Ole Miss Alumni Want Voices Heard in Chancellor Search

As the search for a new chancellor gears up at the University of Mississippi, alumni are making their voices heard. Cari Gervin has more.

Rose Jackson Flenorl is the president of the university’s Alumni Association.

She says the alums who have contacted her all want a chancellor who can recruit the best and the brightest students, who loves athletics, and “who understands diversity and the issues not only at Ole Miss but in Mississippi – and, you know, part of our heritage will always be being the first institution to integrate, and being able to address that issue and say where we are then, but more importantly, where we are today.”

Flenorl says that the alumni she’s talked to realize they have very little say in the matter. The final decision on the new chancellor will be made by the board of trustees of the Institution of Higher Learning. Flenorl says the alums just want to feel like their opinions are being heard.

“I think most of the people who are alums of Ole Miss just want to make sure that we have someone who understands our school, our tradition, our culture. Who understands our state, because you have to, especially in this economic time, fundraise. So someone who’s familiar with who we are, how we operate, and can move us to the next level. We don’t want someone to replace the chancellor, we want someone who will take us to the next level.”

The search committee has said it hopes to name a replacement for current chancellor Robert Khayat by early summer. For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.