ITTA BENA, Miss.
The panel Mississippi Valley State President Lester Newman created to study problems at the university has called for his dismissal.
Newman launched the 10-member panel after the Faculty Senate in late February passed a ‘no-confidence’ resolution slamming his leadership.
By a 9-1 vote, the new panel called for the immediate removal of Newman as president, according to a copy of the report released Friday.
Based on input from 94 Valley faculty members, “it is clear that the current president is seen as unprofessional, poorly organized administratively, inefficient, and, in general, unfit for the job.”
The report said “a serious void in leadership exists at MVSU.”
Faculty were asked to review a number of concerns, such as low morale, extensive personnel turnover, faculty pay and Newman’s management style.
Newman was in New Orleans on Friday at a national conference on historically Black colleges and universities and hasn’t seen the report, said Valley public relations director Debbie Montgomery.
The report also urges Newman take no actions to hire or fire employees or seek retribution against members of the faculty panel, according to a www.clarionledger.com article.
“The report speaks for itself,” said political science professor Jerome Greene, who serves on the committee.
Greene said he’s seen no improvements in the situation at the school since the Faculty Senate’s 33-1 “no-confidence” vote nearly two months ago. The former Valley administrator was among the Faculty Senate members endorsing the no-confidence vote.
Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, a 1959 Valley alumnus, said he hopes the turmoil on campus will be put to rest soon. But he wouldn’t comment when asked if he supports the call for Newman to step down.
“The fighting will come to an end,” Jordan said.
Newman has said he’s reached many of the goals he established since beginning in the $183,750-a-year-job in July 1998
–Associated Press
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