Jackson State President Marcus Thompson resigns

Mississippi Today reported that JSU’s president resigned, for unexplained reasons, after two years.

According to the article, Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning board had hired Thompson in 2023 after his predecessor, Thomas Hudson. The board had placed Hudson on administrative leave after three years on the job, but to date has not shared the personnel issue that motivated its decision.

Hudson’s predecessor, William Bynum, appointed in 2017, was ousted following his arrest in 2020 on a charge of “procuring the services of prostitute, false statement of identity and possession of marijuana.”

IHL conducted a national search for Hudson’s replacement and interviewed 79 applicants, eventually choosing Thompson, an employee within its system since 2009 who had reportedly never led a university.