The University of Mississippi's board has called in PR support after its decision to not offer a new contract to chancellor Dan Jones roiled alumni and donors.
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New York-based Widmeyer Communications, part of Finn Partners, is advising Ole Miss' 12-member board amid the blowback.
Students, faculty, prominent alumni and wealthy donors contributed to two weeks of protests last month, including criticism from author John Grisham, football great Archie Manning and ex-Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale.
The university's board, which initially declined to extend a new contract based on financial issues at the university's medical center, then offered a two-year extension to Jones with mandatory retirement after 2017. He turned it down.
CNN reported that Jones' successful run as head of the university (rising test scores and fund raising) was tempered in the eyes of some as he worked to distance the 167-year-old school from its Confederate history.
Barksdale, now a venture capitalist who has given the school nearly $30M, called the board's decision "unforgivable."
Veteran agency pro and PR counselor Tom Eppes is chief communications officer for Ole Miss.
"The circumstances of the past six weeks have certainly been outside the norm for our office," Glenn Boyce, higher education commissioner of Mississippi," told the Clarion-Ledger.
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