By Alyssa Schnugg
News editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
The top story for Ole Miss from 2019 happened more than 10 months into the year when Glenn Boyce was named as the new chancellor of the University of Mississippi on Oct. 4.
While most new university leaders are met with fanfare on their first day at a new school, Boyce was met with picket signs and chants calling for him to be removed as chancellor.
Two months later, the uproar settled down and picket signs were put down as the fall semester ended with Boyce still at the helm.
Most protesters claimed their issues were not with Boyce himself, but with the process, or lack thereof, of his being hired by the Institutions of Higher Learning, which announced Boyce’s appointment on their website Oct. 4, after a planned press hearing on the Ole Miss campus was canceled due to protesters changing, “IHL, What the hell?” and “Boyce, not our choice.”
Photo by Julia Peoples
Critics say the IHL bypassed a multi-step selection process to hire Boyce.
Boyce was not one of the eight named candidates that the IHL publicly announced earlier in the year and to make it look a bit worse, Boyce had been hired for about $80,000, as a consultant on the search committee to help find a new chancellor.
Boyce visited with the IHL on Oct. 3 to interview for the chancellor position and was offered the job on the spot. The other candidates involved in the search were not afforded the same luxury.
Boyce served as Commissioner of Higher Education for the State of Mississippi before retiring in June 2018. Prior, he served as associate commissioner for academic and student affairs for IHL. He joined IHL after serving as president of Holmes Community College for more than nine years.
Boyce holds a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Mississippi, a master’s degree in education administration from Mississippi College and a doctorate in education leadership from the University of Mississippi.
Shortly after Boyce’s hire was announced, several campus organizations passed a variety of resolutions protesting the IHL. The Faculty Senate and Graduate Student Council passed resolutions of “No Confidence” in the IHL and the process in the appointment of Boyce. A petition to “Fire Glenn Boyce” on Change.org garnered more than 2,600 signatures.
On Oct. 17, IHL released a statement about the hiring process, almost admitting it could have been handled better.
“The Board of Trustees has heard the concerns of the University of Mississippi campus community regarding the chancellor search process. We will review our search process to determine ways that it can be improved. It is unfortunate that the process has reflected negatively on the beginning of Dr. Boyce’s tenure, but we look forward to Ole Miss thriving under his leadership.”
That same day, Boyce made his first officiate statement in the form of a letter.
“In the last two weeks, it hasn’t escaped me that there are passionate feelings about who leads the University of Mississippi. And rightly so. I’m passionate about that as well. I just hope that the people who care about this university will judge my tenure as chancellor based on the results that we deliver,” Boyce wrote.
Then November rolled around and things quieted down while Boyce spent the next month meeting with students and faculty.
On Nov. 22, Boyce announced that Keith Carter had been hired as the university’s new Athletics Director, which started the ball rolling for major changes in the Ole Miss Athletic program.
Read the Top 2019 Sports story on Hottytoddy.com later today.
