Temporary leader appointed at Jackson State; president put on administrative leave

JACKSON, Miss. — The president of Jackson State University has been put on paid administrative leave, and a longtime faculty member has been named temporary acting president.

The board that governs Mississippi’s eight public universities took the actions Thursday but did not disclose the reasons for taking Thomas K. Hudson away from the job he has held since November 2020 at the state’s largest historically Black university.

The temporary acting president is Elayne HayesAnthony, who has been chairwoman and professor in JSU’s Department of Journalism and Media Studies since 2015.

Caron Blanton, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, did not immediately respond to emailed questions from The Associated Press about whether the board’s decision to put Hudson on leave was related to the JSU faculty senate’s vote of no confidence in him in late January. The faculty group called for “restoration of shared governance, transparency, accountability and academic democracy.”

Hudson said in response to the faculty vote that shared governance, academic prominence and student success “are essential to the growth of our institution.”

Before Hudson became JSU president, he served nine months as acting president. He had worked in several roles at at JSU since 2012, including chief operating officer and chief diversity officer.

JSU’s enrollment for the fall semester was about 6,900, down from nearly 7,100 a year earlier. Enrollment at most of Mississippi’s public universities decreased from 2021 to 2022.

Tom Duff, president of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, said in a statement Thursday that the board is grateful Hayes-Anthony agreed to be acting president.