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Jackson State University faculty senate president Dawn McLin was placed on leave pending termination last week for allegedly abusing the power of the position, according to faculty who met Thursday night to discuss how to support her.

The accusation has sowed confusion and fear of retaliation among members of the historically Black university’s faculty senate. A Jackson State spokesperson did not respond to Mississippi Today’s request for comment by press time.

McLin, a psychology professor whose family has deep roots at Jackson State, was elected faculty senate president in 2020. She has presided during a fraught relationship between faculty and administration that has seen the senate take multiple votes of no-confidence in members of the current and former administration, due in part to a “continuous pattern of failing to respect” shared governance and other professional norms. 

Though faculty do not know the exact circumstances of McLin’s leave, many expressed alarm that what happened is highly unusual. A tenured professor, McLin is entitled to certain employment protections per university policies and the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees.  

But McLin was apparently placed on leave without any written warning, members of the faculty senate executive committee shared during the meeting. She was also accused of harassment, malfeasance and “contumacious conduct,” a term stemming from IHL policies that means insubordination. 

This sort of treatment of faculty senate presidents rarely happens, at most once or twice every few years, according to the American Association of University Professors, a professional organization that advocates for tenure, shared governance and academic freedom. 

“Such actions are generally taken in retaliation for criticisms of the administration the faculty members may have offered in the performance of their faculty leadership duties,” Anita Levy, a program officer for AAUP, wrote in an email.

McLin will receive a hearing in front of a faculty panel, but multiple faculty noted during Thursday night’s meeting that the president, Marcus Thompson, could terminate her even if the panel recommends she be reinstated. 

Hearing this, multiple faculty stated that if McLin could be placed on leave without a warning, any of them could be. Many said the university’s reason didn’t matter, because as a tenured professor, McLin was owed more due process than it seemed she had received. One professor said he felt like tenure no longer existed at Jackson State and that faculty, no matter their age or length of service, were no longer protected. 

Some faculty wanted more information — which led others to point out the university would have nothing to say because this is a “personnel matter.” 

McLin would not comment for this story. She was not on the Zoom call to speak for herself because she had been “removed from the university altogether,” a member of the faculty senate executive committee told the meeting’s roughly 90 participants. 

But the call, which was initially intended to be a general assembly to help faculty prepare for the fall semester, was briefly attended by representatives for Thompson. 

The timing of Thompson’s two liaisons — Onetta Whitley, the general counsel, and Van Gillespie, Thompson’s chief of staff who used to be IHL’s general counsel — had disturbed some faculty, because one executive committee member stated the senate typically does not invite anyone from the president’s office to a meeting of the full senate unless faculty request it. 

It was also unusual, multiple faculty stated, because no one from Thompson’s office had attended a faculty senate meeting in months. One executive committee member said that Thompson had been invited to attend a meeting in the spring but designated representatives to go instead, and they also failed to show. 

In the few minutes that Whitley spoke to faculty, she did not address McLin’s leave but implied that was the reason she and Gillespie had not received the Zoom link, stating “we know the faculty senate has recently undergone some changes and that may explain why we did not receive such an invitation.” 

Whitley added she was hoping to have a more collegial relationship with the senate going forward. 

“I wanted to say to the faculty senate how much we are looking forward to working with you all,” she said. “We hope to be in a position to foster, really, a better working relationship than in 2024, a more collaborative, collegial relationship than what I understand has existed between the administration and the faculty senate in the past.” 

After Whitley left, some faculty expressed confusion at her remarks, because they thought the relationship was collegial. At the same time, one member of the executive committee mentioned that the faculty senate “has not been allowed” to send a letter to Thompson and instead has been required to reach out to interact with his liaisons instead. 

“He doesn’t have any communication with us,” they said. 

McLin has worked at Jackson State since 2001, according to LinkedIn. Her family has attended Jackson State since the 1920s, and her mother, a former chair in the College of Education, also served as faculty senate president.

Earlier this year, McLin was the principal investigator and project director behind a $1.5 million grant the university received to support an initiative to study how the health of underserved communities is affected by social problems like climate change and structural racism. It is unclear if her potential departure will jeopardize the grant.

“JSU is well-prepared to lead this research effort,” she had said in a press release. “Like many HBCUs, JSU has a history of addressing inequities and advocating for social justice. Our faculty, staff, and students have actively advocated for equal rights, racial justice, and systemic change at local and international levels.”

As faculty senate president, McLin stuck her neck out for faculty, so it was time for them to do the same, multiple people said on the call. They also noted that McLin did not act unless the faculty senate wanted her to.  

Still, many faculty on the call urged caution because they were concerned the administration would retaliate against anyone, especially the remaining members of the senate’s executive committee, who stands up for McLin, especially for the remaining members of the senate’s executive committee. 

“We love JSU as much as they do,” said one faculty member whose name was not available on the Zoom. “The question we have to ask is this the best way to address the issue of faculty? Is this the best way to address the needs of students? Is this the best way to address the community?” 

Jackson State “does not belong to one person or two persons,” they added. “It belongs to all of us.”

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Mississippi Today is pleased to announce that Mukta Joshi has joined Mississippi Today as an investigative reporting fellow through the 2024 Columbia University + INN Internship Program.

Joshi graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School in 2024 as a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, where her master’s thesis explored the growing South Asian influence on American politics. She is also a professional photojournalist, and her work has been published in outlets including TIME, Al Jazeera, Hyperallergic, New York Focus and Autostraddle.

“We are so excited to have Mukta join our team,” said senior investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell, who oversees the criminal investigative reporting team at Mississippi Today. “She’s a talented young investigative reporter and lawyer, and we know with her help we can continue to expose law enforcement abuses by the ‘Goon Squad’ and others as well as to examine the collateral damage from such abuses.”

One of Joshi’s recent investigations into the sinister preparations for the recent G20 summit in New Delhi and their impact on the city’s poorest communities was selected by the Global Investigative Journalism Network as one of the eight best investigations from India in 2023.

Joshi is a 2019 graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She began her career as a corporate lawyer and most recently, led the legal research vertical at Land Conflict Watch, investigating and writing about land governance, environmental law and forest policy in India.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the brilliant team at the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today, which has tirelessly been churning out deep-dive reportage on the criminal justice system. I’ve always believed that local investigations are what drive efforts towards accountability, and I’m eager to do my bit.”

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For nearly two decades, former Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree has dodged allegations of criminal conduct as well as covering it up. On Wednesday, he was finally sentenced by a federal court: to one day in prison.

District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III also gave the 61-year-old retired officer a $2,500 fine and six months’ home detention for lying to the FBI when he denied that he made a jailed woman send him explicit photos and videos in exchange for favorable treatment.

“Power corrupts,” Jordan observed while sentencing Grassaree. “And few people have more power than a county sheriff.”

Grassaree had faced up to five years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines recommended between zero and six months because he hasn’t been previously convicted.

Jordan rejected prosecutors’ recommendation to sentence Grassaree in the lower half of those guidelines and gave him the maximum under those guidelines.

Although Grassaree’s conviction centered on his lies to the FBI, a 2o23 investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times uncovered wide-ranging and serious allegations far beyond them.

At a minimum, the examination detailed gross mismanagement at the Noxubee County jail that repeatedly put female inmates in harm’s way. At worst, it told the story of a sheriff who operated with impunity, even as he was accused of abusing the people in his custody, turning a blind eye to women who said they were raped and trying to cover it up when caught.

As sheriff, Grassaree said he stoked fear into the citizens of Noxubee County by imitating his idol, wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. In the jail, he was called “Big Dog,” and allegations arose that he beat or choked people, including one of his fellow deputies.

On Wednesday, Jordan described what he called “a disturbing pattern of lawlessness in the county jail” that included witnesses saying Grassaree choked a female employee as well as allegations he beat inmates with a broomstick and “gave the greenlight” for the beatings of other inmates.

In a 2007 lawsuit, at least four people who had been arrested gave sworn statements accusing Grassaree of violence. Two of the people said he choked or beat them while they were in his custody. A third said he pinned her against a wall and threatened to let a male inmate rape her.

“I can’t ignore all of that,” Jordan said. “You ran that department.”

On Tuesday, Jordan sentenced former deputy Vance Phillips, who had sex with a  jailed woman behind bars for years, to one day in prison, plus a $2,500 fine and eight months’ home detention, where he will be allowed to work his 60-hour-a-week job, play drums in the church band and visit his doctor if he wishes.

During Phillips’ sentencing hearing, Jordan remarked that she “wasn’t really a victim because she flirted and initiated the relationships.

The jailed woman, Elizabeth Layne Reed, said the judge’s remark blindsided her.

Reed — who spent four years in jail accused of a homicide that the district attorney eventually dismissed, concluding she was innocent — described her incarceration as “torture” and said the judge’s comments were akin to victim blaming.

“I’m the one in jail. They have the power over me. I never wanted to have sex,” she said.  “I was afraid because I knew the power that the sheriff had.” 

She denied that she initiated sexual contact with members of the sheriff’s office. She said she asked Phillips if he could get her a cellphone to use so she could contact her family. 

But she didn’t have any cash on hand, she said, and asked Phillips if she could pay him at a later date.

“Well, there is another way you could get it in if you really wanted it,” she quoted him as saying. “That’s when it first started. He initiated every bit of it.”

By Wednesday, Jordan had changed his mind. “I do consider her to be a victim,” he said, owing to the diminished authority possessed by Reed at the time, and the unequal power dynamic between her and Phillips and Grassaree.

Jordan said Grassaree was a willing participant who lied about his actions. He allowed Reed to receive a contraband cellphone and other benefits. He even made her a trusted inmate, also known as a “trusty.” 

In both Mississippi and federal prisons, it is a crime for an officer to bring in contraband. It is also a felony to have sex with any inmate. Under state law, a convicted officer faces up to five years in prison; under federal law, that maximum is 15 years.

But pursuing federal charges in cases involving state jails or prisons is complicated by guidance issued by the Department of Justice in 2018, which stipulates that officers cannot be federally prosecuted for violating a person’s civil rights if the person “truly made a voluntary decision as to what she wanted to do with her body,” particularly if she received a benefit or special treatment in exchange for sex.

Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University, said the Prison Rape Elimination Act standards “are clear: sex between an incarcerated person and a staff member is sexual abuse. Full stop. That’s because an incarcerated person is under the total control and authority of staff. Fully voluntary and free consent in such situations is impossible.”

After Grassaree’s sentencing, his attorney, Aafram Sellers, said his client was facing the consequences of his actions, for which he takes full responsibility. “Law enforcement is held to a higher standard, to protect and serve,” Sellers said. “He made some bad choices. But this sentence reflects the career of a man who upheld the law and served his community.” 

Sellers asked for probation for Grassaree, who has suffered a heart attack and is now caring for his 87-year-old mother, who lives next door.

Grassaree rose through the ranks of the Noxubee County Sheriff’s Department, from a deputy mopping floors, to chief deputy, to the elected position of sheriff, making him one of the most powerful figures in town.

The investigation by Mississippi Today and the Times revealed that allegations have dogged Grassaree for much of his time in the department.

At least eight men — including four deputies and Grassaree himself — have been accused by jailed women of sexual touching or abuse while Grassaree was in charge.

In her 2020 lawsuit, which was settled for an unknown amount, Reed described how she had been coerced into having sex with two deputies. In return, the deputies supplied her with contraband cellphones.

She also described sexual touching by Grassaree and additional deputies, including Damon Clark. None of the deputies besides Phillips was prosecuted. A grand jury did indict the three male inmates accused of rape, only to reverse itself a day later.

According to her lawsuit, Grassaree knew all about his deputies’ “sexual contacts and shenanigans” but did nothing to “stop the coerced sexual relationships.” 

Instead of intervening, the lawsuit alleged, the sheriff “sexted” her and demanded that she use the phone the deputies had given her to send him “a continuous stream of explicit videos, photographs and texts” while she was in jail. She also alleged in the lawsuit that Grassaree touched her in a “sexual manner.”

It was revealed in court Wednesday that Phillips told authorities that when Grassaree confronted him, he admitted he had sex with Reed and that Grassaree sent him home for the day.

Sellers said Grassaree heard rumors about Phillips having sex, but never confirmed it. Grassaree denied touching Reed sexually.

Even now, no higher authority has reviewed how Grassaree ran the jail or whether his policies endangered women, because in Mississippi, as in many states, rural sheriffs are left largely to police themselves and their jails.

In 2006, after Grassaree and his staff left jail cell keys hanging openly on a wall, male inmates opened the doors to the cell of two female inmates and raped them, according to statements the women gave to state investigators. One of the women said Grassaree pressured her to sign a false statement to cover up the crimes, according to a report made by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The other said that Grassaree pressured her into staying silent, telling her that if she spoke up about the rapes, he and other deputies would “lose their jobs,” according to her sworn statement.

Reed said Wednesday that “just because the justice system failed me, that doesn’t mean that others who went through it or are going through it should not speak up.”

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A former Noxubee County deputy will spend one day in prison after a federal judge said Tuesday that the jailed woman he had sex with for years “wasn’t really a victim.”

District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III also gave Vance Phillips a $2,500 fine and eight months’ home detention that will enable him to continue his job with the ambulance service, go to church and see a doctor if he needs to.

The judge described the inmate — who accused Phillips and others of sexual abuse in a lawsuit — as a willing participant who exchanged sexual favors for contraband.

In both Mississippi and federal prisons, it is a crime for an officer to bring in contraband. It is also a felony to have sex with any inmate. Under state law, a convicted officer faces up to five years in prison; under federal law, that maximum is 15 years.

District Attorney Scott Colom, whose office handles criminal cases in Noxubee County, chose to pass his 2020 investigation on to federal prosecutors because of worries about getting a fair jury in such a small county. 

It would take two years for a grand jury to indict Phillips and former Sheriff Terry Grassaree.

Instead of being charged with a sex crime, he faced federal bribery charges. In this case, the bribes were exchanging sexual favors and photographs for bringing contraband, including tobacco and cellphones, into the Noxubee County Jail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Purdie said the jailed woman spent four years behind bars, from 2015 to 2019, for a homicide she didn’t commit and did what she had to do in order to survive. No officer was charged with bringing contraband into the jail, but she was.

In her victim impact statement read to the court, Elizabeth Layne Reed said she felt she had to give people what they wanted to avoid further punishment.

She said she was “heavily impacted” by what Phillips and his then-boss, Grassaree, did to her.

“I feel guilty for his family members who didn’t know what was going on, but I don’t feel guilty about Vance Phillips who knowingly did what he did,” she wrote. “Women and men are supposed to be protected while they are incarcerated.”

She said the abuse has created “trust issues” in her relationship with her husband.

She also said she prays that people who sexually abuse those behind bars are held accountable and that she hopes other victims “will use their voice and come forward” to help “stop the abuse that happens every day” behind bars.

Public Defender Princess Abby said Phillips was an officer who dreamed of becoming a state trooper. “Now that dream is out the window,” she said.

She argued for four months’ house detention, saying Phillips was an otherwise respected member of his community who played the drums for his church band and had no previous criminal history. 

She said what happened was “outside his normal behavior” and that he is now married with three sons.

But Jordan noted that what happened was far from a one-time indiscretion. Instead, he said, Phillips had sex with the inmate for years.

He called what the then-deputy did “a considerable breach of public trust.”

But in sentencing Phillips, the judge also blamed the jailed woman and said, “It would be different if she was raped.”

In her 2020 lawsuit, Reed said that multiple deputies and Grassaree touched her sexually as well as demanded nude photographs from her contraband cellphone. Noxubee County settled that lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.

The judge noted that Phillips is currently working a 60-hour-week job and that he didn’t want to disturb that.

He said a stack of character letters said “glowing” things about Phillips, but he noted that many barely knew about the crime. One writer called the former deputy a  “fall guy,” but Jordan said that wasn’t true because Phillips wasn’t the last deputy to have sex with the jailed woman.

Grassaree faces sentencing on Wednesday. He has already pleaded guilty to lying to an FBI agent on July 13, 2020, about making Reed take and share nude photos and videos in exchange for favorable treatment, which included making her a trusted inmate, also known as a trusty.

Jordan said the federal sentencing guidelines put Phillips’ prison time at between 8 and 14 months. The judge said the guidelines on Grassaree’s sentence are even less.

As Phillips walked out of the courtroom wearing a jeweled silver cross necklace, he told reporters, “I just want to thank God I’m not going to jail.” 

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This was February of 2014. A group of us, including Malcolm White, were sitting in the Oyster Bar at Hal and Mal’s in downtown Jackson just past 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Snoop Dogg, the famous rapper and oft-times cannabis proponent, was supposed to have gone on stage at 9 in the big room, but had yet to arrive.

Malcolm’s cellphone rang. He answered. I heard only one side of a two-sided conversation between Mal and Snoop’s road manager.

“Yeah,” Mal said. “We’re just sitting here waiting….”

Mal raised his eyebrows, held up his phone, pointed at it, and listened for a few seconds.

“Yeah, we got a big crowd here, over 900 folks, and they’re getting a little anxious…”

The fact is, a few angry folks had already approached Mal asking for their money back.

“Snoop is just now leaving McComb, you say? He’s bringing a crowd? Oh boy…”

Mal listened some more, his expression becoming more than a little incredulous.

“Two hundred chicken wings! Man, it’s going on 10:30 on a Tuesday night in Jackson, Mississippi. We’ll have plenty to drink, some snacks, but there’s not gonna be 200 chicken wings. Y’all, come on…”

‘The star of the Paris games’

About 90 minutes later Snoop showed up with a busload of family and friends in tow. He went on just before midnight. He rapped and danced around the stage for 90 minutes. The sold-out crowd, dancing and singing along, loved him.

That was just a decade ago, so I called my good friend Malcolm this morning and we reminisced about that night. I asked him: “Ten years ago, did you have Snoop Dogg hosting the 2024 Olympics in Paris on your bingo card?”

“No,” Mal answered. “I did not.”

Neither did I. 

But here he is night after night on our TV screens. With apologies to Simone Biles, perhaps the most athletic human being ever, Snoop Dogg has become the centerpiece of these Olympics. As an Associated Press report put it: “Snoop, 52, has become the star of the Paris Games, ascending to new heights with several memorable moments. He’s carried the Olympic torch, captivated the audience as NBC’s primetime correspondent, swam with Michael Phelps, attended the U.S. women’s soccer game with Megan Rapinoe, danced with Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles, and cheered on Caeleb Dressel alongside the swimmer’s wife and son.”

NBC reportedly is paying Snoop $500,000 a day, plus expenses. He’s come a long way since that Tuesday night gig at Hal and Mal’s 10 years ago.

“I’m pretty sure we got the family discount,” Mal says.

Some readers might wonder why Snoop, a California native already quite famous in 2014, was  at Hal and Mal’s on a Tuesday night. Here’s the scoop, directly from Malcolm in his book “The Artful Evolution of Hal & Mal’s,” published by University Press in 2018: “We have hosted thousands of great artists and presented many memorable shows, but I get asked about Snoop Dogg more than almost anybody else. Calvin Broadus, Jr. (AKA Snoop Dogg) was born in 1971 in Long Beach, Cal., but his father Vernell Varnado, is from Magnolia, and his mother was born Beverly Tate in McComb. When he visits his people in southwest Mississippi, he delights us by dropping in at Hal & Mal’s, thrilling the sellout crowds and causing the stay-at-homes to marvel that he is playing our place.”

Arden Barnett, of Ardenland productions, booked the show and has booked Snoop for other Mississippi venues. Says Barnett, “He’s just as he appears. He has always been great, always as nice as can be, just about the nicest guy in the world.”

That niceness comes across the TV screen and also in person.

Archie Manning and his sons count Snoop as a pal. Manning met Snoop years and years ago when both participated in a celebrity flag football game at the Super Bowl. Snoop has appeared on the Manning’s ESPN Monday night football broadcast and has done a Corona beer commercial with Eli Manning.

“Snoop says he wants to be my fourth son,” Manning said last week. “He calls me Daddy Dogg. He’s a huge sports fan.

Snoop sent Manning a taped video greeting recently on the occasion of Manning’s 75th birthday. Eli Manning talked about the birthday video during his Jackson visit last week for his induction into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. “It was pretty cool, about what you’d expect,” Eli said. “Put it this way: I don’t think all that smoke was coming from any blown out candles.”

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The University of Mississippi Medical Center in April laid off seven specially trained medical providers who transport children and babies in need of critical care from hospitals around the state to Jackson.

The cuts brought the total number of staff on the pediatric and neonatal transport teams from 21 to 14.  

UMMC officials said the reduction was the result of a routine evaluation looking for operational efficiencies.

The transport teams offer timely, hospital-level care in a specialized ambulance for critically sick or injured children and babies. The teams are made up of specially certified paramedics, nurses and nurse practitioners, and the ambulances house more equipment and medicines than regular ambulances – “more than … most rural hospitals have,” according to a January 2023 UMMC press release highlighting a pediatric transport team member.

The teams can also provide care in a hospital’s emergency room before transporting the patient to Jackson.

Prior to the layoffs, the Mississippi Center for Emergency Services, which oversees the transport teams, housed one pediatric critical care ambulance and one neonatal critical care ambulance. Two of each provider plus a driver would go on each ambulance to respond to each call.

A former employee says both teams were “already strapped” to respond to the calls that came in before the teams were reduced and combined into one.

Further reducing their ability to respond to these calls, the employee said, “is a real disservice to the children of Mississippi.” The person spoke to Mississippi Today on the condition of anonymity out of career concerns.

UMMC did not answer questions from Mississippi Today specifically about how the decision to cut the teams was made or address what kind of impact it will have on children in need of this care in remote areas of the state. 

“Medical Center units routinely evaluate their operational models to identify efficiencies. A thorough review of our transport programs revealed that we could redesign models for some teams and continue to fulfill responsibilities,” said Patrice Guilfoyle, a spokesperson for UMMC, in an emailed statement. “Appropriate allocation of resources allows for investment in more areas that address the needs of Mississippians.” 

After the layoffs, however, there is one truck for both teams, and one pediatric and one neonatal provider total to respond to calls.   

Neighboring Arkansas – which also has one children’s hospital in the state – has a similarly modeled transport team. It is cross trained for both pediatric and neonatal transports, according to a spokesperson with Arkansas Children’s. 

“All Angel One transports are staffed by a nurse and respiratory therapist with support from medical control, an intensive care specialist from our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Pediatric Intensive Care Unit who can provide specialized guidance,” spokesperson Hilary DeMillo said.

UMMC’s chief financial officer said in May that the medical center is experiencing “very strong revenues” for both May and the year to date. In April, she also reported revenues of $177 million, or $16 million over budget.

“I do expect this year to be even better than this,” she said of future financial projections.

Transport volume numbers for the months of May and June – the two months following the layoffs – were at their lowest in a 12-month period for the pediatric transport team, according to records obtained by Mississippi Today through a public records request. The numbers for the neonatal team in May and June did not see a noticeable decrease.  

Marc Rolph, executive director of communications and marketing for UMMC, said there was a two-week staff training period in May that “temporarily limited our operational capabilities.” 

Rolph did not answer why the numbers were lower in June or how they compared to the same months’ numbers in previous years. 

Mississippi Today also requested the number of missed calls – or requests for transports that came in and were not fulfilled – for a 12-month period beginning in June 2023. UMMC responded to the request that there were no such records.

Most Mississippi hospitals contacted by Mississippi Today declined to weigh in on the impact of the changes. 

UMMC has the state’s only children’s hospital and the highest level neonatal intensive care unit and trauma center. 

The hospital’s transport teams are voluntarily accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems and have been since July of 2015, according to Jan Eichel, the associate executive director of the organization.

The accreditation standards require two critical care providers per vehicle.

“It’s not uncommon to have a cross-trained team” like the new combined pediatric and neonatal transport teams at UMMC, she said. “They should be very proud that they are adhering to the highest standards in patient care and safety.” 

Editor’s note: Kate Royals, Mississippi Today’s community health editor since January 2022, worked as a writer/editor for UMMC’s Office of Communications from November 2018 through August 2020, writing press releases and features about the medical center’s schools of dentistry and nursing.

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