IHL has last meeting of the year. See where it stands on Jackson State president

Ross Reily, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
·3 min read

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning concluded their final official meeting of 2023 on Thursday without having named a permanent president of Jackson State University.

That drags out the process of finding a new president after Elayne Hayes-Anthony was named interim president in April, following the resignation of Thomas K. Hudson in March.

While the IHL could have, in fact, made a decision in executive session Thursday, it was not made public. The body has 30 days following its regularly schedule monthly meetings to post the information from the meeting. Therefore, an announcement, in the form of a press release, could be made any time between now and Dec. 16. The IHL could also hold a special-called meeting if there is a need.

However, just before the meeting was adjourned applause erupted from behind the closed doors. Members of the executive board would not explain what the applause meant following the meeting.

Elaine Hayes-Anthony, center, interim president of Jackson State University, and Nora R. Miller, president of Mississippi University for Women, speak before a meeting of the Executive Board of the Institutions of Higher Learning in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. Following the meeting, the IHL Executive Board went into executive session.
Elaine Hayes-Anthony, center, interim president of Jackson State University, and Nora R. Miller, president of Mississippi University for Women, speak before a meeting of the Executive Board of the Institutions of Higher Learning in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. Following the meeting, the IHL Executive Board went into executive session.

Meanwhile, Hayes-Anthony, has been put in the position of leading the Jackson State University an HBCU of around 7,000 students through a period of declining enrollment, without being able to say how long she will be in the role.

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While no public confirmation has been made as to who is interviewing for the position, or when a decision will be made, Hayes-Anthony has stated on multiple occasions that she is open to becoming the permanent president of the Historically Black University.

“I am here. I am a Jacksonian. Whatever I need to do to help my university to make things move ahead, I will do that,” Hayes-Anthony said at a previous IHL meeting. “Oh yeah, I would like to be the next president.”

The university has had seven different presidents since 2000: Ronald Mason Jr. (2000-2010); Leslie Burl McLemore (Interim in 2010); Carolyn W. Meyers (2011-2016); Rod Paige (interim in 2016-2017); William B. Bynum (2017-2020); Thomas Hudson (2020-2023); and Hayes-Anthony who was appointed in March of this year.

Elaine Hayes-Anthony, right, interim president of Jackson State University, and Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State University, remain talking after the ajournment of a meeting of the Executive Board of the Institutions of Higher Learning in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. Following the meeting, the IHL Executive Board went into executive session.

Hayes-Anthony is the former dean of JSU’s School of Journalism and chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies. Under her leadership, the department received national accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. In addition, she expanded the sequence offerings to include public relations and advertising.

The JSU faculty senate, which held a vote of no confidence for Hudson, has gone on record multiple times to throw its support behind Hayes-Anthony.

"We are worried about how this process is playing out," faculty senate president Dawn McLin previously told the Clarion Ledger. "The search committee seems to be changing the rules as we go along. They keep moving the goal posts. The search committee is not keeping the faculty in the loop. We understand our opinion is not respected by them. We also know the person in office right now does respect our opinion. At the end of the day, we know the search committee is going to do what the search committee wants to do."

Hudson came on in 2020 after the previous president, William Bynum, was arrested in a prostitution sting in Clinton. The process for naming Hudson was criticized by some in the Jackson State community, saying the IHL was moving too quickly.

Hudson was an attorney and a JSU alumnus who has worked as an administrator at the school since 2012.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or at 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Still no Jackson State president. See what IHL Mississippi is doing