Jackson State University is once again without a permanent president.
The Board of Trustees of the Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning announced that Dr. Marcus Thompson submitted his resignation as president of Jackson State University, effective immediately. The board named Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs Dr. Denise Jones Gregory as interim president.
Thompson was named president of Jackson State in November 2023. He was previously IHL’s deputy commissioner and chief administrative officer.
The announcement came hours after the board opened a special meeting virtually and immediately went into executive session to “discuss a personnel matter regarding the job performance of a person holding a specific position at JSU and related potential litigation,” Director of Communications John Sewell told those gathered outside the empty boardroom. The members voted to adjourn almost two hours later with no mention of what the board had discussed.
Thomas was the fourth JSU president in the past 14 years and the 13th overall, but the university has also had three interim presidents during that period. JSU does not count interim presidents in its tally of total university presidents.
The process leading up to Thompson’s appointment drew scrutiny. His appointment marked the second time that the IHL promoted someone from within the agency to lead a university in recent years. Four years earlier, the board named then-IHL Commissioner Glenn Boyce as the University of Mississippi’s chancellor.
Nearly 80 people applied for the position for JSU president in 2023 and IHL interviewed finalists behind closed doors as media and alumni awaited the results.
“There were some feelings of a lack of transparency (among alumni) because this time that process has been changed,” JSU National Alumni Association President Patrese Edwards told Mississippi Free Press on Nov. 8, 2024. “They changed their bylaws so that it no longer includes the constituency groups in that process.”
Trouble appeared on the horizon for the state’s largest HBCU over the last several months.
During its April 17 regularly scheduled meeting, the board went into executive session a little before 10 a.m. to discuss three items, including a “personnel matter and related litigation regarding the job performance of a person holding a specific position at JSU and related litigation.”
In January, Mississippi Today reported the university faced several lawsuits, including one from former faculty senate chair Dr. Dawn Bishop McLin, who was placed on leave pending termination last fall. McLin alleged that Thompson intentionally delayed acting on the faculty senate’s recommendation to reinstate her in an attempt to force her to resign.
Former Interim Vice President for Enrollment Management Linda Rush also sued Thompson, alleging that she was first demoted and then fired for no reason. In both cases, attorneys for the university filed motions to dismiss the lawsuits.
Former Jackson State University Vice President Dr. Debra Mays-Jackson is also currently suing IHL, alleging that the board engaged in sexually discriminatory hiring practices after it skipped over her to hire Thomas Hudson to lead JSU in 2020.