Mississippi Today
Delta State dean gets no-confidence vote following lawsuit, Mississippi Today reporting
The Delta State University faculty senate called on the dean of the liberal arts college to immediately resign last week in a no-confidence vote, citing a failure to advocate for faculty and an ineffectiveness in handling tenure and promotion.
The 11-3-3 vote by the body elected by faculty to represent their concerns questioned the leadership of Ellen Green, a biology professor who was appointed interim dean in 2020. It is an extraordinary action at Delta State where faculty can't remember a time the faculty senate writ-large has taken such a vote.
“There have been allegations of ethical lapses and bias in decision making that raise serious doubts about Dr. Green's ability to make impartial and ethical choices in the best interest of the college and its community,” the resolution states.
By Tuesday, it was unclear if Green was going to step down. A university spokesperson said the administration had no comment on the vote, and Green did not respond to an inquiry by Mississippi Today.
Christopher Jurgenson, a biochemistry professor and the faculty senate president, said that Daniel Ennis, the university president, told him the interim provost, Leslie Griffin, would be handling the administration's response to the resolution.
If Green doesn't resign, “we need a response and a justification,” Jurgenson said. “That's what I'll ask for. If I don't at least get that, I will demand it.”
At the very least, Jurgenson expects the administration to have a discussion with Green. But it's still early in the process.
The two-page resolution comes after reporting by Mississippi Today that included Green's role in hiring Kent Wessinger, a business consultant, to be the interim co-chair of the music department despite his lack of experience in higher education administration and history of domestic violence allegations. Months earlier, the dean of the department had been killed
In one instance, Green recommended denying tenure to Jamie Dahman, a music faculty member who other members of administration and Wessinger had taken issue with, on the basis that he had “aggressively pounded the table” during a department meeting, an allegation that was not substantiated by a recording of the meeting or eyewitness accounts.
The resolution also cites a lawsuit from an Iranian art professor who claimed he was discriminated against by the university in part because his department chair, who is Turkish, allegedly wanted to replace him with a fellow Turk. The professor, Mansoor Shams, alleged that as part of an effort to push him out, Green invited him to her office, surprised Shams with his department chair and the Human Resources director, then locked the door until he agreed to resign.
After a federal judge ruled the case could go to trial earlier this year, Delta State decided to settle as the campus is staring down the prospect of multimillion-dollar budget cuts.
Jurgenson said that the faculty senate was most concerned with the deposition of Lisa Giger, the HR director, in which she verified some of Shams' allegations and stated that it is Delta State's normal practice to not permit employees to consult a lawyer when they are offered non-renewal contracts.
“The fact that the university was sued, and Ellen was named in the lawsuit isn't necessarily a big deal because it happens all the time,” he said.
Taken together, Green's actions have contributed to a culture of fear at Delta State that must be confronted because most people on campus don't operate that way, Jurgenson said. Some faculty who were not senators were concerned that Green or other members of administration would target them if a no-confidence passed.
Jurgenson said he told faculty that “no one is going to lose their job who needs to be here.”
“There was some worry about retaliation, which I don't think was founded,” Jurgenson said. “I said, ‘Ellen is not a dictator, she can't do anything to you.' The culture here has been along the lines of people who have been worried about backlash, but I don't think under Dan's leadership it's like that. The way the university is run right now, it's about policy.”
Were Green to resign, it would be the latest turnover to shake Delta State's administration. In August, the provost, Andy Novobilski, resigned for “family reasons” but has stayed to advise the president, Daniel Ennis.
But the turnover at the top, Jurgenson said, is a sign that the administration is getting into shape under Ennis and responding to the faculty's desire for more accountability. He added that turnover among provosts and deans is normal on college campuses, even if that hasn't been the case at Delta State.
“Here oddly enough that doesn't tend to happen,” he said.
Plus, Jurgenson said the administration asks so much from faculty who are expected to take on extra tasks in departments where key positions have gone unfilled for years or work over the holidays.
“The administration is always asking us to do things,” he said. “There needs to be some give and take.”
There would appear to be bigger things to worry about than Green's situation like the impending budget cuts or the accreditor's upcoming site visit.
“It's stressful, I would rather not be dealing with it,” Jurgenson said. “I don't want to be at odds with administration. I don't want an administration where we have to do this.”
Before Green became dean, she was the chair of the university's science and mathematics division and the president of the faculty senate.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
MAY 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.
In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.
“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…
“I gotta get out of these woods.”
She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.
“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”
In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.
Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.
Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.
“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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