frankly, I have not checked the namesake for its earlier years because I really don't care that much.

But I can tell you that I have stayed in a hotel on that site in 1980 after watching John Bond and the MSU Dogs beat #1 Alabama next door at Veterans Memorial and it wasn't brand new at the time.

I think I will take Millsaps word for its age rather than whatever you are basing your knowledge of it age.

Originally a Holiday Inn, which made Milsaps and the first and only college to have a bar on campus

There goes a revenue source for the failing Millsaps College. Continued low enrollment has already resulted in a pay cut for the staff. They'd better get doing fast on the development of the property if it's going to give them even a small bit of relief. BTW, I was there in the fall of 1975, and it was operating as a Holiday Inn, as someone stated above.

Pearigen is really presiding over the decline of that institution, while other small liberal arts colleges are thriving. Why have they kept him this long?

Wendy’s is next.

Pearigen is really presiding over the decline of that institution, while other small liberal arts colleges are thriving.

Which ones are thriving? Which of Millsaps' peers are thriving? You made the claim, be specific.

An easy search engine query yields press for the last 3+ years indicating small liberal arts colleges are in serious trouble.

I know that the Holiday Inn Medical Center was built prior to 1973. I'm not sure of the exact year but remember many great nights in the lounge. They had some great bands. I think one of them was Lock, Stock & Barrel.

Back in the 80's their pool was a great place to hang out after drinking more than a few "mega mugs" up the street at the original Kiefer's.

When I returned to the Jackson area a few years ago, I drove by the place for nostalgic memories.
Unfortunately a crater on North State Street ruined that trip down memory lane.

Hundreds of dollars later, and after replacing a tire, rim, and a front end alignment . . . I've never had any desire to visit that part of Jackson.

So, Millsaps' did get it right when they said:

" The decision to close the hotel was based on
market changes in the area "

Speaking of hotels/motels...the first one was the old Alumni House Motel on the campus of UMMC....built in 1960.

Now my friends.. I worked there..and a lot of foolishness took place at that 40 room hotel... a lot of great times...it had a secret bar on the first floor that was the homebase for a lot physicians and nurses during the 1960s, 70s and 80s! It had a deli cafe, board room, and two private suites.

That place was rocking when Ole Miss played in Veteran's Stadium.
Many great memories of that place. Now it's a Patient Accounts Bldg.

What other properties does MMI still have? They didn't do a good job of keeping this hotel updated. They let the Capital Club go downhill until new management thankfully took it over.

Damn! Just Damn! I was hoping to stay there next October for the MSU-Alabama & Ole Miss-LSU double header at Veteran's Memorial Stadium with pre-game at Shakey's Pizza Parlor and post-game at Steak and Ale. What else can be fucked up in J-Town?

without the current president, Millsaps would have closed 5 years ago...

he tried to save a lot by cutting music, religion, education...you know, stuff that people don't go to Millsaps for these days...(probably less than 10 majors in all of that COMBINED over there.)

but due to sentimentality, they are going to have to bring them back...

and that's why it's on a doomed course. alumni and faculty still think its 1975...but the finances say its 2019.

Put an armed guards watch tower there, and arm them with night vision apparatus and sniper rifles. Make Jackson Safe Again!

6:41,

Millsaps was a lot better off before the current president showed up (enrollment, morale, etc.). The atmosphere on campus was a lot better during the last recession than it has been under the current president. How on Earth has Millsaps been going downhill while we are in the midst of the best bull market we have ever had? What's this current group of people running Millsaps going to do when the next recession hits? They've been doing a crap job during a bull market!

How much money did they lose out on by running off the gas station on the northeast corner of campus? Why did the president's old house for sale on Zillow have a picture of the front door as its main picture? Millsaps was trying to sell a home in Jackson for a half million and have the first pic was of the front door?

It's easy to fix the school: lower tuition some, run off Bowley and a few of the other socialist professors, get normal Millsaps grads to be in charge of admissions, focus admissions on affluent areas of the southeast, don't have the stupid dean/enrollment positions, add a nursing school or law school (Millsaps is right next to three hospitals) and go back to being super lax on drinking on campus.

This isn't rocket science.

Rhodes, Sewanee, Centre (other schools in the conference) are doing fine.

The president cited "newer hotels close to campus."

Where, praytell?

I believe this will be the new performing arts center location.

10:02. 6:41 again.

Ever been to Rhodes, Sewanee or Centre? I’ve been to
two of them. Immaculately kept buildings! Millsaps looks run down and even the new Chapel isn’t really that impressive.

Tuition. Well, the discount tuition rate is extremely high. People aren’t paying the sticker price. Lowering tuition will give the impression that the academic standards are being lowered. They need to decrease the discount rate.

Lax drinking on campus? Ever checked out collegiate liability insurance rates? Those days are over. Can’t afford a death on campus.

Focus admissions on affluent areas- you mean like every other college does? Including Millsaps?

Law school/Nursing school? Can’t just start one of
those. Those are governed by professional associations and with declining enrollment at the law and nursing schools in the state now-not going to be approved.

And a performing arts center- dollar for dollar the academic building that loses the most money because it’s vacant most of the time. If you are struggling with money it will kill you very quickly.

What took Millsaps down was the fact that state schools now have honors colleges (free tuition), unwillingness to drop programs that drain revenue (music, religion, education. and there should be about 10 more there also..)and limiting class sizes to 15.

2:56, to me enrollment tells the tale. Millsaps enrollment is and has for some time been declining while other similar liberal arts schools are increasing.Mississippi College, Sewanee, Rhodes to name a few.
Your comment was so defensive it tells me you are probably an employee or family member. Alumni and others can see what’s been happening at Millsaps. We’ve seen it for the last 7+ years.

I was at the opening gala for The Cabot Lodge. It was originally a Holiday Inn and KF, you may remember it was a Mississippi family, the Sturdivants, who owned the franchise here.

I moved to Mississippi in 1976 and it wasn't very long after that.

I would remind @ 12:49 that " nearly 50 years" isn't 50 and I guarantee him , since I know when I built my current home which is over 30 years old , that he isn't even " nearly" correct.

Millsaps is a dinosaur. In today's real world, charging way-too-high tuition for the ambiance of being a Millsaps grad is a dying business plan. The current administration made a move toward realism about this time last year when they eliminated some degree areas that were less in demand. But the niche institution is still destined to either fail or be downsized drastically. You can only sell the sizzle for so long.

They also play games with their scholarships. Even with exceptional grades, a scholarship to Millsaps is only a year-to-year thing. Performing students often get their scholarships non-renewed or cut in half. This again is all because of money.

Belhaven and MC are similar institutions but they have thrived and prospered by changing in response to changing times and markets. Also they are not selling the "status" of a degree from their institutions, unlike Millsaps. They are just offering programs people want and need during this day and age.

Nothing that they can afford to build on this Cabot Lodge site will do much to enhance Millsaps.

Sometime in the early 1970s my family and I had lunch at the then-Holiday Inn. I couldn’t have been over five years old. I think we were on our way back home to the Delta after going to Alabama to bring my older half-brothers and half-sister to their father’s home. Anyway, I started running around the restaurant for some reason and Dad had to chase me down.

In the 1950s Millsaps was in dire financial condition....Woodrow Wilson cut through the campus and the school sold its golf course...yes there was a course there....then in the 1970s things were bad again and along came a new dean in the 80s who was able to instill confidence and raise funds for the school (including the million dollar bell tower and the Olin building). Things worked well in the 1990s. Millsaps spent money in the 2000s it did not have and which it has not raised yet. The school has been bruised by its progressive stance on civil rights - including same sex issues. Millsaps needs to buckle down, focus on education and less on things. The business heads there need to figure out a way to utilize the Cabot area to attract investment and revenue. Look for alliances with medical outfits and local schools to achieve these goals. Millsaps has been a good school for 100 plus years...and it will continue in the vein for many years to come.

6:41, 10:02 again,

"Tuition. Well, the discount tuition rate is extremely high. People aren’t paying the sticker price. Lowering tuition will give the impression that the academic standards are being lowered. They need to decrease the discount rate."

This is the exact problem with Millsaps. When people flip through the Princeton Review book of the best 300 plus schools they see the sticker price of Millsaps and keep going. They don't know that most of the students are getting a discount!

"Lowering tuition will give the impression that the academic standards are being lowered." To who? Millsaps is not in New England, New York, Chicago, or the West Coast. Millsaps is in one of the poorest areas of the country along with some Native American areas and West Virginia probably. You live in a bubble and are unaware of the state you are in. Woodland Hills, Eastover, Madison, Bay St. Louis, Ocean Springs, other affluent areas of Mississippi are the exception not the rule of the state.

"Ever checked out collegiate liability insurance rates? Those days are over. Can’t afford a death on campus." If you are scared of being sued for college students getting alcohol poisoning then you shouldn't work at four year colleges that aren't Baptist or Mormon, and probably need to change the students you are attracting.

"Law school/Nursing school? Can’t just start one of
those. Those are governed by professional associations and with declining enrollment at the law and nursing schools in the state now-not going to be approved." Millsaps is next to three hospitals and turns a lot of grads into doctors per capita wise. If Belhaven can have an online nursing program then I don't get why Millsaps can't have a brick and mortar one. What are you and the people you're standing up for doing all day at work?

Hinds County Tax Roll says the hotel was built in 1971.

10:02--6:41 again.

Tuition rates--Rhodes lists at 44. Centre is 39. Millsaps is 37. So even sticker price is lower.

And lowering tuition--the idea is to reduce the discount, not to really lower tuition. But what happens in ratings guides like US News & World report is that it actually lowers a school's academic profile. (Birmingham-Southern, if you need an example.)

Drinking--actually, campus drinking rates are falling. The reason: more and more 17 year old students are more interested in video gaming online than drinking. E-sports at colleges are rapidly expanding. Some schools even offer athletic scholarships for it... A loose alcohol enforcement does nothing to draw students in 2019 and in the near future.

In order to start a program like nursing (great idea actually), it would require making decisions based on facts, rather than emotions. The president tried that. You see where it got him. NOWHERE.

2025...ain't seen nothing yet!

Evolve or dissolve... The folks over there made their choice some time ago and there is nothing the president can do about it. I am sure he is frustrated. He’d probably LIKE to leave, but who the hell wants to recruit a leader from a small liberal arts college that has been in financial free fall for years now. That dude is trapped. Poor bastard...

The only people in worse shape than him are the tenured faculty. The folks at Millsaps used to have a reputation for being smart. I believe they might be a little TOO smart. Interesting to watch such enlightened people struggle with fairly elementary troubles. They are so cerebral over there. I am sure they have turned themselves inside out thinking and talking about it all in faculty assemblies. Circular firing squad...

They need a more assertive and business savvy president & a faculty that knows it’s place and stays out of administrative matters.

Otherwise, someone get a tape measure and let’s measure off the floor space in all these buildings and list the whole sha-bang with a commercial real estate company.

Attn Millsaps: get out of your own way!

Belhaven will one day purchase Millsaps.

It will level the school and build data centers to host servers.

Those servers will support the terrible online program taught by Belhaven graduates that received their master's degrees from Belhaven.