Jackson Jambalaya

Maybe they should change their slogan to Three I Love

so does he and slick willie have something in common?

I "heart" this comment.

What is wrong with this school? There seems to be a lot of turnover.

It is almost impossible for them to find a truly well qualified person to take a job designed to fail. They will again get 70+ administrators from all over the country to apply for a very prestigious HBCU job only to find out that none of them want to accept their bullshit. If they would allow JSU to reach it's real potential they will find that many truly qualified and talented administrators will gladly take the job. Otherwise they will continue to hand the job to any jive turkey with a degree willing to say Yes Suh! and sell out.

JSU alumni should be ashamed

He should have keep his head in the game!! My bad, he did and got caught!!!!

ok why did he leave?

IHL hand-picked Carolyn Meyers, William Bynum, Thomas Hudson and Marcus Thompson. IHL should be ashamed.

4:54?
IHL

Ole Miss and IHL keeps picking leadership. They have no desire or reason to support JSU. This is good ole Mississippi where the good ole boys are just trying to make it.

4:54 JSU alums had nothing to do with the selection of these hustlers to run their school and not a damn thing to be ashamed of.

Wby? What is going on there at JSU?

Why is anyone surprised ?

Just another example of an expensive suit, bow-tie ... & and "big words" in front of a local TV "news" camera.

@4:43 What is wrong is that the people who run JSU (the IHL) are determined to appoint dummies who will not threaten their limited vision for advancing higher learning in Mississippi. Their vision does not include Jackson State. The problem is those dummies who were appointed to do their bidding are not high caliber individuals, just dummies. The search goes on.

???
IHL

My JSU friends like 5:41 cannot accept the fact that they have no influence whatsoever over the college board which is appointed by the governor. Learn to grit your teeth. Sometime they forget....This is Mississippi

Edward Watson would run circles around the last five presidents.

Hire Chokwe.

Chokwe for President!

IHL for those unaware and unable to use google is the institutions of higher learning. They are the ones who hire university presidents. It seems as though they are doing a piss pour job in vetting these people because every president seems to have some type of serious allegations. Now that we have that out the way. Ummmmm Kingfish did you hear rumors of a video that led to this resignation? I heard tells of a video that is risky in nature if you get my drift.

Leading a university in today's environment is challenging, and picking a good university president is a roll of the dice. However, this president had ZERO university experience and was in over his head. The folks on the IHL board were likely duped the the board staff. The board should be ashamed for not doing their job and AL Rankins should be fired for letting it happen.

We are but not by our doing (per usual). Alumni had no say in the selection. Dust up on your knowledges of the IHL selection process before spouting off.

This. SMDH. And it is led by a former HBCU President from ASU. Hmmm….

Well.....if they would expand their qualifications to include non-black administrators, maybe they would also have better luck in finding a long term president.......But we MUST DEI at JSU !!

8:58 You speak as if this were accidental. The IHL board has no intention of hiring a top administrator for JSU. The last three selections had nothing to do with performance or qualification. They simply wanted some semi qualified pawn who would maintain the status quo. Such people often are lacking in character as evidenced by their actions. They cannot take a chance on hiring a dynamic leader for JSU who might challenge the status quo.

8:39 dude.... nobody wants to spend 5 minutes, sifting through all the 'IHL' acronyms, looking for the best fit. And 'Risky' is probably not the best fit, for describing that video. If you have a low Shame Threshold, and are ashamed of using a French word, there are plenty of English synonyms, like 'Dirty', 'Salacious', and 'Prurient'.

it aint the school its how they pick the leader. no input

What the hell
Does ole miss have to
Do with this? Board chair is MSU alum.

That is just ill-informed right there. Everybody on the inside knows Mark Keenum at MSU is absolutely in control of the IHL Board.

I believe you are thinking about former USM standout clown show Rodney Bennett. I said what I said.

I came here to say this about the joke of our taxpayer funded IHL leader. And while I can see how the Board may have been tricked into selecting Bynum, a short time later it was some other morally challenged man who went bye-bye the same way. And now this? That is not being duped. That is straight up malpractice. JSU deserves better.

100% agree, but he's too good for that gig. Solid as they come. Incorruptible.

Thompson was never apart of the national search process but was inserted by IHL as the best candidate at the end. Sounds familiar? Ex-IHL commissioner Boyce got paid to lead a search for Ole Miss president, then inserted himself at the end as the best candidate. Hudson had zero vetting and had known personnel issues prior to being named JSU president. Who's holding IHL accountable for selecting these inexperienced folks?

What's really sad? Both Hudson and Thompson had front row seats to the Bynum's wreckage, Yet, (allegedly) did the same things and were able to resign without any explanations or marks on their records.

Is it true the misbehavior rumors had been out for awhile and IHL allowed him to stay in office, hold end of the year celebrations, and oversee a commencement? Something is really off here.

Wasn’t his wife a Chokwe supporter? She had those Mayoral Candidates forums hoping to make Hizzoner look good. At least she’s gone too

JSU didn't run him off, His Morals ran him off!! JSU is not the problem!! IHL knew he had some issues, and approved him any way. It's not hard to dig into folks lives, unless you have your educated head in a hole...Same old Jim Crow Game!! Put mess in the community..

PhD degrees in MS are a joke. All it takes is a computer, the tuition, and good cut/paste skills.

Win!

Appears that the JSU administrative suite needs Jesus.

Rodney Page I believe was or would have brought good leadership by example!

Rodney Paige spelling was off

It is difficult to find quality people to run a campus surrounded by a collapsing city. The students that commit to go there from other states must live in a serious state of regret, along with the fear of not living through their commute to and from campus.

JSU is one of four public research universities in the state and deserves a competent president. It is the IHL board’s job to see they have one, and if they are failing repeatedly in their task the taxpayers have a right to expect recourse from the elected officials who appointed them. Perhaps the Legislature should change the term length and make board members more immediately responsible to a sitting executive.

Remember, educated and smart are two different things.

Degrees: BS (we know what that means); MS (more of the same); PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper)

Well, they will never accept a Caucasian, so...

IHL has a history of sub-par picks. Look at Delta State. They all but drove it into the ground with LaForge. School is in serious financial troubles and what did he do? He commissioned a total rebuild of the Chancellors house to the tune of millions. Not to mention he tried to run off what little bit of greek life was there.
He was the nail in the coffin at DSU.

For those who don’t know any better, the constant leadership turnover at Jackson State University has nothing to do with the students, faculty, or the surrounding community. The blame lies squarely with the IHL Board, which continues to fail at its most basic responsibility—appointing qualified, competent leadership for the university.

We all agree that the community surrounding the university is beyond disappointing but let’s just stay on topic on how just last 4 or 5 picks of the IHL Board failed

In other states HBCU's and the other universities have their own board of trustees or regents who select the president and direct the course and development of their individual university. In Mississippi there is one board comprised of partisan political appointments of the governor managing all the universities which is a recipe for disaster for the schools without the political power or that are perceived as an enemy, like JSU. The governor's board simply has no more interest in the advancement of JSU than Phil or Tater and it appoints those presidents who represent their position. No accident.

JSU should demand to be released from IHL oversight. This body has failed JSU. They have sent them 3 sexual deviant Presidents. I don’t see them doing this to State, Ole Miss, Southern, ect. Colleges and Universities should have the ability to hire their own leaders. To have their own alumni choosing those fate. All of this mess is a direct cause of IHL inability to choose qualified people for JSU.

The IHL board is squarely and 100% to blame. The JSU alumni base has zero accountability here. These presidents were forced on the university. Hell, I imagine they didn't want Thompson, Bynum, or any of the other failures. However, the DSU alumni base basically begged for LaForge to be president given his family legacy. --and make no mistake, Rankins is a weak commissioner and MSU/UM are the wizards behind the curtain.

Looking for a winner here - but there are so many choices. Frontrunners are/were 4:44 & 8:58 from yesterday plus 12:07 from earlier today. What they, and many others, had in common was a realistic look at our dysfunctional IHL. But 10:00am this morning summed up what was in many comments, so he/she is declared today's winner - so far. I'm sure there will be more interesting comments about the lack of common sense possessed by the members of the IHL.

The only schools in Mississippi guaranteed to direct their own course are the private schools. The public ones like Ole Miss and JSU are subject to the political winds, that' s the statutory truth. If the winds blow against you JSU as they always have you will get your ass kicked. Sorry.

Maybe they should open up this job to other qualified candidates of other skin tones.

He would be incredible.

True, and if things were reversed there would be law suits, protests, etc.

11:03 The IHL board does not care enough to try. Too much trouble.

Bill LaForge was our choice. He disappointed us. Bill had two problems - population decline and his ego.

How Many JSU grads are on the 12 member IHL Board? Please?

Being a university president is a tough job. You have so many constituents that have different interests. Students want something different than Faculty. Staff wants something different than athletics. Then you have alumni wanting something different than everyone.

The number of people qualified to run an organization with a nine figure annual budget is already slim, and when you add the qualifier of being from Mississippi and being Black and having an HBCU pedigree, you have a problem attracting leaders.

3 Presidents in 7 years is a terrible track record. I don't know if Al Rankins has it in him, but he could be a good transitional leader. Could JSU attract someone like Larry Robinson from Florida A&M? FAMU has done well going outside the HBCU footprint (Washington U. of St. Louis).

Or Javaune Gaston at Norfolk State - she has turned that place around. She was a VP at Ohio State and Maryland before going to Norfolk. She has a degree from Iowa State.

There are some good leaders that could take JSU to the next level, but they might come from places like Washington, Ohio State, Maryland instead of JSU, Grambling or Southern U.

Thats a creditable applicant

JSU needs someone like Dr. Tonja Johnson. Google her. JSU grad...Senior Vice Chancellor of Academics at the University of Alabama System. Recruit her, hire her, and pay her well... let the setback be a comeback! Be done with the tomfoolery.

Glenn Boyce was the best choice for Ole Miss and has done a fabulous job. Applications, enrollment and graduation rates are at an all-time high. The faculty quality is excellent. Multiple athletic teams have enviable records. Ole Miss is proud to have Chancellor Boyce.

Amen.

He can do the job via zoom.

I must comment just how impressed I am! All the extrordinarily intelligent commentors on this thread are just amazing! I mean surely they ALL KNOW THAT BLACK FOLKS AND JSU DO NOT PICK THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT. YA'LL DO KNOW THAT RIGHT?

One

12:55 and 2:35 and all the rest. What is so difficult for you to understand? Over 50 very qualified applicants have applied for the JSU job each of the last three selections. None were selected by the IHL. They are not interested in the kind of people you name. They are not interested in anyone who will make JSU competitive. Each time they have gone outside the normal selection process to pick "their man". They are only interested in some clown who will keep the school under their thumb. They do not give a damn about Jackson State. They are simply getting what they asked for.

9:47, some of 'us' do know better and part of the problem at JSU is the discontent constantly being expressed by the faculty (at least, those claiming to be the 'leadership' of the faculty.

But then again, I guess your comment - and mine - are like bodily parts, lets say noses for the sake of this discussion; everybody has one.

Speak for yourself 2:35. Between Boyce and the "elite" wannabes, the native Oxonians have lost control of what was once a charming college town, turning it into a cesspool of absentee owners. You may like that, but there are many that do not.

Thanks, GROK

Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL)

Mississippi has too many universities.....

If the Trustees of Southern University, Alabama State, or Florida A&M ran Jackson State they would not treat it worse than the Mississippi IHL board. They hate the place that bad.

They (IHL) will tell you they have a secret closed door vetting and selection process to attract and protect top candidates. That is some bullshit. Highly qualified candidates worthy of those high-paying public positions will accept and welcome the scrutiny. They are just controlling the narrative. JSU folks...rise up and put this to an end! Their process is obviously flawed.

For damn sure, the JSU Tailgating-Alumni crowd is hitting this comment board hard.

Constantly lambasting the IHL for the behavioral failings of JSU presidents is outlandishly comical.

Although Mississippi College is a private school, blaming the ones who hired the previous president for spending millions on whores would be equally as outlandishly comical.

Hey 3:26 AM Pay attention. Mississippi College is a private school. MC makes it's own mistakes. No one with an agenda contrary to the best interest of MC has anything to do with it's selection of presidents or it's daily direction. JSU is just the opposite and the only people who find it comical are those who want to dismantle JSU in the first place. That is why the "JSU Tailgating-Alumni crowd" and others like myself are not laughing.

Thee I Loathe

How can you fuck up a $455,000 job plus housing and a car! It’s so easy to get along with people smarter than you and keep your morals in check. I’d be shaking hands and nodding my head up and down all day to make my university great(nothing unethical)Some time you have to go around land mines! Surround yourself with capable people and enjoy. You’re just a figure head that’s getting paid well.
It would be good for the IHL Board to have an after action meeting with him in person to see what he could have done differently to keep on making that Cheese! (Money)

MC's not even in the conversation. They can't even support a football team.

This falls squarely on IHL. Too many politicos, black and white, see JSU as a cookie jar, not an urban university that could be an economic driver for Central Mississippi.

Thank you KF 11:16. Well said. Sadly most of the damage to JSU has already been done it's potential is diminished. Hope it's not too late.

11:16 -- totally agree. Also, I think JSU's identity crisis caters to how they are viewed by the legislature and overall Mississippi. On one hand they want to push the urban research university narrative --and on the other hand they want to push the HBCU narrative. I think achieving both would be a stretch under good circumstances, but nearly impossible with their current lack of leadership.

@3:19 I would agree that many people do not envision the HBCU also being the urban research university. Problem for JSU leadership is that many of them are on the IHL board.

@810 and @835. Chokwe and Rukia, time to go home.

Wait, what? "They have sent them 3 sexual deviant Presidents." If this is true, how is not news? And how does a college president of a very troubled school make half a million?

Final word. Stick a fork in JSU it's done.

And Ole Miss’ Athletic Department has for 3 consecutive years lost millions of dollars. Just imagine what would happen without SEC revenue sharing for media rights. Football ticket sales don’t cover the cost of the football program, not even football coaches and staff salaries and benefits. MC doesn’t have the luxury of receiving millions of dollars in media rights. Why should the school sink millions to run the program at a loss?

Mark Keenum doesn't give a fat rat's ass who IHL hires to run JSU. He's fully occupied (as is his sidekick Sid Salter) with keeping PERS on speed dial.