Dr. Clifton W. Story, the former executive director of the Longest Student Health Center, is currently serving a one-year suspension of his medical license following an investigation into his behavior while employed by Mississippi State University. Story was found guilty of unprofessional conduct after engaging in a three-year relationship with his former patient and student at MSU.
Story’s attorney, Matthew Thompson, argued that the doctor/patient relationship was terminated before the sexual relationship began, while the board’s attorney, Paul Barnes, claimed that terminating the doctor/patient relationship is not as simple as no longer holding appointments with the patient.
Story first met with the victim at the Longest Student Health Center in 2013 for a sports evaluation in her freshman year. However, he took a more active role in her care beginning around 2018, meeting weekly in appointments that sometimes lasted longer than an hour. According to Story, his last appointment with the victim occurred in June 2020, while the sexual relationship did not begin until either August or September.
In his testimony during the Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure hearing in November 2024, Story characterized his treatment of the victim as a way to bridge the gap between psychiatric care. While not prescribing the victim new medications, he did continue to prescribe medication while she was in between mental health care providers.
A large portion of the board hearing focused on the power imbalance between Story and the victim. Story said he never saw it as a power imbalance.
“I have just tried to treat patients as equals, and not try to come across as the arrogant doctor that’s better than you. I guess that’s sort of what I went through in describing it to Acumen. I’ve never thought of myself as more powerful than other people,” Story said at the hearing.
Acumen Assessments is a company based in Kansas that provides professional evaluations. Story, following the board’s advice, completed an extensive evaluation with Acumen before appearing before the board.
Barnes’ examination of Story on the witness stand and his closing statement drew large sections from the Acumen report.
“He thinks he crossed the boundary from being a family physician to trying to be a psychologist first. The more he tried to help her, the more attracted he became to her emotionally,” Barnes read from the Acumen report.
Later, in response to Barnes’s questioning, Story began with a similar explanation but never finished the sentence, as Barnes had then begun another question.
“It began as a purely physician relationship, and then, the more we talked and connected…” Story said.
Story’s sexual relationship allegedly began when the victim was either 26 or 27, as the exact age of the victim was not confirmed, and a PhD student at MSU. He went on to testify that he and the victim had sexual intercourse in his office at the Longest Student Health Center and at the MSU softball fields, as well as at each of their respective residences.
According to Story’s testimony, the relationship began a few months following Story’s separation from his wife and the death of his mother, which both occurred in April 2020.
Story detailed the personal impact while speaking of the situation as a whole.
“I don’t rationalize it. I recognize a lot of these things I didn’t know at the time how I got myself into this position. Definitely not who I ever was or want to be,” Story said. “[It was] devastating to me.”
Story stated that he last saw the victim in the spring of 2023. The Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure received a complaint from the victim on March 9, 2024, and issued an affidavit to Story in August.
When open questions were asked from board members, Story was asked why he wanted to continue to practice medicine.
“I want to continue to practice medicine because I believe I’m a good doctor. I care about people. I’ve always been empathetic,” Story said. “I’ve always provided a service — it’s who I am.”
After a roughly one-hour executive session on November 20, 2024, the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure concluded that Story was guilty of unprofessional conduct and required a one-year suspension from the practice of medicine in the state of Mississippi.
Vice President for Strategic Communications and Director of Public Affairs Sid Salter did not discuss much of the case, owing to the fact that it is a “personnel matter involving a former employee,” but did comment on policies regarding incidents of this nature.
“All employees go through sexual harassment training, just like they go through life safety training,” Salter said. “We had additional training through COVID on how to control that. I don’t think our policy changed at all, and I don’t think that our training was out of place. I think we had an incident where poor choices were made.”
Salter reinforced the importance of reporting inappropriate conduct to the appropriate authorities on campus and the effect the incident has had on campus.
“I do think that this incidence has made us perhaps more hyperaware of the possibility of this,” Salter said. “I think anytime you have a negative occurrence on campus we have an opportunity to learn from it. I think that’s true in this case as well.”
Story began working at the Health Center in 2008 as a staff physician. He began working as MSU’s Executive Director of University Health Services in 2013. When he left MSU in 2022, Story was no longer executive director, instead solely serving as a staff physician. He then began working at North Mississippi Health Services’ Starkville Medical Clinic. Story worked at St. Dominic’s Family Practice Madison in Madison in June 2024 until his suspension.
When asked whether or not the university was aware of the incident as Story left university employment, Salter refused to comment.
During the board’s attorney’s questioning of Story, Barnes asked Story multiple questions about whether or not he was approached by the administration at Mississippi State University regarding his relationship with the victim. Story’s attorney made multiple objections, which were sustained by licensure board president Dr. Michelle Owens.
When Barnes asked Story about his knowledge of any possible Title IX complaints lodged against him, Thompson countered with another objection.
“If he doesn’t want me to ask him the question,” Barnes said, “the board can just look through the documents and see who made the complaint.”
Barnes was then allowed to ask Story whether or not he knew about any complaints made to Mississippi State University regarding the relationship. Story denied knowledge of any complaints formed against him, but did claim rumors could have been brought up to him.
On Feb. 14, during a meeting of MSU’s Robert Holland Faculty Senate, associate professor Kevin Williams posed a question to Vice President Mike Breazeale regarding the university’s actions following the incident.
“It bothers me — and I’m just gonna throw it — it bothers me that what happened at the health center, that the testimony mentioned the student’s name twice. And no one has been held accountable for that,” Williams said. “Every month or so, I have to press the little FERPA button when I go into Canvas and Banner, and I’m wondering, who’s not getting the message on that? Why didn’t someone at this university, legal or otherwise, contact that medical license board and tell them, ‘Take the damn name off.'”
As of February 18, the YouTube livestream of the November board meeting did not mention the victim’s name. It is unclear when the name was removed.
“We talk about protecting our students and doing what’s best for our students all the time. It appears we dropped the ball, and no one wants to be accountable for it,” Williams said.
During his suspension, Story will be required to complete a board-approved rehabilitation program, including subjects such as ethics and boundaries, as well as a Return-to-Work plan. After submitting the completion of the program, Story will be allowed to appeal for reinstatement.
