Higher Education Commissioner Tom Meredith and three state College Board members visited Mississippi Valley State University Wednesday for meetings regarding an advisory committee's recommendation to remove MVSU President Lester Newman from office.
The board members joining Meredith were Bob Owens from Jackson, Dr. Bettye Neely from Grenada and Dr. Stacy Davidson from Cleveland, said Annie Mitchell, state College Board spokeswoman.
Meredith plans to continue the discussions with faculty, staff and students.
"The board members and I found our discussions on campus today to be very helpful. Additional conversations will be held over the next few days," Meredith said in a statement.
Dr. Saliba Mukoro, chairman of the criminal justice department, participated in one of the interview sessions.
"It went very well from my expectations," Mukoro said. "The truth cannot be hidden."
Mukoro has disagreed with the use of the no-confidence vote taken on Feb. 27 by the Faculty Senate as a means of resolving issues on campus.
Dr. Samuel Osunde, chair of the Department of Communications, who also attended a meeting, said it was "very fruitful."
"Personally, I spoke against the report," he said. Osunde believes that nine of the 10 members on the advisory committee recommending Newman's removal did so due to their own personal agendas.
He also disagrees with the actions of the committee, which Newman created to advise and not to draw conclusions, he said.
The committee was "supposed to advise on how to find solutions to the so-called problems," Osunde said. "Instead they ended up drawing a conclusion. The conclusion was against the president. That was not the purpose."
The College Board called Osunde to ask him if he would like to participate in one of the meetings. Osunde said he did not know how the other campus representatives were chosen or if they volunteered. He estimates that Meredith and the board members met with about 100 people on Wednesday.
Dr. Michele Crescenzo, an assistant English professor, is part of the advisory committee and voted for Newman's removal.
She participated in two meetings and said Meredith and the College Board were fair.
"They were very professional and interested in hearing both sides of the story. They let everyone have his or her say," Crescenzo said.
