OXFORD — Students, staff and faculty members at the University of Mississippi are telling the state College Board that they want a new chancellor who can unify Ole Miss.
Several people spoke Thursday as the board held an on-campus listening session as part of its search for a new person to lead the university.
The next chancellor will succeed Dr. Dan Jones, a physician who had led Ole Miss since 2009. Protests by students and alumni erupted earlier this year when the College Board chose not renew Jones’ contract, which expires in mid-September. Jones took leave starting in mid-June, and Morris Stocks is serving as interim chancellor.
Eloise Tyner, a junior who is studying public policy leadership and Arabic, said she’d like the new chancellor to set high expectations for students.
“From my point of view as a student raised in Mississippi, a lot of the time there is a very strong message from a lot of the media that you are lesser, and that you will not be able to perform on the same level as other people in the country,” she said. “And from the moment I set foot on this campus, it’s been made clear that’s not true by the high expectations set forth by the faculty and by Dr. Jones.”
Teresa Carithers, associate dean of the School of Applied Sciences, said Thursday that Ole Miss needs “a leader with a can-do attitude.”
Some speakers at the Thursday session said there needs to be a rebuilding of trust between College Board members and the university.
“There has been a trust deficit over what happened with the dismissal of Chancellor Jones,” said Associate Provost Maurice Eftink.
“That can be healed over time … but I think it needs to be acknowledged.”
After one student asked whether the search committee is committed to diversity, College Board member Shane Hooper, who is black, answered for the group. He said the board was responsible for hiring the first African-American president at a majority-white university when it chose Rodney Bennett to lead the University of Southern Mississippi. Hooper also noted also that Dr. LouAnn Woodward is the first woman to lead the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
“At the end of the day, we’re looking for the most qualified person,” Hooper said. “Our commitment is to Mississippi, to the university, but our commitment to diversity is also there.”
A College Board member, Dr. Ford Dye, said search committee members will review applications in September, interview perhaps six candidates in October, re-interview three in November and introduce a preferred candidate in December. That candidate would then visit with university groups before a vote by the entire board.
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