JACKSON, Miss.—Jackson State has asked the Mississippi attorney general to help it explore legal action against Grambling State and perhaps the Southwestern Athletic Conference to recover as much as $600,000 lost when Grambling’s football team refused to travel to Jackson State’s homecoming game.
Documents obtained through an open records request show that Jackson State has been pushing the Mississippi attorney general’s office for five months to pursue legal action, The Clarion-Ledger reported Sunday.
In a Nov. 5 email to Deputy Attorney General Onetta S. Whitley, Jackson State interim counsel Matthew Taylor wrote, “What JSU will likely need is guidance on the procedural process to have AG approval to pursue litigation against Grambling and the SWAC.” He also asked for a public statement of support from Hood’s office: “We need to have our JSU family ensured that the university is acting in good faith and with the full support of the AG’s office.”
The university’s persistence and the newspaper’s inquiries have led Attorney General Jim Hood to review the plea for help, the paper reported.
Grambling’s players boycotted the Jackson State game because of issues including Grambling’s run-down facilities, long bus trips to road games and personnel decisions.
Jackson State’s vice president of finance, Michael Thomas, said losing the homecoming game money has put the Mississippi school’s budget out of balance for the first time in years.
The Institutions of Higher Learning requires a balanced budget each year, and Jackson State has had one “for a few years now. For the first time in years, JSU is requesting from IHL an exception to this policy,” he said.
