Mississippi’s commissioner of higher education was scheduled to meet with Mississippi Valley State University interest groups today to discuss the search for a new MVSU president.
Commissioner Hank Bounds was to meet with faculty, staff, students, student government and other interested parties about the future of the university’s leadership.
Caron Blanton, director of communications for the Institutions of Higher Learning, said the visit would precede a press release scheduled to be sent out later this afternoon. The press release, according to Blanton, will update the public on the state of the search for a new president.
Bounds announced earlier this month that current MVSU President Donna Oliver’s contract will not be renewed when it expires Dec. 31. She joined the university in January 2009.
Bounds also said earlier this month that an interim president would be named soon. The IHL has not yet named one.
The MVSU Foundation Board issued a press release Monday to announce Bounds’ visit. In the release, the board called Bounds’ meeting with Valley students a “news conference” in which MVSU students “plan to voice their support for Dr. Oliver’s continued leadership.”
The release lists Board Chairman Walter Roberts and Vice Chairman Clara Reed as contacts, but Roberts and Reed both said they knew nothing about the board’s involvement with it.
The Foundation Board has been among the most vocal group to demonstrate its disappointment in Oliver’s termination, and the group has held meetings and press conferences to try to convince Bounds to change his mind and keep Oliver on board.
“We did call him yesterday, we called to ask him to meet with us, but he did not call the Foundation Board,” Reed said. “He’s meeting with five or six different groups. I don’t know who they are, but he’s not meeting with us or even the president.”
“We just want to know what’s going on and why all of these changes are being made in the middle of a semester,” Reed added.
Blanton said Bounds would meet with all stakeholder groups on campus.
“It’s just a matter of how much time he has,” she said.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
