JACKSON Miss. — The state College Board has approved 42 courses for Jackson State University’s planned campus in Madison.
After approved the move Thursday, board officials say that’s only the beginning of the classes that JSU will offer in Jackson’s northern suburb. The list included nine business courses, four education courses and six gerontology courses.
“I don’t know if that’s the complete program offering that needs to go there,” Higher Education Commissioner Hank Bounds said Friday. “I think it’s the right start.”
Bounds said he expected JSU would soon begin offering colleges at the Holmes Community College campus in Ridgeland, as well as on the campuses of Hinds Community College. He says such courses will help the university reach students who can’t attend school at the central Jackson campus.
“We have a lot of adult learners that attend community college in this state that are place-bound,” Bounds said.
JSU’s plans to open a campus in Madison have been disputed by Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, who says JSU will improperly compete with a branch of private Tulane University.
However, in its justification to the board, JSU wrote there’s plenty of room for more expansion in Madison and noted that some Tulane courses offered there aren’t accepted for degrees on Tulane’s main campus in New Orleans.
