The Great Depression
At M.S.C.W.
Theodore Bilbo [1]
Theodore Bilbo served as the democratic Mississippi governor for two terms that lasted from 1916-1920 and 1928-1932. In a meeting of the Board of Universities and Colleges, he fired three university presidents and replaced them with supposedly underqualified individuals. After dismissing 3 presidents and roughtly 179 professors and other faculty members, he caused several organizations to discontinue accreditation for four state colleges. By the end of his term, Mississippi's treasury "...had only $1,326.57 in its coffers, and the state was $11,500,000 in debt." Despite this and the entire universities controversy, he later went on to serve as a U.S. senetor from 1935-1947.
Nellie Kiern [2]
Nellie Kiern served as provisional president of MSCW beginning in 1929 upon the death of John C. Fant, the college's former president. She chose not be considered as a perminant replacement and instead went on to resume her duties as Dean of Students after R.E.L. Sutherland's election as new president of MSCW.
R.E.L. Sutherland [3]
In June of 1930, Robert Edward Lee Sutherland was unanimously voted in as the new president of MSCW to replace the late John C. Fant and relieve Nellie Kiern from her duty as president. He held this position until he was dismissed in 1932, under the SACS' demand. This had to do with SACS requiring that all faculty dismissed in the Bilbo purge be rehired or offered their old positions. With his election taking place in the middle of the controversy, it seems that his dismissal was part of the agreement that would allow the reinstatement of MSCW into SACS.
Dr. Burney L. Parkinson [4]
After Sutherland was dismissed in 1932, Dr. Parkinson assumed the role of MSCW president. Through him, the college earned a sizeable grant of $49,909 and a loan of $61,000 by the Public Works Administration, totaling a total amount of $110,909 to be devoted to the improvement of Calloway Hall. Appointed in 1932, he continued this role for 20 years until his retirement in 1952.
1. “Theodore G. Bilbo.” Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press. Accessed November 14, 2015.http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/theodore_g._bilbo.
2. Sansing, David G. Making Haste Slowly the Troubled History of Higher Education inMississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1990.
3. Ibid.
4. “Burney L. Parkinson, 1927-1928.” Blue Notes. https://www.presby.edu/archives-blog/burney-l-parkinson-1927-1928/.