PRESS RELEASE - For Release Monday, December 19, 2007
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Kym Gore
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MUW Alumnae Association Files Motion To Enforce Judge's Ruling
The Mississippi University for Women Alumnae Association today filed a motion to enforce the Oct. 1 ruling of Lowndes County Chancery Court Judge Dorothy Colom.
Colom's ruling granted the Association a permanent injunction, recognized the Association's right to maintain its independent status and ordered University President Dr. Claudia Limbert to act in good faith and honor the affiliation agreement for the duration of the contract.
The Court also ordered Limbert to terminate her relationship with a second alumni group that she had appointed to replace the Association as the University's official alumni group.
As set forth in the Association's motion, Limbert has failed to honor the terms of the Court's ruling. Limbert continues to support her appointed alumni group, refuses to allow the Association information regarding its own funds, refuses to provide the Association a copy of its membership rolls and continually creates obstacles to the flow of communication necessary to normalize relations between the university and the Association in compliance with Judge Colom's ruling. Limbert also has failed to appoint a member of the Association's Board to the university's Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Council as required by university policy.
With the filing of the Association's motion today and the defendant's decision last week to file a motion to stay the judgment, another hearing before Judge Colom seems likely. The defendants are in essence asking the judge to negate her own ruling and not force them to comply with her orders.
In contrast, the Association's motion to enforce notifies the Court that the university has failed to obey her ruling and petitions the Court to compel compliance.
While the university and the IHL avoid compliance with the Court's order, IHL spokesperson Amy Whitten continues to point the finger of blame at the Association. According to the Association's representative, Whitten's recent assertion about the Association "removing a program" at the university has no basis in fact. "Limbert is the one who continues to cut important university programs - athletics, Demonstration School, community continuing education and the Pre-college Enrichment Program," said the Rev. Anghaarad Teague, vice president of the Association. "We don't know what Amy Whitten is talking about."
Susan Puckett, president of the 118-year-old Alumnae Association, said, "The University still is not acting in good faith with us. To have impediments placed before us at every turn is not only a violation of the court's order, it is a waste of time and taxpayer dollars that could be going toward support and improvement of the W."
Puckett said the Association has observed the Court's ruling and "we have been going about the business of doing what our Association does - supporting our University and working to ensure its bright future.
"You would think any university would be delighted to have such a dedicated, talented and willing alumni association," said Puckett. "After all, alumni are any college's greatest and most enduring resource."