Uproar Over Leadership Churn at Jackson State

The abrupt departure of Marcus Thompson, Jackson State University’s now-former president, who served for less than two years before leaving earlier this month, has sparked criticism of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the body that oversees public universities in the state and hires and fires campus leaders.

Thompson is the fourth president of Jackson State in five years, including acting presidents, some surrounded by scandal and controversy.

But some local lawmakers and alumni blame the IHL for chronic leadership churn at the historically Black university and are calling for more transparency in the next presidential selection process. IHL leaders say their process for hiring leaders is—and will continue to be—transparent, but they’re open to change.

The IHL board put out a terse announcement May 7 stating that Thompson had resigned “effective immediately,” but the board offered no further explanation. Thompson spent less than a year and a half in the role. The news came only hours after the IHL board met in closed session to discuss an undisclosed Jackson State personnel issue for the second time in three weeks, Mississippi Today reported.

John Sewell, IHL’s director of communications, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the board discussed Thompson in executive session, but “since personnel matters are considered confidential, we cannot comment on the nature of the discussion.”

The resignation was a blow to a university that’s suffered its fair share of presidential turnover. Thompson was hired to replace Thomas Hudson, who resigned in 2023, two weeks after the IHL Board of Trustees placed him on paid administrative leave for an unspecified “personnel matter.” The Faculty Senate voted no confidence in Hudson not long before his mysterious departure, citing shared governance issues. He had served in the position for three years.

Hudson’s predecessor, William Bynum Jr., resigned in 2020 when he was arrested in a prostitution sting. He’d been in the job for three years. Since 2010 through Thompson’s tenure, the university has had eight people at the helm, including interim and acting presidents.

The campus has been craving stability, but it doesn’t look like it’s coming anytime soon.

“A timeline for a presidential search has not yet been established,” Sewell said.

In the meantime, Denise Jones Gregory, provost and vice president of academic affairs, has been selected to serve as interim president.

Gregory thanked the Board for putting its trust in her “during this period of transition” and emphasized her love for the institution as an alumna in a statement to the campus community.

“In the weeks ahead, I will meet with students, alumni, faculty, staff and community partners to chart a course forward for our Dear Old College Home,” Gregory wrote. “I ask for your patience, your partnership and, most of all, your prayers as we move Jackson State University forward together.”

Patrease Edwards, president of the Jackson State National Alumni Association, expressed “full support” for Gregory and Jackson State leaders “as they guide Jackson State into its next chapter.”

She also urged alumni “to speak only with love and pride about our university.”

“Refrain from public comment during this sensitive time, and let our message be one of unity, dignity and unwavering support,” she said in a statement.

But not everyone has held back, and some alumni and other onlookers launched sharp criticism at the IHL for Jackson State’s tumultuous leadership history.

The Critiques

State leaders and alumni have questioned the IHL’s decision-making regarding Jackson State’s leaders and accused the public university system board of lacking transparency and undervaluing feedback from faculty and alumni on candidates.

Even Gov. Tate Reeves chimed in. He told local media that the university needs “consistency” and “quality leadership.”

“I think that the IHL board and the IHL commissioner owes the taxpayers an explanation as to why they have gotten it so wrong at Jackson State,” he said.

Fabian Nelson, a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives and a Jackson State alum, sent a letter to the IHL, urging the board to more thoroughly involve the campus community in its next presidential search. He expressed his “profound disappointment concerning how leadership transitions have been orchestrated” in recent years.

“While I hold the board in high esteem and respect the complexities inherent in such decisions, I respectfully beseech that greater consideration be given to the invaluable perspectives of alumni, students, faculty, and other stakeholders in future searches for university leadership,” Nelson wrote.

The board has included advisory panels of these groups in its presidential search processes in the past—including Thompson’s—but candidates recommended by those panels have regularly been ignored, said Ivory Phillips, a former professor of social sciences and dean at the institution who headed the university’s Faculty Senate for 11 years.

For example, Thompson hadn’t even applied for the presidency when he was chosen in 2023; he was the IHL’s deputy commissioner and chief administrative officer at the time. (Debra Mays Jackson, formerly the university’s vice president and chief of staff, claimed in a 2023 sex discrimination lawsuit against the IHL that 79 candidates applied for the role, her among them, but she wasn’t interviewed.)

“For the last three [presidents] in particular, I think the board had a process that’s not really defensible for common-sense people,” Phillips said.

Phillips, who’s written about the issue in The Jackson Advocate, described the relationship between Jackson State and the IHL as often “strained” and pointed out that the board’s dozen members are appointed by the governor, so universities have little say over who’s choosing their leaders. (Currently, one board member is an alum of Jackson State, according to the IHL’s website. None of the others attended the state’s historically Black universities.)

Concerns about the board aren’t new. In 2020, 10 Democrats in the Mississippi House of Representatives introduced a bill to abolish the IHL and replace it with individual boards of trustees at the eight universities it oversees. But the bill died in committee.

Phillips hopes that, in the future, the board makes its Jackson State presidential pick from among a list of candidates put forward by alumni, faculty and staff members. He believes the university’s growth has been hampered by its frequent leadership changes.

“The board would still have the final say-so,” he said, “but they would have the wisdom of that group up front.”

But the details of the next search process are still unknown.

“The Board of Trustees is committed to a clear and transparent process,” Sewell wrote to Inside Higher Ed, “which will include input from constituencies at the university.”

IHL board president Gee Ogletree told Mississippi Public Broadcasting that he’s aware of criticisms and is paying attention to the feedback.

“We always are going to receive comments from elected officials and from the public, and we listen to those,” he said. The IHL “could always revise our process to create more involvement.”