Jackson State University News


JSU stadium talk at Jackson City Hall veers to UMMC cancer center push​


What began as a Jackson City Council resolution supporting a new Jackson State University football stadium opened up into new details about UMMC’s long-planned cancer center across the street.

The resolution, introduced by Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes at the council's Tuesday, Nov. 18, meeting, carried no funding, zoning changes or policy shifts. It simply put the council on record as supporting Jackson State’s pursuit of a new football stadium, something university and city leaders have discussed for years but have never secured financing for.

During the discussion, Stokes linked the stadium question to another long-running ambition in the city: the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s effort to build a comprehensive cancer center. He said the future of Veterans Memorial Stadium — the massive, aging facility where JSU plays and which sits directly across from UMMC — has become part of the conversation around the cancer center’s location.

Last month, a Clarion Ledger investigation found the 75-year-old stadium has lost money in nearly every year since 2019, with operating costs outpacing revenues by almost $1.5 million. Keeping the facility running has required ongoing repairs and upgrades, even as JSU continues to lead the FCS in average home attendance. Lawmakers have also repeatedly failed to fund a new stadium.

Stokes said the city should help JSU decide where a future stadium might go — possibly on campus or downtown — so that both projects can continue moving forward.

“The cancer center is a step in the right direction for the state of Mississippi, for the city of Jackson and for Jackson State University,” Stokes said, adding that clarifying the stadium’s future would help unblock progress.

Mayor John Horhn then offered new information about the cancer center itself, saying UMMC has raised $60 million toward what he described as a $250 million capital campaign. He said the medical center plans to ask the Mississippi Legislature to match whatever is raised and bond out the remainder of the project.

Horhn said UMMC’s priority location is an area he called “the bowl,” just south of the former Schimmel’s building near the Hope Lodge, next to the stadium and its parking lots. In his quarterly meetings with UMMC leadership, Horhn said officials indicated they were “very, very close” to wanting to take possession of the stadium site and assist JSU in securing a new facility elsewhere.

What UMMC confirms — and what it won’t say​

While Stokes and Horhn each tied the stadium’s future to UMMC’s ambitions, the medical center offered a narrower picture of what is actually underway and what it is willing to discuss publicly.

UMMC declined to comment on any interest in Veterans Memorial Stadium. In an initial response to the Clarion Ledger, a spokesperson said the medical center had “no comment” on questions related to the stadium site.

However, UMMC confirmed other parts of what Horhn described. Patrice Guilfoyle, UMMC's director of communications, said the cancer center would be built across the street from the medical center near the Hope Lodge, aligning with the location Horhn referred to as “the bowl.” She confirmed the medical center has raised $60 million toward a $125 million philanthropic campaign for the project, but did not confirm Horhn’s comments about potential legislative matching funds, saying only that UMMC “doesn’t know what the Legislature will do.”

Vice Chancellor Louann Woodward was not available for an interview. But UMMC pointed to its October public update outlining the scope of the cancer center and its long-term effort to pursue National Cancer Institute designation. It is a multiyear process requiring major expansions in research and clinical infrastructure.

In that update Rod Rocconi, director of the Cancer Center and Research Institute, described NCI designation as a potential “game changer” for Mississippi and said UMMC is still “just leaving the blocks” in the race toward eligibility.

Rocconi said the philanthropic campaign’s early progress — including a $25 million lead gift from Sandy and John Black — has put UMMC “nearly halfway there” in less than a year. The $125 million campaign is intended to help fund construction of a new five-story Cancer Center and Research Institute in Jackson, expanding clinical care, research and statewide outreach for a state with some of the nation’s highest cancer mortality rates.

What the law says about the stadium​

Guilfoyle also pointed to a state law that governs what happens to the stadium property if JSU ever moves its home games, adding another layer to why the site keeps surfacing in these discussions.

A 2011 state law — House Bill 1158, passed by the Legislature and approved that year — helps explain why Veterans Memorial Stadium keeps surfacing in discussions about UMMC’s cancer center.

The law gives JSU control of the stadium only until it relocates its home football games. If the university plays its home games somewhere else in the future — meaning it builds or relocates to a different stadium — the law says the Veterans Memorial property “shall be transferred” to UMMC. The statute also requires both institutions to honor existing leases on the site and bars the use of eminent domain to take any leased interests.

www.clarionledger.com

JSU stadium talk at Jackson City Hall veers to UMMC cancer center push

A simple resolution turned into questions and some updates about one of Jackson’s most valuable pieces of property.
www.clarionledger.com
 



A former Jackson State University administrator's sex discrimination lawsuit against Mississippi's public university governing board can proceed despite members of the board attempting to dismiss the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in its opinion Wednesday, Dec. 10.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, finding that former Jackson State University Vice President Debra Mays Jackson adequately alleged that the board discriminated against her on the basis of sex under the Equal Protection Clause during the 2023 search for the university's next president.

The ruling does not decide if discrimination occurred. Instead, it means that Mays Jackson's claim is sufficient enough to return and continue in the federal district court.

Mays Jackson, who served as Jackson State's vice president and chief of staff since 2017, argued that despite her extensive qualifications and expressed interest for the presidency in 2023, she was passed over in favor of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning's Deputy Commissioner and Chief Administrative Officer Marcus Thompson.

www.clarionledger.com

Former JSU VP's sex discrimination lawsuit against IHL to move forward

U.S. Court of Appeals allows former JSU administrator's sex discrimination lawsuit against Mississippi's public university governing board to proceed.
www.clarionledger.com
 

IHL approves profile, waives policy in Jackson State president search​


The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning voted to approve a leadership profile in the presidential search at Jackson State University.

The approved leadership profile was not immediately made publicly available.

During a special meeting on Thursday, Dec. 18, the IHL Board of Trustees also voted to waive a policy restricting an interim president from submitting their name as a candidate for the permanent position.

The current interim president is JSU Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Denise Jones Gregory, who stepped into the role in April following former President Marcus Thompson's resignation.

Interim presidents have campaigned for permanent positions in the past. Most recently, Elayne Hayes-Anthony, who served as interim president for eight months in 2023 between former President Thomas Hudson and Thompson, publicly advocated to stay in the role permanently.

Hayes-Anthony did not make it past the initial interview rounds in the national search for a new president.

 
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JSU faces third lawsuit related to presidential choices

Another lawsuit has emerged in the aftermath of presidential hires at Jackson State University.

Jerome Tinker, who serves in a leadership position in JSU’s Alumni Affairs office, is suing former president Marcus Thompon and the university in federal court for being turned down for the position of office director.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 12, represents one side of a legal argument. It says Thompson instructed Monica Lewis, then interim vice president of institutional advancement, not to select Tinker as the interim director of Alumni Affairs or for the permanent post even though as alumni engagement officer he was second in command. The lawsuit alleges Thompson’s motivation was retaliation because Tinker had reported the “unlawful conduct toward a female employee” by Thompson’s predecessor, Thomas Hudson.

“We are aware of the lawsuit and do not comment on pending litigation,” said John Sewell, communications director for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, which oversees the state’s eight public universities.

Thompson could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit alleges that Thompson, who was then working for IHL, was tasked with investigating the allegations against Hudson. It identifies Thompson as Hudson’s “friend and confidante.”

“Thompson did not interview the female employee during his so-called investigation. Thompson also was aware of Tinker’s complaint to IHL that Hudson attempted to dissuade him in January of 2023 from suing Hudson and JSU retaliation,” according to the lawsuit.

 
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