Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEWS: Remember Will Norton, the ex-University of Mississippi journalism school dean?

He resigned as the unearthed #UMEmails revealed exchanges with a donor who'd sent him photos of Black women students, calling them "African hookers."

Well, he's back. 1/mississippifreepress.org/16257/ex-dean-…

After the #UMEmails revealed racist, sexist & homophobic emails, Will Norton appeared to depart the university in May.

But now he's returned to the campus, serving as a senior fellow at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics. 2/mississippifreepress.org/16257/ex-dean-…

Donor: "Ole Miss (has) problems when Black hookers are working on Jackson Ave...I know what happens when a place is taken over by the wrong elements."

Then-Dean Will Norton: "I've been disappointed for a long time with the way this culture is going." 3/
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After the #UMEmails whistleblowers made a request for Norton's emails in March 2020, he asked the university's general counsel if she thought they would "relent" if he "just resigned as dean" instead.

He resigned soon after, but relent they did not. 4/
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Norton's new role at UM's Overby Center means he will once more have a position that involves mingling with rich power-brokers.

The Overby Center hosts political and journalism heavy weights like Haley Barbour, Tom Brokaw, & ex-NBC News chair Andy Lack. 5/mississippifreepress.org/16257/ex-dean-…

Andy Lack stepped down from his role as NBC News chairman in 2020.

He drew scrutiny for NBC's decision not to air @RonanFarrow's exposé on Harvey Weinstein before the allegations broke and for keeping allegations against Matt Lauer quiet. 6/
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Andy Lack has never lived in Mississippi, but he founded online news publication Mississippi Today, where Will Norton was a member of the board until stepping down in July 2020 before the #UMEmails exposé published. He's a repeat Overby Center guest. 7/
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The #UMEmails include exchanges between Will Norton and wealthy donor Blake Tartt (who sent Norton the photos of Black women students in tight clothes) discussing Andy Lack's future after the New York Times reported on his handling of Weinstein & Lauer. 8/
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Will Norton: "(W)hether Andy Lack survives another 3 months or another year and a half, really will not matter. They will have a new chairman at NBC News, and that will not affect things very much. The organizations roll on doing what they do." 9/
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"The organizations roll on doing what they do."

Norton resigned as dean, returning to the faculty, after the racist and sexist emails came to light. The journalism school promised changes.

Then, UM launched a hunt to unmask the whistleblowers. 10/
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The university spent large sums trying to unmask the #UMEmails whistleblowers who'd uncovered the racist, sexist emails via public records requests.

UM enlisted campus police and the EORC (which investigates workplace discrimination) in the effort. 11/mississippifreepress.org/9134/um-pursui…

The whistleblower hunt even ensnared the university ombudsman for several months after some in the journalism school accused him of being among the whistleblowers. No such evidence was found, but it terrified faculty. He was on leave for three months. 12/
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After resigning as dean in spring 2020, Will Norton stayed on as a faculty member that fall, continuing to receive an $18,000/month salary while on sabbatical.

He taught three classes this past spring. Then, he quietly left the faculty in May 2021. 13/
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Now that Will Norton has returned as a senior fellow in the Overby Center, he will continue working in Farley Hall—the journalism school building where he once reigned.

His old friend, Charles Overby, heads the Overby Center. 14/mississippifreepress.org/16257/ex-dean-…

Like Will Norton, Charles Overby (pictured) has cropped up in controversies surrounding the university in recent months, too.

Last year, an anti-racist UM history professor was fired after he publicly criticized Charles Overby. 15/mississippifreepress.org/16257/ex-dean-…

At MUMI, a December 2019 prison abolition conference in town, UM historian Garrett Felber told the audience that, during the same year the Overby Center was established, Charles Overby became board director of CoreCivic, a private prison company. 16/mississippifreepress.org/14250/emails-s…

Felber described Overby as “a man who leads dual lives."

“Not only is CoreCivic a behemoth in private prisons, but it successfully lobbied against the Private Prison Information Act of 2007."

Killing the bill shielded CoreCivic from public records. 17/
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Felber's revelations led to a flurry of tweets, with audience members using the hashtags, #UMPrivatePrisons and #CharlesOverby.

Miles away, officials in UM's Communications & Marketing Office monitored the #MUMI2019 tweets as they rolled in. 18/
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UM Marketing Chief Jim Zook in an email to Norton and Overby in 2019: “(Our) team is monitoring activity on the hashtag that emerged from the MUMI conference. ... We certainly don’t support this type of personal targeting of members of our community." 19/
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After @MSFreePress published my #UMEmails exposé that showed how some wealthy donors with racist views had outsize influence at UM, Felber criticized the university in a series of tweets, accusing them of “prioritiz(ing) racist donors over all else.” 20/ mississippifreepress.org/14250/emails-s…

A year after his remarks on Overby, the university terminated Felber’s contract as a tenure-track assistant professor, telling him he would leave the university on Dec. 31, 2021, and would not be considered for tenure. @middleton380 broke that story. 21/
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The university dismissed Felber's claims he was fired for his public criticisms.

But earlier this year, I found the emails referencing Felber's criticism of Charles Overby among the thousands the #UMemails whistleblowers obtained from Will Norton. 22/ mississippifreepress.org/14250/emails-s…

Now, almost 14 months after the #UMEmails series first published and 10 months since Felber's firing, Will Norton and Charles Overby are uniting alongside one another at the Overby Center.

Felber, meanwhile, is headed to Yale. 23/
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You can view an interactive timeline of the #UMEmails series here, including the option to examine many of the same emails I spent weeks and hours pouring over as I worked to understand what happened in UM's journalism school. 24/
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You can help support our work providing Mississippians (and many others) with important, truth-to-power journalism that puts people first and keeps the powerful accountable.

Follow @MSFreePress and consider a one-time or recurring donation to us at mfp.ms/donate.

If you haven't read the #UMEmails series yet, start with Part I here:

‘The Fabric Is Torn In Oxford’: UM Officials Decried Racism Publicly, Coddled It Privately
mississippifreepress.org/4876/the-fabri…

UM Emails, Part II: ‘The Ole Miss We Know’: Wealthy Alums Fight To Keep UM’s Past Alive
mississippifreepress.org/4950/the-ole-m…

UM Emails, Part III: UM’s ‘Culture Of Secrecy’: Dean Quit As Emails Disparaging To Gay Alum, Black Students Emerged
mississippifreepress.org/5004/ums-cultu…

You can find all our #UMEmails followups in the archive here: mississippifreepress.org/um-emails-inve…

P.S. The Mississippi Free Press is about to hit a milestone: 1,000 unique donors after just 18 months.

We started the day at 980.

Again, you can help put us over the the top by donating to support our non-profit, paywall-free journalism at mfp.ms/donate.