The Faculty Senate at the University of Southern Mississippi has asked the state college Board to replace Shelby Thames when his 4-year term as President expires.

Shelby Thames sees things differently. He wants his reign to go on forever. He is now announcing to everyone within earshot that he has no intention of retiring.

The issue, of course, is not whether Thames is going to retire. It's whether he's going to be fired.

The true measure of Shelby F. Thames is the following (also from the Hattiesburg American item):

He said he has not read the resolution from the Faculty Senate which will be sent today to the state College Board. He said he has no plan to read the document.

The resolution that the Faculty Senate ended up passing dispenses with the threatened 19-count indictment of Thames' performance. At two paragraphs total, it's too short to need an executive summary.

The letter that the Faculty Senate plans to send to the College Board shortly (not yet publicly released) does touch on some of those 19 counts; it runs to 3 whole pages. Not likely to tax Shelby Thames' mental resources, either, or knock any appointments off his calendar.