Mississippi Today

IHL failed to increase oversight of off-campus programs amid anxiety about looming enrollment cliff

Published

1 year ago

December 20, 2023

The board overseeing Mississippi public universities failed to pass a series of policy changes in November that would have increased its oversight of off-campus degree programs following months of unusually spirited discussion for the typically rehearsed public body.

The trustee pushing the changes said the new policies would address an issue of growing concern among higher education officials in Mississippi: Larger and better-resourced universities moving into the geographic area of regional colleges and forcing direct competition for a decreasing pool of in-state college students.

For example, Mississippi State University announced in October that it was launching the Gulf Coast Aquatic Health Laboratory, an expansion of its offerings in what has been traditionally considered the University of Southern Mississippi’s backyard.

Mississippi’s eight public universities currently have wide latitude to move on-campus degree programs offsite — think of Mississippi State University’s Meridian campus — even if those programs tiptoe into a region of the state another school traditionally recruits in.

Under the board’s existing policies, universities seeking to set up new off-campus programs are supposed to do so “without unnecessary program duplication in the same geographic area.” If another institution is within 50 miles of a university’s proposed program, the two schools are directed to discuss the conflict and possibly obtain mediation from IHL, but it’s unclear what criteria IHL uses to make a decision.

When the number of high school graduates in Mississippi begins to decline in 2025, this could become a problem, according to Trustee Gee Ogletree, an attorney and a University of Southern Mississippi alumnus.

So in April, Ogletree started working on policy changes that would have required every university to receive approval from the IHL board before moving already-approved programs off-campus, with the idea that trustees would yay or nay requests based on “objective criteria” that factors in the best interest of the university system.

The proposal would result in months of back-and-forth that culminated in a confusing vote against the changes at the board’s November meeting.

Ogletree, who told Mississippi Today he had nothing to add to statements he has made at public meetings, introduced the changes in September during the board’s annual retreat at the White House Hotel in Biloxi, 170 miles from the board’s usual Jackson meeting place. As is typical for these retreats, it was not attended by any member of the public except a Mississippi Today reporter.

But two trustees — both Mississippi State alums — had some questions. A spirited discussion ensued.

“One is, what is the intent of this?” asked Hal Parker, a businessman who founded a successful fiberglass insulation distribution company. “Are there issues that we’ve neglected in the past, or?”

This policy could become “political,” Parker added, something Ogletree said he didn’t foresee happening.

“Can I ask a question? Why do we really need this,” said Bruce Martin, the president of an insurance agency, a few minutes later. “I’m having trouble understanding what the issue is that we need to solve.”

“Well,” Ogletree replied, “as I had indicated earlier, if I have some holes in my yard, I don’t wait till I step into them and break my leg before I fill the hole—”

“Gee, I’m not interested in what can,” Martin interrupted. “Has anything happened that makes this an issue?”

“Yes, what has happened, as we’re all aware, is that we will have over the next decade much fewer traditional students,” Ogletree stated, adding that he thought the board would be abdicating its responsibility to be a good steward of state dollars if it permitted the universities to duplicate off-campus programs without more oversight.

It did not convince Martin who said he believed the universities currently must “work to have the best programs” and that Ogletree’s policies sounded like “protectionism which I would not be in favor of.”

“It seems to me what we’re doing is not providing freedom of choice for the people and giving people all the opportunities,” Martin said.

The three trustees also sparred over whether the most powerful president in the university system — MSU’s Mark Keenum — was on board. The September meeting was on a Thursday. Ogletree said when he spoke to Keenum that Monday, Keenum was supportive. But Parker said when he spoke to Keenum the day before the board meeting, Keenum had concerns.

Martin did not respond to an inquiry from Mississippi Today, and Parker said he thought the policies were not needed because “the intrusion on IHL universities into the territory of other IHL universities” is protected by the board’s existing policies.

This dispute could have easily gone down between trustees who had graduated from any school in the university system. When the University of Mississippi expanded its Oxford-based nursing program offerings earlier this year, there were concerns that it would draw students away from Delta State University. In Natchez, Southern Mississippi used to have a nursing program that the board transferred to Alcorn State University in 1977.

By the time Ogletree reintroduced the policies in November, the IHL board staff had made some edits. A phrase was removed that would have directed the commissioner to develop guidelines that considered the “potential harm to existing similar degree-granting academic programs.” But the bulk of the policy remained the same.

It was approved for a first reading during the regular meeting. Then, before the board adjourned, Parker asked for a motion to reconsider, then a roll call vote.

Parker’s motion passed. But there was some initial confusion. Van Gillespie, the board attorney, asked the board to redo the vote so the secretary could accurately take notes.

Ogletree, who read a statement about why he disagreed with the board, made a motion to let the vote stand.

“I understand we’re a democracy and that majority rules,” he said. “I’ve counted the votes and I understand those. In this case I simply don’t think the majority is correct.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1946

Published

12 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-23 07:00:00

Dec. 23, 1946

University of Tennessee refused to play a basketball game with Duquesne University, because they had a Black player, Chuck Cooper. Despite their refusal, the all-American player and U.S. Navy veteran went on to become the first Black player to participate in a college basketball game south of the Mason-Dixon line. Cooper became the first Black player ever drafted in the NBA — drafted by the Boston Celtics. He went on to be admitted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

Podcast: Ray Higgins: PERS needs both extra cash and benefit changes for future employees

Published

13 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-23 06:30:00

Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison talks with Ray Higgins, executive director of the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System, about proposed changes in pension benefits for future employees and what is needed to protect the system for current employees and retirees. Higgins also stresses the importance of the massive system to the Mississippi economy.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

‘Bringing mental health into the spaces where moms already are’: UMMC program takes off

Published

13 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Sophia Paffenroth – 2024-12-23 06:00:00

A program aimed at increasing access to mental health services for mothers has taken off at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The program, called CHAMP4Moms, is an extension of an existing program called CHAMP – which stands for Child Access to Mental Health and Psychiatry. The goal is to make it easier for moms to reach mental health resources during a phase when some may need it the most and have the least time.

CHAMP4Moms offers a direct phone line that health providers can call if they are caring for a pregnant woman or new mother they believe may have unaddressed mental health issues. On the line, health providers can speak directly to a reproductive psychiatrist who can guide them on how to screen, diagnose and treat mothers. That means that moms don’t have to go out of their way to find a psychiatrist, and health care providers who don’t have extensive training in psychiatry can still help these women.

“Basically, we’re trying to bring mental health into the spaces where moms already are,” explained Calandrea Taylor, the program manager. “Because of the low workforce that we have in the state, it’s a lot to try to fill the state with mental health providers. But what we do is bring the mental health practice to you and where mothers are. And we’re hoping that that reduces stigma.”

Launched in 2023, the program has had a slow lift off, Taylor said. But the phone line is up and running, as the team continues to make additions to the program – including a website with resources that Taylor expects will go live next year.

To fill the role of medical director, UMMC brought in a California-based reproductive psychiatrist, Dr. Emily Dossett. Dossett, who grew up in Mississippi and still has family in the state, says it has been rewarding to come full circle and serve her home state – which suffers a dearth of mental health providers and has no reproductive psychiatrists.

“I love it. It’s really satisfying to take the experience I’ve been able to pull together over the past 20 years practicing medicine and then apply it to a place I love,” Dossett said. “I feel like I understand the people I work with, I relate to them, I like hearing where they’re from and being able to picture it … That piece of it has really been very much a joy.”

As medical director, Dossett is able to educate maternal health providers on mental health issues. But she’s also an affiliate professor at UMMC, which she says allows her to train up the next generation of psychiatrists on the importance of maternal and reproductive psychiatry – an often-overlooked aspect in the field.

If people think of reproductive mental health at all, they likely think of postpartum depression, Dossett said. But reproductive psychiatry is far more encompassing than just the postpartum time period – and includes many more conditions than just depression.

“Most reproductive psychiatrists work with pregnant and postpartum people, but there’s also work to be done around people who have issues connected to their menstrual cycle or perimenopause,” she explained. “… There’s depression, certainly. But we actually see more anxiety, which comes in lots of different forms – it can be panic disorder, general anxiety, OCD.”

Tackling mental health in this population doesn’t just improve people’s quality of life. It can be lifesaving – and has the potential to mitigate some of the state’s worst health metrics.

Mental health disorders are the leading cause of pregnancy-related death, which is defined by the Centers for Disease Control as any death up to a year postpartum that is caused by or worsened by pregnancy.

In Mississippi, 80% of pregnancy-related deaths between 2016 and 2020 were deemed preventable, according to the latest Mississippi Maternal Mortality Report.

Mississippi is not alone in this, Dossett said. Historically, mental health has not been taken seriously in the western world, for a number of reasons – including stigma and a somewhat arbitrary division between mind and body, Dossett explained.

“You see commercials on TV of happy pregnant ladies. You see magazines of celebrities and their baby bumps, and everybody is super happy. And so, if you don’t feel that way, there’s this tremendous amount of shame … But another part of it is medicine and the way that our health system is set up, it’s just classically divided between physical and mental health.”

Dossett encourages women to tell their doctor about any challenges they’re facing – even if they seem normal.

“There are a lot of people who have significant symptoms, but they think it’s normal,” Dossett said. “They don’t know that there’s a difference between the sort of normal adjustment that people have after having a baby – and it is a huge adjustment – and symptoms that get in the way of their ability to connect or bond with the baby, or their ability to eat or sleep, or take care of their other children or eventually go to work.”

She also encourages health care providers to develop a basic understanding of mental health issues and to ask patients questions about their mood, thoughts and feelings.

CHAMP4Moms is a resource Dossett hopes providers will take advantage of – but she also hopes they will shape and inform the program in its inaugural year.

“We’re available, we’re open for calls, we’re open for feedback and suggestions, we’re open for collaboration,” she said. “We want this to be something that can hopefully really move the needle on perinatal mental health and substance use in the state – and I think it can.”

Providers can call the CHAMP main line at 601-984-2080 for resources and referral options throughout the state.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.