ASU President Discusses Vision, Expectations and Critics of University

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Alabama State University’s new president Quinton Ross is addressing some of the university’s critics. His comments came as he outlined his vision and expectations to students at ASU’s fall convocation Thursday.

Ross has previously sat down with Alabama News Network for a one-on-one TV interview. Thursday, was the chance for students to hear directly from him. While he outlined many positives at ASU he also says there are students and even some media outlets fueling more problems than solutions.

Last week, students were vocal at a about financial aid issues, saying they didn’t get their federal refunds and complaining that ASU did not have employees in the financial aid dept. a handful, protested briefly outside of the University’s dining hall across from the Student Union where the financial aid office is housed.

Ross said while the issues have not yet been fully resolved, students will not be dropped from their classes, and they’re getting $500 textbook vouchers until their federal refunds are processed.

Ross also talked about another issue — after ASU had its “general tuition and fee revenue bonds” downgraded  from Ba1 to ba2, one notch above the lowest rating of Ba3 with a “negative outlook” according to  Moody’s Investors Service..

Ross criticized some media reports of the credit decline saying “We had a headline about a down grade but something struck me, surely we are not the only institution”.

Ross concluded, highlighting some of the university’s accomplishments during his short time in office, like a recent partnership with Maxwell Air Force Base. “We are the first HBCU to go into a partnership with the VA  acquisition where our students will have the opportunity to learn and be given first priority to get a federal job” he said  promising to push for other initiatives at ASU.

A letter from the president’s office announcing the credit decline was posted the the university’s Facebook page Wednesday. It states the report included one encouraging statement; ASU paid back roughly 65 percent of its outstanding debt.