ASU Appoints Committee To Find New President

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By Ashley Thompson

Story Created: Jan 24, 2013 at 10:11 PM CDT

Story Updated: Jan 25, 2013 at 12:48 AM CDT

Alabama State University is still without a President but today a 15-person search committee was appointed to find one.

Last December, the ASU Board of Trustees approved a deal that paid then-president Joseph Silver to leave. It was at that board meeting that Governor Bentley said HE would appoint a search committee to find a new president. But it was Chairman Elton Dean who found the committee. Governor Bentley says it was because certain rules prohibited him from doing it himself.

"The by-laws say that the chairman choose ad hoc committees," says Bentley. "So I wanted to go by what the rules and regulations are."

There are seven old members and eight new ones on the search committee. Chairman Dean tells us they were selected because he feels they represent the university well and says the board is trying to be more inclusive.

00:20:47:23 Never before have the students, faculty, non-faculty staff sitting around a board meeting. We've got non-voters around the table. They have input.

But with ASU's recent controversy, it's not surprising that some students on campus lack trust in the board's decisions.

"I basically believe if they try to find another president, the president is going to feed into what they want," says student Clarence Covington. "And Silver was basically trying to help us out and I don't think they're going to find anybody else like that."

And others wondered if potential candidates would find ASU's troubled past too big a task to take on.

"It's just too much," says another student, Mark Myles. "It's just too bad for anybody to want to come and invest their time and invest their life into this project, because it's going to be a project at ASU."

But Governor Bentley says some candidates may want to take on that project.

"They will understand the past history and the problems," he says. "They'll be very familiar with it. But you know, that may be a challenge to a good leader."

Governor Bentley told us there is no time-frame to find a new president. He says he does not want the search rushed.

 

Chairman Dean's Appointments to ASU Presidential Search Committee

1. Judge Marvin Wiggins, Chairperson, Old Member

2. Dr. Sherron Herron-Williams, Old Member

3. Bea Fornis, NAA President, New Member

4. Kyle Burney, SGA President, New Member

5. LaBarron Boone, Esq., Old Member

6. Larry Puckett, Local Businessman, New Member

7. Dr. Tonea Stewart, Dean, Old Member

8. Dr. Janice Franklin, Dean, Old Member

9. Alfreda Green, Board Member, New Member

10. Buford Crutcher, Board Member, Old Member

11. Dr. Parichart Thornton, Professor/Faculty, New Member

12. Donald V. Watkins, Businessman, New Member

13. Georgette Varner, Non-Instructional Staff Council, New Member

14. Horace H. Horn Jr., Chairman, Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, New Member

15. Elton Dean, Chairman, ASU/BOT, Old Member

 
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