It was a good idea gone wrong.

In August, the University of Southern Mississippi distributed 700 Samsung Galaxy 10.1 mobile tablets to some Honors College, McNair Scholars, Southern Style and Gulf Coast students.

The tablets were equipped with Blackboard Learn and were designed to give students and educators ‘mobile access to their courses, syllabi, content, e-textbooks, grades, schedules, emergency notifications and much more,’ according to an Aug. 1 Southern Miss Now press release.

Students agreed to take part in surveys and other initiatives to evaluate the success of the program, according to a Nov. 18 Southern Miss Now press release. Students received the tablets at the beginning of the semester for free with the understanding they would be able to keep them.

But on Nov. 18, university officials informed students that, because the tablets were purchased with state funds, they are state property and cannot be given to students to keep. Students were also told they needed to bring their tablets in to the university to be properly inventoried.

At a meeting with Honors College students, Joe Paul, vice president for student affairs, said students will not be held responsible for damages to the tablets, and a grievance process will be established for students who invested money in their tablets.

Paul was unsure if the students would be able to purchase the devices, as the process of selling state property is complicated, according to a Nov. 18 article in The Student Printz, Southern Miss’ student newspaper.

The university is also being investigated for breaking both a state law and Southern Miss board policy when they purchased the tablets for $432,000 from Blackboard. Southern Miss failed to take public bids for the purchase of the tablets, which Mississippi law mandates for purchases that exceed $50,000. They also failed to get state College Board approval for the contract, which is required when the amount exceeds $250,000, according to an article published Nov. 23 by The Chronicle of Higher Education.

A university attorney and internal auditor originally discovered the transgressions in late October.

Two university officials, Chief Information Officer Homer Coffman and Director of Procurement and Contract Services Mike Herndon, were placed on administrative leave pending the results of the audit. Bob Lyman resigned from his position as provost, but he initially remained on the faculty. He was later placed on administrative leave.

Honors College Dean David Davies declined to comment because of the impending investigation and referred all questions to Chief Communication Officer Jim Coll.

Coll said the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning is looking into the matter. The state auditor is also considering a review.

Coll was quick to point out that the program has not been abandoned. On the contrary, it has been well received and is still moving forward. The university is looking into getting the program privately funded.

Rebecca Masters, a senior nutrition and dietetics major who serves as attorney general of the Southern Miss Student Government Association, said she believes students are reacting well to the news and that the university is doing everything possible to rectify the situation.

‘Students have overall been very understanding of the incident and know that it was an honest mistake. The university told us that we would be able to keep the tabs upon graduation because that is what they honestly believed would happen,’ Masters said. ‘No deception was intended, and they were just as surprised as we were when these mistakes were discovered.

jliannet@syr.edu

Published on November 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta