When approaching the scene that will soon go down in history, students and faculty had something to say about the decision to not renew the contract of Chancellor Dan Jones. It was a sight to see the university and community come together to support such an epic event that had everyone covered in goosebumps.
What’s your stand with everything that is going on today?
Allen Coon, Director of Social Media for Students for Chancellor Jones, said, “We’re just here to stand to support the man who has led this university for several years. We’ve seen unprecedented growth under Dr. Jones’ leadership and we just want to show him that we really do support him and we want him to be our chancellor in the future because we’ve already benefited greatly from his leadership.”
Robert Albritton, local of Oxford for 15 years, said, “I’ve been around a lot of chancellors in my career and Dan Jones is the best chancellor I’ve ever been around in terms of his sensitivity to the faculty, sensitivity to his students and I think that this is not just a tragedy, but a disgrace that they would seek to get rid of him.”
Elizabeth Romary, student, said, “I’m really excited the rally today and I stand behind Dan Jones 100 percent because Ole Miss has grown so much under his leadership with fundraising, enrollment, and athletics and I think that he could do so much more if he could stay in this position as Chancellor.”
Ryan Felder, co-organizer of #IStandWithDan event, said, “I stand for Chancellor Jones. I stand for the reinstatement of Chancellor Dan Jones. I stand for more transparency. I stand for student representation and faculty representation on IHL’s decision.”
Paula Temple, retired professor of Ole Miss, said, “I’m here today to support Dan Jones. My main experience with him was when he would come over to the art department on his own and come to our art shows and actually sit and talk to students about their work. His background is not in the arts, but he is very generous and very respectful to come to our exhibitions and to talk to the students and try to understand what they’re doing. I am really impressed with him and I really don’t understand why he’s gotten into this trouble recently. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Donna Gurley, faculty member, said, “I appreciate the chance to talk to you. I want to say first of all how proud I am of our students and how they have been so active in supporting their views in their support of Dr. Jones. I also want to say how much we, as a staff and faculty, appreciate Dr. Jones and the work that he has done. And we certainly hope that the board reconsiders their decision.”
Brittany Bugg is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at brittany.bugg@hottytoddy.com.
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