Mississippi Today
Amid crackdown on universities, Millsaps prof’s job in flux
Amid a national maelstrom of attacks on academic freedom, the fate of James Bowley, the former chair and professor of Religious Studies at Millsaps College, hinges on a 10-word email he sent to his class of three students the morning after the presidential election. Nearly a month after a grievance committee repudiated his subsequent termination over those 10 words, his status remains in flux.
The day following his email, Bowley found out that he had been placed on paid administrative leave pending a review of his use of a Millsaps email account “to share personal opinions” with his students.
Around the days of the election, racist messages targeting African American students had been sent using the anonymous campus messaging platform Yik Yak. The FBI had informed the Millsaps community via email that it, along with law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was investigating those messages.
“I personally would not send that kind of content to my class. But I understand the disappointment behind the email, understand the human sympathy, especially what happened with the Yik Yak post,” said David Wood, chair of the Modern Languages department at Millsaps College, referring to racist and threatening messages directed at African American students on the anonymous messaging platform Yik Yak, around the days of the 2024 presidential election.
“I knew the students were fearful. So I canceled my class,” Bowley said. “And I do not regret that for a second.” His 10-word email explained why the class was being cancelled: “to mourn and process this racist fascist country.”
Bowley filed a grievance against his leave of absence with the university’s grievance committee, which could not identify any specific policy that he had violated. It recommended in December that Bowley be reinstated immediately; that the Interim provost issue a formal apology to him, and that he be compensated for a loss of income that arose from his removal from a study abroad course he was supposed to have taught.
Weeks later, Bowley’s employment was terminated, by the interim provost — a decision he appealed. The interim provost at the time, Stephanie Rolph, was a candidate for the full-time position.
Now, nearly a month after the grievance committee decided to allow the terms of Bowley’s reinstatement be negotiated, his employment remains in flux as he waits for Millsaps’ president to affirm or overrule their decision.
The purpose of the college’s action “is to demonstrate the power of the administration over the faculty,” Bowley said. “I think the whole point is to make faculty self censor.”
The termination of Bowley comes amid a nationwide crackdown by universities and the Trump administration on speech by students and faculty. Since 2023, dozens of faculty members have been disciplined, or even fired. Since March, more than 1,500 international students have seen their visas revoked, with some even being detained without due process. And top universities have seen threats of funding freezes if they do not agree to laundry lists of demands and restrictions.
On Monday, Harvard University, which has vowed not to “surrender its independence or constitutional rights,” sued the Trump administration in an attempt to block them from freezing $2.2 billion in federal funding and an additional $1 billion in grants, which the administration in a letter had said it would do if the university did not overhaul its admissions and hiring policies, among others, allow for federal oversight of its operations, and commission external audits of a number of departments.
This letter, which the Trump administration now says was sent in error, came about a month after Columbia University capitulated to similar demands by the administration – in its case, which included empowering campus security to make arrests, suspending students involved in protests last spring, and placing its department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies under administrative receivership.
On Tuesday, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, which has more than 800 member institutions, issued a public statement, condemning “undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses” and “coercive use of public research funding.”
Nearly 200 leaders of educational institutions signed the statement, including Millsaps College – the only Mississippi institution to do so. The president of Columbia University did not.
“Millsaps promises free speech to its faculty members and when it makes a promise like that it should stand by that promise and protect it,” said Haley Gluhanich, senior program counsel of FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. In Bowley’s case, she said, “We saw these violations of fundamental due process rights – the fact that he was put on administrative leave before he even had a hearing.”
Millsaps’ Faculty Handbook says a faculty member is “entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing the subject matter of the course, but should be careful not to introduce controversial matter which has no relation to the subject.” It elaborates that “when speaking or writing as a citizen, the teacher is free from institutional censorship or discipline, but this special position in the community imposes special obligations,” because the public may interpret the words of a faculty member as being representative of the position of the institution.
However, in the grievance committee’s December recommendation, it found that the handbook “does not offer guidance on how to distinguish personnel matters from matters of academic freedom,” and that this lack of clarity appeared to expose tenured faculty members to a disciplinary process that was subject to the sole decision of any acting provost, with no recourse.
“When they are sharing a personal opinion, a criticism of an election,” said Gluhanich, “no reasonable person is going to assume that that is the speech of the college.”
“Millsaps truly shaped me. It broke down the conceptions that I had of the world and religion and philosophy and ideas. By doing so it forced me to build them back up,” said Elizabeth Land, an alumna of Millsaps College. “I was taught to think for myself. And that’s a gift that you can’t put a price tag on.”
Land circulated a petition last December calling for Bowley’s reinstatement – a decision that in April, has yet to be made.
Joey Lee, director of communications at Millsaps College said, on behalf of the office of the president, that they could not comment on ongoing personnel issues.
“If I win,” Bowley said, “It is a win for students and for faculty and for academic freedom.”
Michael Guidry is an alumnus of Millsaps College, having attended from 2001 to 2005
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Mississippi Today
Jackson’s performing arts venue Thalia Mara Hall is now open
After more than 10 months closed due to mold, asbestos and issues with the air conditioning system, Thalia Mara Hall has officially reopened.
Outgoing Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba announced the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall during his final press conference held Monday on the arts venue’s steps.
“Today marks what we view as a full circle moment, rejoicing in the iconic space where community has come together for decades in the city of Jackson,” Lumumba said. “Thalia Mara has always been more than a venue. It has been a gathering place for people in the city of Jackson. From its first class ballet performances to gospel concerts, Thalia Mara Hall has been the backdrop for our city’s rich cultural history.”
Thalia Mara Hall closed last August after mold was found in parts of the building. The issues compounded from there, with malfunctioning HVAC systems and asbestos remediation. On June 6, the Mississippi State Fire Marshal’s Office announced that Thalia Mara Hall had finally passed inspection.
“We’re not only excited to have overcome many of the challenges that led to it being shuttered for a period of time,” Lumumba said. “We are hopeful for the future of this auditorium, that it may be able to provide a more up-to-date experience for residents, inviting shows that people are able to see across the world, bringing them here to Jackson. So this is an investment in the future.”
In total, Emad Al-Turk, a city contracted engineer and owner of Al-Turk Planning, estimates that $5 million in city and state funds went into bringing Thalia Mara Hall up to code.
The venue still has work to be completed, including reinstalling the fire curtain. The beam in which the fire curtain will be anchored has asbestos in it, so it will have to be remediated. In addition, a second air-conditioning chiller needs to be installed to properly cool the building. Until it’s installed, which could take months, Thalia Mara Hall will be operating at a lower seating capacity of about 800.
“Primarily because of the heat,” Al-Turk said. “The air conditioning would not be sufficient to actually accommodate the 2,000 people at full capacity, but starting in the fall, that should not be a problem.”
Al-Turk said the calendar is open for the city to begin booking events, though none have been scheduled for July.
“We’re very proud,” he said. “This took a little bit longer than what we anticipated, but we had probably seven or eight different contractors we had to coordinate with and all of them did a superb job to get us where we are today.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Jackson’s performing arts venue Thalia Mara Hall is now open appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents a straightforward report on the reopening of Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, focusing on facts and statements from city officials without promoting any ideological viewpoint. The tone is neutral and positive, emphasizing the community and cultural significance of the venue while detailing the challenges overcome during renovations. The coverage centers on public investment and future prospects, without partisan framing or editorializing. While quotes from Mayor Lumumba and a city engineer highlight optimism and civic pride, the article maintains balanced, factual reporting rather than advancing a political agenda.
Mississippi Today
‘Hurdles waiting in the shadows’: Lumumba reflects on challenges and triumphs on final day as Jackson mayor
On his last day as mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Antar Lumumba recounted accomplishments, praised his executive team and said he has no plans to seek office again.
He spoke during a press conference outside of the city’s Thalia Mara Hall, which was recently cleared for reopening after nearly a year of remediation. The briefing, meant to give media members a peek inside the downtown theater, marked one of Lumumba’s final forays as mayor.
Longtime state Sen. John Horhn — who defeated Lumumba in the Democratic primary runoff — will be inaugurated as mayor Tuesday, but Lumumba won’t be present. Not for any contentious reason, the 42-year-old mayor noted, but because he returns to his private law practice Tuesday.
“I’ve got to work now, y’all,” Lumumba said. “I’ve got a job.”
Thalia Mara Hall’s presumptive comeback was a fitting end for Lumumba, who pledged to make Jackson the most radical city in America but instead spent much of his eight years in office parrying one emergency after another. The auditorium was built in 1968 and closed nearly 11 months ago after workers found mold caused by a faulty HVAC system – on top of broken elevators, fire safety concerns and vandalism.
“This job is a fast-pitched sport,” Lumumba said. “There’s an abundance of challenges that have to be addressed, and it seems like the moment that you’ve gotten over one hurdle, there’s another one that is waiting in the shadows.”
Outside the theater Monday, Lumumba reflected on the high points of his leadership instead of the many crises — some seemingly self-inflicted — he faced as mayor.
He presided over the city during the coronavirus pandemic and the rise in crime it brought, but also the one-two punch of the 2021 and 2022 water crises, exacerbated by the city’s mismanagement of its water plants, and the 18-day pause in trash pickup spurred by Lumumba’s contentious negotiations with the city council in 2023.
Then in 2024, Lumumba was indicted alongside other city and county officials in a sweeping federal corruption probe targeting the proposed development of a hotel across from the city’s convention center, a project that has remained stalled in a 20-year saga of failed bids and political consternation.
Slated for trial next year, Lumumba has repeatedly maintained his innocence.
The city’s youngest mayor also brought some victories to Jackson, particularly in his first year in office. In 2017, he ended a furlough of city employees and worked with then-Gov. Phil Bryant to avoid a state takeover of Jackson Public Schools. In 2019, the city successfully sued German engineering firm Siemens and its local contractors for $89 million over botched work installing the city’s water-sewer billing infrastructure.
“I think that that was a pivotal moment to say that this city is going to hold people responsible for the work that they do,” Lumumba said.
Lumumba had more time than any other mayor to usher in the 1% sales tax, which residents approved in 2014 to fund infrastructure improvements.
“We paved 144 streets,” he said. “There are residents that still are waiting on their roads to be repaved. And you don’t really feel it until it’s your street that gets repaved, but that is a significant undertaking.”
And under his administration, crime has fallen dramatically recently, with homicides cut by a third and shootings cut in half in the last year.
Lumumba was first elected in 2017 after defeating Tony Yarber, a business-friendly mayor who faced his own scandals as mayor. A criminal justice attorney, Lumumba said he never planned to seek office until the stunning death of his father, Chokwe Lumumba Sr., eight months into his first term as mayor in 2014.
“I can say without reservation, and unequivocally, we remember where we started. We are in a much better position than we started,” Lumumba said.
Lumumba said he has sat down with Horhn in recent months, answered questions “as extensively as I could,” and promised to remain reachable to the new mayor.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post 'Hurdles waiting in the shadows': Lumumba reflects on challenges and triumphs on final day as Jackson mayor appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The article reports on outgoing Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s reflections without overt editorializing but subtly frames his tenure within progressive contexts, emphasizing his self-described goal to make Jackson “the most radical city in America.” The piece highlights his accomplishments alongside challenges, including public crises and a federal indictment, maintaining a factual tone yet noting contentious moments like labor disputes and governance issues. While it avoids partisan rhetoric, the focus on social justice efforts, infrastructure investment, and crime reduction, as well as positive framing of Lumumba’s achievements, aligns with a center-left perspective that values progressive governance and accountability.
Mississippi Today
Feds unfreeze $137 million in Mississippi education money
The federal government is restoring $137 million in education funds to Mississippi schools.
The U.S. Department of Education notified states last week that it would reinstate pandemic relief funds. The decision comes less than three months after the federal government revoked billions nationwide as part of Trump administration efforts to cut government spending.
State education agencies and school districts originally had until March 2026 to spend the money, but the federal government claimed that because the pandemic was over, they had no use for the money.
That March 2026 deadline has been reinstated following a series of injunctive orders.
A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the federal government in April over the decision to withhold the money. Then, a federal judge granted plaintiff states injunctive orders in the case, which meant those states could continue spending their COVID-relief dollars while other states remained restricted.
But the education department decided that wasn’t fair, wrote Secretary Linda McMahon in a letter dated June 26, so the agency was restoring the money to all states, not just the ones involved in the lawsuit.
“The original intent of the policy announced on March 28 was to treat all states consistently with regards to safeguarding and refocusing their remaining COVID-era grant funding on students,” she wrote. “The ongoing litigation has created basic fairness and uniformity problems.”
The Mississippi Department of Education notified school districts about the decision on Friday.
In the meantime, schools and states have been requesting exemptions for individual projects, though many from across the country have been denied.
Eleven Mississippi school districts had submitted requests to use the money to fund services such as tutoring and counseling, according to records requested by Mississippi Today, though those are now void because of the federal government’s decision.
Starting immediately, school districts can submit new requests to the state education department to draw down their federal allocation.
Mississippi Today previously reported that about 70 school districts were relying on the federal funds to pay for a range of initiatives, including construction projects, mental health services and literacy programs.
In 2023, almost half of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, pandemic relief money allocated to schools across the country, went to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs. A third went to operational and staff costs, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Education.
Though Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann previously said that legislative leaders might consider helping agencies that were impacted by federal funding cuts, House Speaker Jason White said Monday that he did not have an appetite for directing state funds to pandemic-era programs.
Small school districts were already feeling the impact of the federal government’s decision to rescind the money. In May, Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board voted to terminate a contract on a school construction project funded with federal dollars.
The litigation is ongoing, so the funding could again be rescinded.
Clarification: A previous version of this article misstated the status of school districts’ pandemic relief money.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Feds unfreeze $137 million in Mississippi education money appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article primarily reports on the federal government’s decision to restore $137 million in education funds to Mississippi schools after a temporary freeze. It presents factual information about the timeline, legal actions, and responses from various state officials without adopting a partisan tone. The piece mentions the involvement of Democratic-led states suing the federal government and notes Republican-aligned efforts to cut spending, but does so in a balanced way focused on reporting events and statements rather than promoting a political viewpoint. The language remains neutral and factual, avoiding loaded or biased framing, making it a straightforward news report with centrist bias.
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