Jed Pressgrove is a graduate student in sociology. He can be contacted at [email protected].The various disputes between supporters of MSU President Robert “Doc” Foglesong and their opponents have featured faulty arguments on both sides.
To a certain extent, these viewpoints obscure an accurate portrait of both present and past qualities of this campus. Note: I do not champion one side of the fence over the other, nor do I care to delve into the question of who is ultimately right.
To begin, some opponents of Foglesong have utilized two lines of thought, aspects of which are either untrue or half-true.
The first line of thought is the tendency to blame Foglesong for everything, paying no attention to chronology or plausibility. Looking at this issue chronologically, the very fact the College Board called for an opaque presidential search should negate some of the exaggerated blame certain critics have attributed to Foglesong.
Sometimes the exaggerated blame cannot be placed on any party involved in this argument over administration.
For instance, some people believe or believed Foglesong ordered the blocking of Facebook for the campus network at some point. The evidence for this claim amounted to being unable to view Facebook on a certain day. That same day, some realized you could access Facebook on campus computers. I tested the theory as well, and Facebook was available, rendering the original claim presumptuous and worthless.
Another questionable viewpoint of Foglesong’s opponents is the “MSU-is-being-run-like-the-military” old faithful. Admittedly, I see why the conclusion has been drawn – the perceived micromanagement and rhetoric about being “One” and “Mission accomplished.”
But to be candid, the university could have been described as “being run like a business” as much as the claim presented, evidenced by an ostensible fixation on job world professionalism (both in conduct and appearance, for both person and campus), leadership and goals (which overlap the military and business worlds and make up a substantial part of each), surveys, financial statistics and concerns and sustenance. At the very least, Foglesong was a man with a notable military background called in to take care of business.
Moving to Foglesong’s supporters, the suggestion that MSU was in need of crucial upheaval before Foglesong became president is insulting to the previous accomplishments of this university and its members.
In his March 13 State-Gram posting, Foglesong said, “This university needed a hard turn.” In general, it did not.
According to research catalogues available on the IHL’s Web site, MSU has consistently raked in more external funding for research than other major Mississippi universities, such as Ole Miss and the University of Southern Mississippi. For the last seven fiscal years, MSU accumulated at least $48 million more in external funding for research than other major Mississippi universities each year, according to the catalogues.
This does not discredit Foglesong’s proclamation that 2007 was a historic year for external funding. But we hardly needed a hard turn in this regard.
And forgetting matters of money, this university has incredible faculty. I’ve been enrolled since fall 2004 and have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with numerous intelligent, respectable, successful and caring faculty members, from aerospace engineering to forest products to business. Different departments and schools considered, I’ve met them.
Undoubtedly, the university had succeeded in many other areas before Foglesong’s presidency, but the space available to this article could not encompass the brag-worthy details.
Finally, some of Foglesong’s supporters have occasionally called for a cessation of whining and complaining from the president’s critics. What has been termed whining and complaining is the lifeblood of democracy and fair expression. Once we crown ourselves silent, many cherished characteristics of contemporary society can be jeopardized – freedom itself, rational discussion and accountability.
In other words, explain why viewpoints are invalid, not what you personally and perhaps inaccurately deem annoying or unnecessary.
In reiteration, this article does not answer any questions pertaining to the ultimate right side of these disputes. But heralding every argument on either side of this debate can be harmful to the truth about the last two years of MSU. Hopefully, I have helped disentangle the needless barbs that serve to stain this particular historical account.