U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson wrote a letter on Friday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asking for a Department of Justice investigation into former Gov. Phil Bryant’s influence over the possible misspending of federal welfare funds.
Bryant, who was Mississippi governor from 2012-2020, was first publicly accused of wrongdoing this week by key defendants in the state’s ongoing civil case regarding the sprawling welfare scandal. The defendants specifically said Bryant directed them to pay former NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million in welfare funds, among other grant spending.
“This gross misuse of (welfare grant) dollars must illicit a review of former Governor Phil Bryant’s involvement,” Thompson wrote. “Such an investigation should also examine the intolerable activity of retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and how his actions were aided by Governor Bryant.”
In his letter, Thompson referenced Mississippi Today’s “The Backchannel” investigative series, which first examined Bryant’s role in the scandal using never-before-published text messages shared with the news organization.
“It is egregious that news reports produce critical information that has yet to be addressed in the current investigations by state and local agencies,” Thompson wrote.
Thompson is not the first to call for a federal investigation of the former governor. In April, following initial publication of Mississippi Today’s “The Backchannel” series, the national president of the NAACP wrote a letter to Garland asking for a federal investigation.
Jimmie “Jay” Lee, a 20-year-old University of Mississippi student, has been missing since Friday, July 8. Credit: Courtesy Oxford Police Department
As police continue to investigate the disappearance of Jimmie “Jay” Lee – the 20-year-old University of Mississippi student who has been missing for a week – his friends and family are organizing search parties and passing out fliers in Oxford.
Some of Lee’s classmates have also started a GoFundMe to support his family.
Lee, a Black student who is well-known in the college town’s LGBT community, was last seen on Friday, July 8, at 5:58 a.m. leaving his home at Campus Walk Apartments, according to the Oxford Police Department.
He was wearing a silver robe or housecoat, a gold cap or bonnet, and gray slippers.
Police think Lee may have driven to Molly Barr Trails, a student apartment complex seven minutes away from Campus Walk where his car was towed in the afternoon of July 8. Police found his car at a towing company three days later, and it’s now at the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory for processing.
The University of Mississippi Police Department, which is working with OPD to find Lee, received the first report that he was missing on Friday, July 8, at 8:28 p.m., according to an incident report.
The report, one sentence long, shows that officer John Boyd conducted a welfare check at Lee’s apartment that night but there was “negative contact.”
As the family looks for Lee, they’ve increased the reward to $5,000. Crimestoppers, a nonprofit that supports law enforcement, has pledged a $1,000 reward for finding Lee.
Lee was last seen leaving Campus Walk Apartments at 5:58 a.m. in a silver robe or housecoat, a gold cap or bonnet, and gray slippers. Credit: Courtesy Oxford Police Department
Lee was spending the summer in Oxford finishing his bachelor’s degree in social work. He is already accepted into UM’s masters program in social work and is scheduled to start this fall.
The day he went missing, Lee was supposed to go to adonation drive for baby formula that he organized as part of a summer internship with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services in LafayetteCounty.
Over the last week, Lee’s family and friends have organized search parties and passed out fliers looking for him.
“This is a loving, caring person that would give you the shirt off his back if you need it,” Tayla Carey, Lee’s sister, told Mississippi Today. “His family is in desperate need of finding him and just making sure he returns safely.”
When Carey talked with Mississippi Today this Friday morning, she was getting ready to drive to Oxford from Ridgeland for another search party that would meet at the Walmart on West Jackson Ave. She said the family needs more volunteers to help pass out fliers and that anyone who wants to help can contact her on Facebook.
Carey said she found out that Lee was missing in the evening on July 8 when her mom called to ask if she’d spoken to him that day. The last thing the family heard from Lee, Carey said, was at 2 a.m. on July 8, when he’d texted his mom to wish her happy birthday.
The family’s theory is that Lee had gone to get coffee or visit a friend early in the morning on Friday, because he was last seen wearing sleepwear. It wasn’t unusual for him to be up that early, but he left behind his dog, Lexus Lola.
“My little brother, he is the type of person, he’s not gonna leave the house unless he is ten-ten,” Carey said. “I’m talking his dress, his make up. He’s not gonna leave his house until he makes sure he looks good. For him to walk out the door in a house bonnet, a housecoat and his slippers – that lets us know he was going to get coffee or he was going to meet someone that he trusted.”
Lee was an active member of UM’s student government association and served as the director of LGBTQ Outreach. His family and friends describe him as a confident person who often wears acrylic nails and long, blonde hair.
Friends and family say that many people in Oxford, a small-town that revolves around the university, are terrified for Lee.
On Thursday night, Kristy Durkin, a professor of social work at UM who taught Lee, went to put up fliers with Alexis Parker, one of Lee’s classmates. They printed more than 50 fliers and taped them up at the central bus transit station, at restaurants and inside men’s bathrooms at Lee’s favorite bars on the Square.
“There was one point I just kind of broke down and cried,” Durkin said. “Everywhere we went, (people asked) have you heard anything, (and said) well put ’em (the fliers) up.”
At one point in the evening, they put up fliers in a restaurant where three police officers were eating dinner. One of the officers walked over and said they were praying for Lee.
Parker said she found out Lee was missing on Sunday, July 10, when the university sent out a campus-wide email about his disappearance. She’s driven past Molly Barr Trail every day this week. On Wednesday, she saw Desoto County sheriff officers walking dogs through the complex. She said an officer told her they didn’t find anything.
Today in class, Parker said her classmates talked about Lee and how they can help his family in the search. They decided to make a GoFundMe to help his family pay for gas and food.
OPD has put out several press releases over the last week about its efforts to find Lee. On July 12, the department said it was “utilizing all available resources to track tips, potential witnesses, speaking with friends, running search warrants, canvassing areas, and collecting evidence.”
OPD’s most recent update, on Thursday, July 14, says the department has conducted “numerous” interviews and is waiting for information to be returned from “around a dozen” search warrants it has “executed on both physical and digital entities.”
Carey said Lee’s family is receiving the same updates from the police as the public.
“They are doing their part, they are helping us as much as they can,” she said. “It’s a waiting game, we’re playing the waiting game.”
Meanwhile, Lee’s family and friends are still searching for him. On Wednesday, OPD released a video of Lee’s dad pleading for help finding Lee. He reads from a statement on the back of an aquamarine flier that Lee created to advertise the baby formula donation drive.
Lee is well-known on campus for his involvement in the LGBT community. Credit: Courtesy Oxford Police Department
“I can remember my son coming to this college, you know, being willing to face the unknown without a problem. I’m so proud of him for that. I want everyone to know … he was there to help if he saw the need,” he said.
“I’m asking that, if anyone knows anything or sees anything, say something. Call, contact the law enforcement. Just tell them what you know. This is my plea that you help find my child.”
The Mississippi Department of Health announced on Thursday that the state’s Women, Infants and Children’s Nutrition Program (WIC) is adding new baby formulas to its approved product list to improve access amid the national formula shortage.
Before the shortage, only four types of formula could be purchased with WIC benefits in Mississippi unless an infant received an exemption through a medical diagnosis. The department made eight new products available on June 1 and have now added six more. These additional options will be WIC-eligible at least through the end of August.
The new options added on Thursday are all alternative Enfamil products, including new formulations and product sizes. A list of new approved formulas can be found here.
Mississippi has the second-lowest rate of breastfeeding in the nation, and the formula shortage has left some parents struggling to feed their children.
There were 84,000 women, children and infants who participated in WIC in Mississippi in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Supply-chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic are one cause of the formula shortage. The shortage was heavily exacerbated by the recall of three major baby formula brands manufactured by Abbott Nutrition after a probe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found bacterial contamination at one Abbott facility in Sturgis, Mich. At least four babies were hospitalized and two died after consuming contaminated formula, the Food and Drug Administration said.
The Sturgis facility, which is estimated to produce one-fifth of the U.S. baby formula supply, shut down in February due to the contamination. It reopened on June 4, but was shut back down again just nine days later due to flooding. The plant resumed operations again on July 1, but has not resumed production of Similac, its most popular formula brand.
The Biden administration has attempted to bolster U.S. formula supplies through efforts like Operation Fly Formula, which used the Defense Department to fly in formula from other countries. Despite these efforts by the government and others by manufacturers to boost production, stores are still struggling to stock their shelves.
Jackson parents and guardians can soon be fined or jailed if their children commit a gun crime or possess a weapon.
A $1,000 fine and sentence of six months in jail are part of an ordinance the Jackson City Council unanimously approved July 5. The ordinance is set to go into effect in 30 days.
“We are hoping it will be a win-win for the parents, young people and the government,” said Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who had the idea for the ordinance.
He and other council members see the new policy as a way to reduce violent crime, encourage parents to be more involved in their children’s lives and a way to prevent minors from getting access to firearms.
In most cases, children and teens obtain weapons from gun runners who go to shows to get weapons or get them illegally to sell, he said.
A small portion of minors may get a gun at home, but Stokes said most responsible parents have a safe place to keep their guns. He said another small portion of them may find a gun somewhere else, such as one abandoned outside that may be linked to a crime.
The ordinance also fines adults who don’t properly store their firearms. Fines are $500 if access to the firearm results in injury to the child or another person and $1,000 if access results in injury or death. Both situations of improper storage can also result in six months in jail.
“It’s just common sense that you can’t have a gun available to a minor or juvenile,” he said.
The ordinance adopts the same exceptions for minors to possess handguns already included in state law, including hunting or trapping with a valid license, competing in a firearm competition, using a firearm for target shooting at an established range or using a firearm with permission and control of an adult.
It also has exceptions for the gun storage, such as if a minor obtains a firearm and discharges it during a lawful act of self-defense or in defense of another.
Jackson police will be the primary enforcer of the ordinance with involvement from the municipal prosecutor’s office, Stokes said.
Parents and guardians who try to get help for their children to prevent them from getting involved in crime wouldn’t face punishment under the city’s ordinance, Stokes said. He asked about this situation and received confirmation from the city attorney’s office during the July 5 council meeting.
Robert Langford is executive director of Operation Shoestring, a nonprofit that has operated in Jackson for over 50 years and works with parents and mostly elementary school-aged students through after school and summer programs, skills training and more. The organization’s goal is to build spaces where children feel safe, he said.
Langford appreciates the council’s goal to hold people accountable and encourage good parenting. But he sees other efforts to support children and families as more effective.
“My sense is that what would be more effective is to go upstream to create more things that help support children and families earlier on,” he said.
A better investment in time and resources to address youth crime and violent crime would be more support for after school and summer programs, including those for middle and high school-aged children, Langford said.
Another way to prevent children from getting involved in gun crimes and their parents for bearing responsibility would be to address root causes of crime, he said.
Many of those Operation Shoestring helps are from low income and high poverty neighborhoods, he said. Some have likely experienced an adverse childhood experience, which includes experiencing violence, abuse or neglect; witnessing violence and having a family attempt or die by suicide.
These experiences are linked to substance use problems later on in life, mental illness and chronic health issues and also negatively impact performance in school, work and relationships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, adverse experiences are preventable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they can be prevented by protecting children from violence and addressing factors that put people at risk for violence. In Jackson, Langford said those efforts can look like increasing early childhood experiences and strengthening economic outcomes for children and families.
Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks chairs the Public Safety/Park and Environment Ad Hoc Committee, which crafted the city’s ordinance. During a May 31 meeting, he said the ordinance is just one step to reduce crime. Another long term issue to address would be the state’s gun laws.
At the meeting, some council members said they wanted to insure the ordinance doesn’t have unintended consequences, such as job loss and incarceration. Others wanted to see a plan to support parents through training and education.
Other cities have ordinances that address children’s access to firearms.
In May, the Yazoo Herald reported parents or guardians in Yazoo City can face criminal charges if their child is found in possession of a gun. The Yazoo City police department is seizing guns from juveniles regardless of who owns them, WLBT reported.
In Seattle, Wash., the city has an ordinance that starts with a $500 fine and increases to $1,000 based on whether the person has safe gun storage and reasonably knows a minor, at-risk or prohibited person can access the firearm. The fine jumps to $10,000 if an injury or death occurs as a result of them accessing the weapon.
Following the Nov. 30, 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Michigan that killed four students, the parents of the 15-year-old shooter were charged with involuntary manslaughter. A prosecutor said they ignored opportunities to intervene before the shooting, the Associated Press reported.
The couple also purchased the gun used in the shooting for their son, even though minors in Michigan aren’t allowed to possess guns, the AP reported.
Stokes said having a city ordinance along with community resources to support children and families could have an impact.
During a town hall last year, he brought community members, Jackson police and groups together to talk about solutions to youth crime. Mentorship and activities like sports or music were suggested as potential options for children and teens. Stokes said education is also a key way to keep them out of crime.
“If a child is on the wrong path and they are a juvenile delinquent or criminal, they could become an adult criminal,” Stokes said. “You’ve got to break that cycle, keep them on the right track.”
Michael Harris II has been the big difference maker in the Atlanta Braves turn-around since a slow start this season.
The Atlanta Braves pushed the call-up button on May 28, taking Michael Harris II all the way from the Class AA Mississippi Braves to Atlanta, making Harris, just turned 21, the youngest player in Major League Baseball.
The move – skipping Class AAA altogether – raised some eyebrows. There was his age, plus the fact Harris had played only 43 games above the Class A level. Were the Braves rushing him, panicking because the defending world champions were off to a disappointing 22-24 start?
Rick Cleveland
Those of us who had watched Harris at Trustmark Park knew better. He was ready. As a baseball player, he was 21 going on 28. Bruce Crabbe, the M-Braves manager, gushed more about Harris’ maturity than he did the kid’s obvious talent. Crabbe talked about Harris’ “rare professionalism at such a young age.”
“He’s so smart,” Crabbe said. “He just gets it.”
Back in April, I watched Harris at practice one afternoon, hours before a night game. Batting left-handed, he sprayed line drives all over Trustmark Park. He blasted a couple out of the park, well over 400 feet to left center field. He stepped across the plate to the right-handed batter’s box and hit one well over the left field wall. (No, he is not a switch-hitter, but he has been in the past. He has also been a pitcher. In fact, many MLB ball clubs valued him higher as a pitcher than an everyday player.)
After that practice, I asked Harris if he had a timetable for reaching Atlanta. He shook his head. “Whenever they need me, I plan to be ready,” he said.
Now then, fast forward to Thursday night at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. The game was tied at 2 when Harris stepped to the plate with two outs in the fifth inning. He fell behind – one-ball, two strikes in the count – before fouling off several pitches. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, he turned on fastball, up and in, and launched a two-run home run well over the wall in right centerfield.
In the bottom of the same inning, Harris did something even more impressive – a lot more impressive. The Nationals put runners at first and second with consecutive singles, bringing Juan Soto to the plate. Soto smacked a line drive single, which the left-handed Harris fielded on one hop, moving to his right. Then, without stopping to set his feet, Harris fired a strike to the plate. Luis Garcia, the Nationals’ speedy leadoff hitter, was out, and he was also stunned. His expression, clearly shown on TV, said this: “How in the world did that happen?”
Brian Snitker, the Braves manager, said more.
“Unbelievable play. My God,” Snitker said. “It was a game-changer obviously, but I didn’t think he had any chance, When he uncorked that thing, I was like, ‘Oh my Lord.’ It’s not like Garcia can’t run either.”
Announcers later told us the throw was measured at 94 mph. My God, indeed.
Now then, let’s take a look at what the Braves have done since Harris entered the lineup on May 28 when they were 22-24. They have won 32 games, lost only 13. They have reduced a 7.5-game New York Mets lead in the standings down to 2.5. They have done all this despite losing second baseman Ozzie Albies to injury and despite All-Star right fielder Ronald Acuna’s prolonged slump.
Harris has been the catalyst. Batting mostly at No. 9 in the order, he has scored 29 runs and driven in 26 more in 45 games. He is hitting .284 with eight home runs and stolen a base seven times (in seven attempts).
No telling how many runs he has saved in centerfield. He reminds this writer of a young Willie Mays, running down seemingly impossible-to-catch balls and turning doubles and triples into outs. His arm is as accurate as it is strong. He has turned the Braves’ outfield defense from mediocre to an obvious strength. Said Snitker of Harris, “When he’s out there in the grass, he’s a difference maker.”
Crazy as it sounds, had Harris been with the Braves the entire season, he surely would be playing in next week’s Major League All-Star Game. He has been that good. No, he’s been that sensational.
Mississippi’s hopeful medical marijuana dispensary owners are in turf wars across the state as they rush to get in applications to lay their stake in the new industry.
The Mississippi Department of Revenue has already received 111 applications for dispensaries, which it started accepting on July 1. That’s more than in any other business category and has led to $4.4 million in collected application fees.
“The dispensary applications have created a race of who could apply faster to mark their territory,” said Ken Newburger, the director of Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. “When you start drawing circles around Mississippi – 1,000 feet away from churches, 1,500 feet away from every other dispensary – there’s not a lot of land left.”
Newburger was referring to the radius laws that prevent dispensaries from opening shops too close to schools, churches and competing stores.
So far, 27 businesses – including cultivators, processors, transporters and waste management – have applied for licenses with the Mississippi Department of Health, which is handling those businesses.
The health department has issued nine business-related licenses, giving a few companies clearance to begin growing marijuana crops.
Mockingbird Cannabis, one of the state’s early industry leaders, was among the first to receive its license. The company has invested $30 million into his 167,000-square-foot facility near Raymond, according to CEO Clint Peterson. The company has received four licenses so far to transport, dispose of, produce, and grow medical marijuana and medical marijuana products.
Another one of the other first businesses to get a license to grow marijuana is River Remedy and its executive director, Ridgeland native William Chism. Chism, a Yale graduate and former investment banker, took a leave of absence while getting his master’s in business administration at Harvard to shepherd the new company.
CEO of River Remedy William Chism
“I did not make the decision to leave business school for a year lightly but this is too important,” Chism said.
He had been watching the local industry from afar, but the timing to be part of the new wave of Mississippi business drew him back home.
Chism’s company has plans to grow, process, manufacture and sell medical marijuana. Their flagship store will be in Byram, where their 37,000-square-foot grow facility is already located.
“We’re going to be among the first to market,” said Chism, referring to medical marijuana products availability to patients. “We completed our cultivation construction and we’re ready to come to market fairly soon this fall.”
Remedy, Chism said, has positioned itself to be a midsize player in the new Mississippi industry. It is much larger than a micro-grower but not as large as some of the other companies early to the market.
Southern Crop, which already has medical marijuana businesses in Louisiana, also received licenses for cultivation and processing. The company’s CEO, pharmacist Randy J. Mire, announced the company was the first in Mississippi to get an issued license to begin growing marijuana and processing products on July 8. That will happen in its Meridian facility.
The state’s newly established businesses are also on the hunt for workers. Seventy-two people statewide are waiting on their permits to work in the medical marijuana industry and 58 already have received their permits, according to the health department.
Chism, for example, plans to hire about 40 people from cultivation technicians to traditional accounting and HR jobs. He said companies know Mississippians won’t have direct experience with the plant unless they’ve worked out of state and that shouldn’t deter people from applying.
“Really, it’s about learning quickly, strong attention to detail and a passion for what you’re doing,” Chism said.
Most of the state’s new medical marijuana businesses have advertised competitive pay, starting between $15 and $17 an hour.
The health department is still processing 40 applications for practitioners – nurses, doctors, optitricians – to be able to see patients. The department has given 24 licenses to practitioners, allowing them to prescribe medical marijauna cards to patients.
So far, only 13 patients have received medical marijuana cards and nine others have submitted applications. There is no medical marijuana yet available to purchase in Mississippi.
Newburger said that number isn’t an indication of demand.
“Patients aren’t jumping up and down to get a card they cannot use,” he said.
He expects that number to explode once medical marijuana products are close to being on sale and doctors and other providers better establish their new medical marijuana practices.
He said other businesses, such as cultivators and processors, will still steadily come on line as well. Many are dealing with supply chain slowdowns as they construct their growing facilities and finish plans.
The applications are also complex. Chism said when he put his in for cultivation on June 1, it totaled hundreds of pages of documents.
None of the more than 100 dispensary hopefuls have heard back yet on whether their applications have been accepted. By law, the department of revenue has 30 days to process them.
Hemp World co-owner DeAundrea Delaney arranges products for sale in the store she and her husband Santita Delaney opened in Starkville, Friday, Mar. 4, 2022. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Hemp World co-owner DeAundrea Delaney hopes to run a dispensary after years selling CBD. She was still putting on the finishing touches on her application this week.
“I’m taking my time and making sure everything is correct,” she said. “Application fees are nonrefundable.”
Between the costs to apply and the actual license, dispensaries are on the hook for $40,000.
Delaney hopes to open a dispensary in Pearl. She said potential dispensaries have been courteous, trying to figure out where others are going so they don’t interfere with each other. Ultimately, it’s a gamble and she doesn’t expect everyone to play nice.
“I didn’t know it would be 100 already,” she said Wednesday. “That’s exciting, but, gosh, I better hurry.”
State Auditor Shad White issued demand letters on Thursday to six former board members or employees of the Holmes County School District, totaling more than $200,000.
The school district was taken over by the Mississippi Department of Education in August 2021 following a nearly 400-page audit that found the district in violation of 81% of accreditation standards. The allegations included a dysfunctional school board and administration, improper spending, inaccurate record keeping and unlicensed teachers in the classroom.
Louise Winters (former school board president) –13,523.90
April Jones (former school board member) – $13,523.89
William Elder Dean Jr. (former school board member) – $13,523.89
Anthony Anderson (former school board member) – $24,623.90
The auditor’s office published a list of “notable findings” that led to the issuance of these demand letters, which included a party to celebrate the passage of a bond issue that Holmes County voters ultimately rejected, payments in excess of the superintendent’s approved salary, payments made to companies owned by the superintendent’s relatives, and credit card transitions without proper documentation.
“We are demanding this money back on behalf of the students and taxpayers of Holmes County who deserve to have their money spent in the way that the law requires,” White said in a press release.
The former superintendent and former school board president could not be reached for comment.
CLEVELAND — E.E. “Butch” Caston has come out of retirement twice in the last decade to work at Kent Wyatt Hall, the administration building at Delta State University.
The first time was in 2013 when Bill LaForge, then the university’s freshly inaugurated president, asked Caston, who had been a long-time administrator in the education college, to serve as interim vice president for academic affairs and provost. Two years later, Caston again returned as interim vice president for students affairs.
In a 2015 press release announcing Caston’s second return, LaForge called his “devotion and commitment” to Delta State University “legendary.”
On July 6, Caston un-retired once again, this time to lead Delta State as interim president after the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees announced LaForge’s sudden exit, citing the university’s plummeting enrollment and shaky financial position.
Caston will hold the position for a year as the IHL board undertakes a search process for the next permanent president, he told Mississippi Today. In that time, he said his highest priority is to bulk up enrollment and to identify goals the university can “reasonably accomplish.”
Caston sat down with Mississippi Today for a 35-minute interview on Wednesday to discuss his role as interim president, enrollment, town-gown relations and giving, and diversity, equity and inclusion. He was joined by Michelle Roberts, vice president executive affairs and chief of staff, and Brittany Davis-Green, director of communications.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Mississippi Today: I’m wondering if you could give us a sense of what the first five days on the job have consisted of for you — what your day-to-day looks like?
Butch Caston: The majority of my time has been spent meeting and listening and trying to absorb the state of the State, (the state) of the campus, and to get a feel for the leadership, some of whom I have not met, others with whom I’ve worked together for years, as a former employee here. So, that. (I’m) going through considerable materials. But my primary focus, in these first days, has been on connecting and establishing grounds for working relationships, and teaming … and also listening to community. Well wishers, (a) lot of well wishers. And people just expressing hope and support. I’ve gotten that from administration and staff who are here this summer, the 12-month employees. I’m eager for the faculty to get here next month, so that we can get on. A campus needs people. So I’m looking forward to that.
I know this campus, in that I was educated here myself. Undergraduate and a master’s. And then I returned in 1983 until ‘04, I was employed here as faculty and in administration. Then I came out of retirement three times in administrative VP positions. I did one VP at the W. In fact, that was my first out-of-retirement. I’ve enjoyed all of that. And I look forward to this.
MT: Can you talk a bit about what you see as the current state of the State? If you’ve identified priorities or goals for this interim period, and if you can talk a bit about how you arrive at priorities to focus on as the top-level administrator?
Caston: Sure, happy to talk about that. It’s (an) all-hands-on-deck kind of concept. It’s top-down, bottom-up. A lot of interaction. A lot of reordering, prioritizing – realistic prioritizing within a calendar period of time. What can we reasonably accomplish? There may be things that we want to do, and it may be a year three before we get there. So, first, identification, clear understanding, mutual acceptance of that understanding, and then prioritizing.
MT: Have you identified any of those clear goals yet?
Caston: No. Listening. A lot of listening, a lot of dialogue. When you meet with a body of half a dozen or more people, it takes time. The worst thing that can happen is for a group to feel pushed to get out the other side to get to a product. … If I were teaching a course in that aspect of administration, I would say never, ever force movement in the group. Move within the group, move with the group. So at this point, a lot of listening, a lot of restating what I think I’m hearing to get to a clear purging – everybody gets it out, whatever it is. And I can tell you, there are some outstanding people at the VP level here. And that’s who I’ve had available to me. And I’m very encouraged about that. I think my school is going to be fine.
MT: How will you be kind of communicating these priorities once you’ve identified them? What will the timeline for that look like? Like having a sense ready by fall semester?
Caston: I won’t predetermine that. We will move as forthrightly as we can, in a healthy way. I’m not going to drive people into the ground. There is structure, there’s some outstanding structure, and these people know their positions. It’s for me to guide. So, it’s not a one-man decision-making process. I’m a part of a group. It’s for me to create the atmosphere and the parameters for a scope of work. But these people have jobs. When they come and spend time with me, it needs to be concise, it needs to be definitive, and they need to get back to their primary responsibility.
So, you know, to say that we had a certain volume in terms of minutes of sessions, planning sessions. Phew. That, in itself, may be a terrible sign of leadership. So, an honest plan of communicating and relating, and everything, all of our efforts have to be pointed toward teaching and learning in the university. When the hard decisions come, I’ll follow the advice of my single greatest mentor, who was Dr. Kent Wyatt, former president here. He has always advocated, during the years I served with him, (that) for the hard decisions, where consensus was so hard, the guiding light was (to) do what’s best for the university. And I live that. I believe that.
MT: One of the biggest issues that is on everyone’s mind is the enrollment decline that Delta State has experienced during the pandemic. (Editor’s note: Enrollment has dropped by 27% since fall 2019 at Delta State – the largest drop of any public university in the state.) It seems like the enrollment issue facing the university is multifaceted and not necessarily just due to the pandemic. There are factors like the declining population of the Delta, other universities in the state having more resources and more reputable academic programs.
Do you have thoughts on why the university is seeing this enrollment decline, and what you think the university can do to improve the numbers?
Caston: Well, the last part of your question is my number one. What can we do? Enrollment is down. Population is down. Enrollment is the number one topic of mine. It will be the number one topic throughout my service time here. I am committed to a year of interim, during which time the board will meet its responsibilities of a search and a selection process. During that time, we will continue what has begun with our VP for student affairs, and our provost and VP for academic affairs. Those two gentlemen, who are relatively new here, they have an outstanding action plan that has us very excited. We will know on the 15th what our numbers are. I don’t want to jump the gun and step out there with a number. But I can tell you, the indicators are that we’re going to have a really nice size new student registration and enrollment –
MT: For the fall?
Caston: For the fall, yes. And we’ll see what that figure actually is. But I’m speaking of applications, people who are in the full process of being selected.
MT: What does that action plan entail?
Caston: In terms of recruitment?
MT: Mhm.
Caston: Oh. Of course, incoming, who are then housed here. Recruiters working contacts, using technology, using relationships, as well as out there in the field. But it’s pretty much done now. We’re right at registration, we’ll still have some – at the time of on-campus, when the campus opens, we’ll still have people coming in to register. So that number, it’s kind of like Christmas, you know. We’re just excited for it to get here. We’re not quite sure what it’s going to hold for us. But our indications, the indications are good.
MT: What happens if the university doesn’t improve its enrollment numbers?
Caston: Well, the work is ongoing. We will not give in. We’re here for the long haul. Delta State has enjoyed a wonderful reputation for years. And we’ll take recruitment as far out from campus as we need to go for us to have our coffers filled. So that would be the plan. The old football coach would say, ‘Huddle up, next play.’ You know?
MT: What is Delta State’s responsibility to the community here? What is its place? What role should Delta State play in the Delta and in Mississippi?
Caston: Delta State is a part of Cleveland, and Cleveland is a part of Delta State. One of the things that I just thoroughly enjoyed as a student, and later as an employee, (is) the closeness, the closeness. That has to be one of my priorities.
When I first came back here, almost 20 years after I left – at the time that I left, I was a high school teacher and coach. To come back and see some of my former students now adults, parents, and to see their kids enrolling? There is a strong, strong historical connect. Often it’s been stated, no IHL in Mississippi has a better town-gown than Cleveland and Delta State. Have you ever heard that?
MT: I have not.
Caston: You have not?
MT: I would love to know more about why that’s something people say.
Caston: Because they love their school. Support – mutual support. City government leaders and administration and faculty? Close, close, close. I see one of my former students here nodding. (Editor’s note: Caston was referring to Davis-Green, Delta State’s director of communication, who sat in on the interview.) It’s the way it is.
I came here from Baton Rouge when I was 18. And when I pulled – my parents drove me – we pulled up to the Coliseum … I thought, ‘Where in the world am I?’ That was in 1963. And six months later, I would have died for the place. I just felt embraced when I first got here, and it’s been that way for me.
You know, for a lot of young people who’ve had limited experiences given their station in life, their geography – nurturing is a big factor. When you just hear a student, standing at the elevator, and saying to another student, you know, ‘We didn’t have an elevator in my town.’ That’s – you just think about the adjustment, the challenge of the adjustment. This faculty – I’ve seen it, every time I’ve come out of retirement, I’ve found the same thing. That nurturing – kind of, come on, we can do it. I’ve had professors to say, ‘I can promise you, you will be successful if you come to class, and participate. If you don’t come, I’m not gonna worry about you. If you come, I’ll be here. And I’m gonna see that you get it done.’ Now that’s, that’s nurturing to me.
MT: You referenced town-gown relations. Another thing I’ve been seeing is that private donations and town-gown relations seem closely tied at Delta State. Can you talk about what kind of relationship you see yourself forging with local businesses and local donors?
Caston: I think it’s not an at-the-podium concept – me standing before. Me and others at the table. In the homes and at functions. People visiting the campus and feeling the atmosphere and the environment, and also seeing the need. I think people who see the need – you know, we see terrible things happen in a country. And all of a sudden there’s an outpouring of millions of dollars, you know, people, unsolicited, contributing to a terrible tragedy. I’m not saying there’s a tragedy, but I’m saying need. Need gets response from a caring community. I’m not worried about that up here.
MT: What is the need that you would like for the community to see?
Caston: Funds to meet student needs. Teaching and learning. Every nickel we spend, it should track to teaching and learning. I think we can do that. At first blush, you might think, well how in the world can you say such and such connects to teaching and learning? Well, the guy on the weed eater out here on the back forty? That contributes to teaching and learning. We have a pretty campus. Somebody’s got to keep that. It’ll go to seed quickly. Facilities. We have some old buildings, worrisome buildings, you know? And we’re going to have to make some hard decisions in that regard.
I don’t mind hard decisions. I want healthy contribution to get to the decision.
MT: I was looking back through the Delta State College Foundation 990s to get a sense of private giving. It looks like it’s never stayed at one consistent level. It’s jumped around from about $2 million to $6 million, then back to $2 million. But it looks like from 2018 to 2019, it (contributions) took a big tumble. I was wondering if private donations are down to the university? And if you can talk a little more about how that affects the university’s budget?
Caston: I haven’t gotten into it yet, so I really can’t. I can say that I believe it reflects the economy. Donors invest money. And it’s from earnings from their investments that they contribute to places like here. So it stands if they have $50 million, and they’re losing money this quarter, then we are too. It reflects the larger system.
MT: Mhm. And the whole IHL system. I’m wondering, without better public funding, what can the university do to address the issues caused by state budget cuts?
Caston: This school has gotten more out of the dollar. I can tell you, people talk about institutions and they have a lot of fat in their budget. Delta State has never enjoyed fat. We’ve never claimed to be fat.
Now, it has been said before at the state level. The best fiscally managed institution is Delta State. It gets more done with less money. But here’s where that bites. A small institution like this, that operates on a very lean budget. If you’re in the budget year – you know what I’m gonna say? Cuts. Appropriations are cut mid-year? We don’t have any fat, right?
MT: There’s nothing to lean on?
Caston: That’s right. That’s right. So you know, what’s the hope there? Please don’t cut during the fiscal year. We’ll deal with it. End of fiscal year, start of next year. That’s where very careful planning and scrutiny and evaluation of finances and personnel. Biggest part of the budget is people. And we’ve got to help people. We’ve been lucky to have good people.
I have known people – employees, faculty, I’ve done it myself – turn down much higher paying jobs. You know why? Happy, they’re happy where they are. I’m happy here. I wouldn’t go out of state. I’m already past that. I’m an old man.
MT: I want to move to asking a bit about faculty. There was a recent PEER report that looked at tenured positions at the IHL schools, and Delta State was the only university to not hire a tenured professor in the last three years. (Editor’s note: The PEER report shows that Delta State actually has not directly hired a tenure professor from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2021, a five-year period.) From (fiscal year) 2019 to 2021, the university lost 13 tenure-track faculty, which is the largest loss among the regional colleges in Mississippi.
What effect does faculty retention have on the university? And how will you work to make Delta State a place where faculty want to stay for a long time?
Caston: I don’t think it’s a matter of wanting or not wanting to stay. I think it’s a matter of providing for one’s family. When I came here as a student, the overwhelming majority of the faculty were from in state. Through the decades and years, that has become far, far more global. Not only within the US, but certainly outside of Mississippi. In that regard, I think for a large number of reasons that don’t reflect necessarily on Delta State, we see a more fluid population. And the saving grace is the environment here, the nurturing of one another, and we do grow our own to some degree. I’m a product.
When I lived in Mississippi, but in South Mississippi, I had people come to my home, friends of mine, tearful that I was making a terrible mistake to leave one place and move back to Cleveland. And they said, well, ‘How do you explain, help me understand?’ My answer, and I remember it clearly, that was years ago that happened – (was) ‘You would have to have lived there and did your college degree, work there, to understand.’ So I didn’t want, there wasn’t any way – they were convinced that I was making a mistake. I knew what I was going to. I said, ‘I know exactly where I’m going. And I’m going there because I want to go there.’ And I honestly feel–
MT: When was that?
Caston: That was, give me a second here. ‘83. 1983.
MT: Diversity, equity, inclusion efforts are really important to many on campus. Specifically, I’m thinking of the Winning the Race conference. And I’m wondering, how will you help these efforts grow?
Caston: Well, that will be one of my questions to the appropriate audience here. And with input from the community, the – actually, my sense of that, I have some limited knowledge in that regard. The numbers are down in terms of participants, especially outside of the campus. The highest percentage of participation, I believe, would come from faculty and staff on campus–
MT: For the Winning the Race conference?
Caston: Yeah, for Winning the Race.
And my experience through the years on initiatives like that. You reload, revise, sometimes you discontinue, you know? If there’s a need, and there’s an audience, there has to be a reason why there isn’t an audience and so that you explore that carefully, and you come with a revised edition, whatever that might be. So that’ll be something of interest to look – at all those types of social topics, if you will.
MT: What does looking at them entail?
Caston: Well, I think your key participants on campus, organizers, planners, leaders – and invited attendees. I think you go to the table with it and look at what you have. How – if we’re, if our attendance is waning, can we determine why? And we probe. And we’re influenced by what we find. And so we come out the other side with continuation of what we had, revise what we had, it could even be discontinued, renamed, you know, refitted. So.
MT: What are the numbers on the conference?
Caston: I couldn’t tell you, but it’s available if you need that information. I think we can get that for you.
Caston: I have some awareness about that, having been a student athlete here. But I was away during that period when she played. But I met her. I’m fully aware of who she is, I’m fully aware who Margaret Wade is. I was close to her during my years as a student. You know, Margaret Wade’s – the Wade trophy is the female version of the Heisman trophy for men in football.
The matter of naming is a very structured – you’re familiar with that? It’s very structured by the state of Mississippi. And so Delta State may suggest, may recommend but it’s – that is determined at state level, has to flow through the college board, so there are options on recognizing excellence. I think we look at all our options. If one door closes, try to find another door to open kind-of-thing.
MT: We’re entering the sixth wave of COVID. I know that the university has relaxed its COVID policies as have pretty much every IHL school. What are you doing to mitigate the effects of the next wave of the pandemic?
Caston: Continue what we’re doing. Good health practices, early intervention. And I would add, reasonable intervention, and stay the course. And don’t panic. And have faith we’re gonna feel the sun.
MT: What does that look like specifically, do you have that sorted out yet?
Caston: It hasn’t been a topic in my first five days. I can tell you that. Because the university has an established, adopted plan, and it follows it carefully.
MT: Faculty are always really curious about IHL’s personnel decisions – not just faculty, but anyone who watches the IHL board closely. I’m wondering if you can sort of walk us through how you came into this job, and why you decided to take this role now.
Caston: I was contacted by the IHL Commissioner. And he communicated to me the desire for the board to invite me to serve as interim until a search could be conducted and a permanent president be named. I agreed to do that. That’s exactly how it happened.
MT: When did they reach out to you?
Caston: I won’t be able to recall the exact date. It was, at the time that – it was right at the time that they made the announcement. It was like one day to the next. It was pretty tight.
MT: Is there something, a question I haven’t brought up that you want to talk about, or something you want to use this interview to communicate to the people who are going to read it?
Caston: No.
MT: Well, that’s everything.
Caston: Sure, okay. Suits me. Suits me. Come visit.
From Anna Wolfe’s story: “Attorneys are wrangling Mississippi’s former governor into the welfare department’s massive civil lawsuit, which one attorney called a “no-holds-barred death match.””
