JACKSON — If the current Mississippi State University presidential search is any measure, then University of Southern Mississippi alums who face a similar search in the near future should get ready for the “mushroom” doctrine that was adopted for the MSU search.

What’s the “mushroom” doctrine? With the exception of a very few people with a stake in MSU, the State search has been conducted much like the traditional method for growing mushrooms: They are constantly kept in the dark and regularly dosed with high-grade manure.

When Tom Meredith was hired as Mississippi’s higher education commissioner, I applauded the decision. Meredith spent almost 20 years in Mississippi early in his career, first as a graduate student at the University of Mississippi in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and then in positions with the state College Board and as a highly regarded administrator at his alma mater, Ole Miss.

One of Meredith’s mandates as the new College Board commissioner was a change in governance from university presidents reporting directly to the board members to reporting directly to the commissioner. That change fundamentally strengthened the political strength of the commissioner’s job and should have the effect of taking some of the unavoidable politics out of the process.

I find the new secrecy in the College Board’s Mississippi State presidential search more than a little troubling. Are rank-and-file MSU folks being left out of the loop?

Meredith’s a fine man. I think he was the right man for the College Board job. But the process instituted for the Mississippi State search — which will likely be used at USM later — excludes the public to far too great a degree.

It’s as if the process is being made more secretive for the sole benefit of Meredith’s ability to control the search than for what’s actually in the best interests of MSU.

While I’m not ready to believe in conspiracy theories, there are more than a few MSU alums who are at this point. Meredith is adamant about maintaining secrecy.

Meredith authorized a press release over the weekend from the chairman of the MSU presidential search advisory committee lauding new “sunshine” into the process. But those “open” policies come too little, too late.

Allowing MSU stakeholder input into the process after the finalists have been selected is like finally getting to meet all the candidates for the Legislature after the second primary is completed.

What is does, at the core, is put the consultant in a position to dictate who makes the cut and who doesn’t. In this search, the same consultant who brought Meredith to the College Board was retained to lead the search for the MSU presidency.

Mississippi State alumni and friends deserved at least as much input into the hiring of the next president at State as did the Ole Miss alums when Chancellor Robert Khayat was hired. They deserve a president as closely identified with the institution as Khayat is at Ole Miss.

Prior loyalty to or professional association with Meredith should not be a prerequisite to lead State or any other institution.

Public policy made behind closed doors is almost universally bad policy. The taxpayers and the tuition payers of this state deserve more input and more access to the presidential search process.

A strong commissioner is a good thing, but the College Board must give the alumni, faculty, staff and students more than dog-and-pony-show input.

Sid Salter of Forest is Perspective editor of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson. Contact him at (601) 961-7084 or e-mail ssalter@clarionledger.com.