JSU president Thomas Hudson receives no-confidence vote from faculty senate

IHL likely will have to investigate faculty senate claims against president.

Ross Reily
Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Jackson State University President Thomas Hudson received a vote of no confidence from the university's faculty senate.

The Jackson State University faculty senate held a vote on Thursday expressing no confidence in President Thomas Hudson.

According to JSU Faculty Senate President Dr. Dawn Bishop McLin, who confirmed the vote, a resolution was presented by the executive committee and voted on by the university’s faculty senators.

"The Jackson State University Faculty Senate did in fact vote in favor of the resolution to move forward with bringing concerns to the Jackson State University campus community and other stakeholders," McLin said. "This Resolution sets forth that there is no confidence in President Thomas Hudson and various leaders of the administration."

"The gross majority of the voting members agreed with the entirety of the no confidence proclamation," McLin said. "The Jackson State University faculty senate executive committee and the faculty senate are calling for a restoration of shared governance, transparency, accountability, and academic democracy at Jackson State University."

McLin went on to say that the faculty senate noted that, "these university leaders, including Hudson, have exhibited a continuous pattern of failing to respect shared governance, transparency, accountability, and have worked outside of professional norms that have broad implications for the campus climate, the reputation of Jackson State University, and the university’s commitment both to providing a high-quality education and to carrying out its mission of a commitment to excellence. The faculty senate remains intent to advance the concerns of the faculty and expresses a continued willingness to engage in any forum to yield remedy to the issues shared by its body."

President Hudson responded to the vote of no confidence Friday morning with a statement, saying he is committed to the university.

"I look forward to working with the entire body of the faculty senate to address any concerns. Shared governance, academic prominence and student success are common goals that we mutually agree are essential to the growth of our institution," Hudson said. "To date, we’ve achieved many successful milestones, including increasing the university’s cash reserves from under 40 days in 2020 to over 100 days currently, addressing stagnant salaries by providing pay raises for faculty and staff for two consecutive years, a banner year in research resulting in $65.8 million in research awards, and the successful decennial review of our regional accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

"These types of achievements only happen through working together. I’m proud of what my administration has been able to accomplish to date, and I am committed to continuing the work to collaboratively execute the strategic plan to make Jackson State the best institution it can be."

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Multiple phone calls were not returned from Dr. Al Rankins, Commissioner of Higher Education for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, which will likely investigate claims from the JSU faculty senate.

Hudson grew up in Jackson, where he attended and graduated from JSU in 1999. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. 

With an equity-based focus, Hudson established a private practice, and served as an EEO specialist for the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA. However, he returned to his alma mater in 2012. 

Hudson served as acting president of JSU before being named President on Nov. 19, 2020, by the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. 

Hudson has said his goals have been to enhance the university’s legacy and expand its global footprint while fortifying its mission to produce ethical and technologically advanced global leaders who properly address societal problems and compete effectively.

Some members of the faculty were quick to back President Hudson following the vote.

Dr. Robert Luckett, Director of the Margaret Walker Center and a full professor of history at JSU, said he received an email from the faculty senate Thursday with the results. He believes Jackson State is lucky to have President Hudson on campus.

"I was surprised and deeply disappointed when I got the news yesterday that this had happened," said Luckett, who has been at the university for 14 years. "I deeply respect President Hudson. I think if you look at what he has done while he has been at Jackson State and what he faced and look at it in comparison to his predecessors, we are fortunate to have someone who cares as much as he does."

Luckett, who is not a member of the faculty senate, said Hudson saved the university from a tumultuous time when Hudson replaced William Bynum as president of Jackson State. Bynum resigned in February of 2020 following an arrest in a prostitution sting in Clinton.

"That was a low point in the history of Jackson State," Luckett said. "Then (Hudson) dealt with the pandemic and emerges from that with the university strong and stable. ... I think he has done nothing but a great job for this community and this university."

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Jackson State University President Thomas Hudson discusses plans to build an on-campus football stadium on a plot of JSU land near the intersection of John R. Lynch Street and University Boulevard in Jackson on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022.

As a member of the Jackson State staff since 2012, Hudson has served as Chief Operating Officer/Chief Diversity Officer, Chief Diversity and EEO Officer/Title IX Coordinator.

Dr. Sharon Simmons, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Jackson State, who is not a member of the faculty senate, says she believes Hudson has been an asset to JSU.

"Since I have been here at Jackson State, I have been engaged in a lot of activities from research to working with students to building programs and in that time the administration has gone above and beyond to support all of that," Simmons said. "President Hudson has always been very engaged and very approachable. I have seen the results of his actions from faculty increases to new opportunities and partnerships and collaborations."

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Before the presidency, Hudson was Assistant to the President and Chief Diversity Officer. He was the co-chair of the university’s Strategic Planning Committee. He also served on the executive cabinet and guided senior leadership on all topics related to the university’s future course and trajectory.

Committed to the standards of diversity, and inclusion, Hudson served as Vice-Chairperson of the university system’s Chief Diversity Officers’ Council. He is also a member of the Margaret Walker Center Board of Directors and the JSU Athletics Hall of Fame Foundation Board of Directors.

Hudson announced plans last fall to build a modern on-campus stadium that would be more appropriate in size than Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. The school, with an enrollment of around 8,000 according to the last IHL posting, gave great exposure to the HBCU ranks under former coach Deion Sanders, who stepped down in December to take the University of Colorado job. Jackson State became a rare Historically Black College and University to host ESPN College GameDay last fall.

Jackson State's enrollment fell 2.5 percent in the last reporting period, following a state trend.

No-confidence votes, such as the one taken Thursday can be damaging, but usually do not result in an immediate departure.

Mae Kuykendall, a law professor at Michigan State, who has studied no-confidence voting since 2006, said she has never seen a president say he or she is going to resign because the faculty has voted no confidence in them.

“A no-confidence vote is a raw fact that the president has been rejected by the faculty,” she told the Akron Beacon Journal following a no-confidence vote at the University of Akron in 2016. “It tells you that the president lacks any credibility as a steward of that institutional structure of higher education.”

The university is also currently dealing with fallout from what is alleged to be a student-on-student murder. Randall Smith of New Orleans, faces a murder charge in the death of fellow JSU student Flynn Brown. He was granted a $200,000 bond and 270 days of GPS monitoring in a preliminary hearing in December. In that, there has been a veil of secrecy around the university as there has been very little information released about the situation.