Jackson State Faculty Senate President on Leave Pending Resignation as Faculty Files Statement of Support

Jackson State University at Prentiss and JR Lynch Streets. Loan: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Dawn McLin, the president of the Jackson State University faculty senate, was removed from her position last week and faces termination for allegedly abusing the power of her position, according to faculty members who met Thursday night to discuss how to support her.

The accusation has sparked outrage and fear of retaliation among members of the faculty senate of the historically black university. A Jackson State spokesman did not respond to Mississippi Today’s request for comment by the time this article went to press.

McLin, a professor of psychology whose family has deep roots at Jackson State, was elected president of the faculty senate in 2020. She led during a period of tense relations between the faculty and the administration, which saw the senate repeatedly express no confidence in members of the current and previous administrations, in part because of a “continued pattern of disrespect” for shared governance and other professional norms.

While faculty do not know the exact circumstances of McLin’s leave, many have expressed concern that what happened is highly unusual. As a tenured professor, McLin is entitled to certain employment protections under university policy and the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Education.

But McLin apparently was placed on leave without any written warning, faculty senate executive committee members said during a meeting. She was also accused of harassment, abuse and “disobedient conduct,” a term derived from IHL policy meaning insubordination.

According to the American Association of University Professors, a professional organization that advocates for tenure, shared governance, and academic freedom, such treatment of faculty senate chairs happens rarely, at most once or twice every few years.

“Such actions are typically taken in retaliation for criticism of the administration that faculty members may have made in the performance of their leadership duties,” Anita Levy, a program officer at the AAUP, wrote in an email.

McLin will be questioned by a faculty committee, but multiple faculty members noted during Thursday’s meeting that President Marcus Thompson could fire her even if the committee recommends reinstatement.

Upon hearing this, many faculty members said that if McLin could be put on leave without warning, any of them could. Many said the university’s reason didn’t matter because, as a tenured professor, McLin was entitled to more due process than was realized. One professor said he felt tenure no longer existed at Jackson State and that faculty, regardless of age or seniority, were no longer protected.

Some staff wanted more information, leading others to say the university had no say in the matter because it was a “personnel matter.”

McLin would not comment for this story. She was not on the Zoom call to speak on her own behalf because she has been “completely removed from the university,” a member of the faculty senate’s executive committee told the roughly 90 attendees.

However, the meeting, which was originally intended to be a general meeting to help faculty prepare for the fall semester, was briefly attended by Thompson representatives.

The timing of the arrival of two Thompson associates — Onetta Whitley, the general counsel, and Van Gillespie, Thompson’s chief of staff who had previously been IHL general counsel — raised concerns among some faculty, as one executive committee member said the Senate does not typically invite anyone from the president’s office to a meeting of the full Senate unless faculty request it.

It was also unusual, many faculty members said, because no one from Thompson’s office had attended a faculty senate meeting in months. One executive committee member said Thompson had been invited to the meeting in the spring, but he had appointed representatives to go in his place, and they also failed to show up.

In the minutes Whitley spoke with faculty, she did not address McLin’s leave but suggested that it was the reason she and Gillespie did not receive the Zoom link, stating that “we know that the faculty senate recently went through some changes and that may explain why we did not receive such an invitation.”

Whitley added that she looks forward to a more collegial relationship with the Senate in the future.

“I wanted to tell the Faculty Senate how much we look forward to working with all of you,” she said. “We hope that we can cultivate, truly, a better working relationship than we will have in 2024, a more collaborative, collegial relationship than I understand has existed between the administration and the Faculty Senate in the past.”

After Whitley left, some faculty expressed surprise at her comments, as they had believed the relationship had been collegial. At the same time, one executive committee member recalled that the faculty senate “did not have permission” to send the letter to Thompson and instead had to contact his liaisons to establish contact.

“He has no contact with us,” they said.

McLin has worked at Jackson State since 2001, according to LinkedIn. Her family has attended Jackson State since the 1920s, and her mother, a former chair of the College of Education, also served as president of the faculty senate.

Earlier this year, McLin was the principal investigator and project director behind a $1.5 million grant the university received to support an initiative to study how the health of underserved communities is affected by social issues like climate change and structural racism. It’s unclear whether her potential departure will jeopardize the grant.

“JSU is well-positioned to lead this research effort,” she said in a news release. “Like many HBCUs, JSU has a history of addressing inequality and advocating for social justice. Our faculty, staff and students have actively advocated for equal rights, racial justice and systemic change locally and internationally.”

As faculty senate president, McLin has leaned in for the faculty, so it’s time for them to do the same, multiple people on the call said. They also noted that McLin has not acted unless the faculty senate wants her to.

Still, many faculty members at the meeting urged caution because they feared the administration would take reprisals against anyone who stood up for McLin, especially the other members of the Senate executive committee.

“We love JSU as much as they do,” said one faculty member, whose name was not available on Zoom. “The question we have to ask is, is this the best way to solve the faculty problem? Is this the best way to solve the students’ needs? Is this the best way to solve the community’s problems?”

Jackson State “does not belong to one person or two people,” they added. “It belongs to all of us.”