Headlines
Meek School Faculty Calls for Donor to Request Own Name be Removed
Editor’s note: Ed Meek is the former owner of hottytoddy.com
The Meek School of Journalism and New Media faculty released an official statement Friday, Sept. 21 at around 7:30 p.m. to ask that UM donor Ed Meek request his name be removed from the building. The statement calls for Meek to respond within three days.
Photo from the Meek School of Journalism and New Media’s Facebook page.
The motion was made in light of a recent post Meek made to his personal Facebook on Wednesday.
In the post, Meek linked his message of “a 3 percent decline in enrollment…and real estate values will plummet as will tax revenue,” to two photos of black women on the Square. This association drew criticism from hundreds of commenters throughout the post’s short lifetime. However, the post was later deleted.
Screenshot from Ed Meek’s personal Facebook page.
Frustration about the post only grew as he later issued an apology saying, “I apologize to those offended by my post. My intent was to point out we have a problem in The Grove and on the Oxford Square.”
He deleted the apology shortly after.
In Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter’s statement released to the campus community today in response to comments made in the public forum Sept. 20 at David H. Nutt Auditorium, he outlined the steps needed for a university building name change.
“It is important to explain the university’s long-established process to consider whether to modify the name of an existing academic unit,” Vitter wrote. “All of the following steps must be completed in order to make a name change:”
1) The faculty committee of the academic unit must approve a recommendation to make a name change.
2) If that faculty group recommends a change, the matter must be taken up by the Undergraduate and Graduate councils. These councils have faculty from across the entire university and one voting student representative on each council.
3) The actions of the councils are then considered by the Council of Academic Administrators, which is chaired by the provost. Its voting members include all deans, the Faculty Senate chair, faculty representatives, the three vice chancellors within Academic Affairs, the ASB president, and the Graduate Student Council president.
4) If the Council of Academic Administrators recommends a change, the matter is referred to the Chancellor, who would decide whether to make a request to the IHL Board for consideration and a final vote.
The verbiage used by the Meek School faculty in their statement does not indicate they are recommending the name of the building to change but asking Meek to renounce his name.
“Therefore we ask Dr. Ed Meek to request within three days that his name be removed from the School of Journalism & New Media; and therefore we invite Dr. Meek to be part of a conversation about charting a path forward that speaks to our core values and should guide our future relationships with all constituents,” the post read.
hottytoddy.com staff report
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| Sat, Sep 14 |  | @ Wake Forest | W, 40-6 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | vs Georgia Southern | W, 52-13 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Kentucky | L, 20-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | @ South Carolina | W, 27-3 |
| Sat, Oct 12 |  | vs LSU | L, 29-26 (2 OT) |
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| Sat, Nov 23 |  | @ Florida | 11:00 AM ABC or ESPN |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | vs Mississippi State | 2:30 PM ESPN or ABC |
Bettye Galloway
September 22, 2018 at 8:44 am
I understand that Ed made a generous contribution to the journalism department, and I’ll bet that along with accepting the gift the powers at Ole Miss agreed to name the journalism building for Ed Meek. If that is the case and the name is removed from the building, does Ole Miss plan to give Ed’s donation back to him? I’ll bet he could re-gift the money to a more appreciative recipient.
Ron
September 22, 2018 at 10:59 am
Fine. He should take his name down
Right after they give him his money back.
It would seem the inmates are running the prison in Oxford.
Stuff like this is why I stopped donating.
Well the whining ever stop?
Doug Abraham
September 22, 2018 at 12:36 pm
Ed Meek is the best of the BEST! He has devoted his life to Ole Miss and their success showing his devotion even the 5.3 million!
He should take back his money first to the ungrateful. Doug Abraham President of student body 1960-1961
Keith
September 22, 2018 at 10:07 pm
About 5.3 million if Ole Miss will give back the donation to Meek.
Douglas Marriott
September 23, 2018 at 12:22 pm
Fair enough. Let the university remove Dr. Meek’s name, but it cannot, in all conscience hang onto the donation he made as well. The name and the money go together.
Taylor
September 23, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Douglas,
“Conscience “. At ole miss? really?
What you are proposing would require professionalism and integrity.
These trait are sorely lacking The Lyceum.
Vitter and his henchmen are an embarrassment.
John Morris
September 24, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Exactly. If Ole Miss wants to establish a new standard, the university should return Meek’s (and others’) donations. Otherwise, the university is advertising their openness to accept money from “people like Meek”.
Should the university return other donations from other “tainted” donors?
Should the university institute a process, which includes running a background check on every potential donor?