Change in ASU leadership should bring full review
As an alumnus and supporter of Arkansas State University, it pains me greatly to see the negative publicity resulting from the forced resignation of ASU-Jonesboro Chancellor Tim Hudson and the various events that led to it.
Nevertheless, some suggestions that the news media, most particularly The Jonesboro Sun, had besmirched the university for their own gain are, on their face, absurd, and, more importantly short-sighted. Such stories seldom boost sales significantly.
Every institution of importance benefits from the watchful eyes of those who care about it, those who are invested in it. That occasionally spotlights the bad things that occur but in the long term makes the institution stronger.
Should the only local news organization covering ASU thoroughly should instead “cover up” ethical and legal violations by its chief administrative officer? Absolutely not! How could you expect other university employees in positions of responsibility to follow the rules of law and ethical standards if the person at the top does not?
You don’t want that, and neither do I. That’s why a watchful press is critical to this democracy we live it. The people must be informed about all their government does and how well it’s done. Over time, the process works, as it did this time.
This wasn’t something that just happened last week. I first began receiving tips of ethical and procedural problems in the chancellor’s office almost two years ago, and I saw some examples personally both in the college restructuring and the convention center controversy.
(I should tell you here that during most of the events involved in the latter issue, I was serving the City of Jonesboro as interim director of communications. Therefore, I cannot address that issue fully, but the city documented various developments, and most of that has been reported.)
My concern with the college restructuring, which reduced ASU’s colleges from nine to six, was that it came “top down” — from the administration — and most of the feedback from faculty, staff and alumni was ignored. My special interest is in the journalism program, long the finest and most successful in the state but already de-emphasized in a College of Communications “reorganization.” I feared it would be lost in the 3-college monster that was to be created, and that’s what has happened.
A year later, what I call the College of Miscellaneous Studies still has no official name. As the fall term nears, the original nine colleges are still listed on the ASU Web site. That restructuring plan would best be sent back to the drawing board.
That said, Hudson’s demise did not happen because of what the press reported but rather because of his actions, which were, to put it mildly, disappointing.
Those actions eventually caused ASU President Chuck Welch to call for an internal audit and then another one. The Sun simply reported on the results of those audits as the documentation became available.
Not to do so would have been dereliction of duty. Despite the industry’s financial difficulties, the local newspaper is still the only news organization willing and able to report such a story thoroughly. Reading and reviewing a 600-page audit report is hard work and takes time.
Hudson received a 3-year contract in March 2012 with a base compensation package of $275,000, 25 percent of it from private funds. Fringe benefits included the spacious chancellor’s house, a vehicle and cell phone.
As former ASU journalism professor Jack Zibluk, a member of the chancellor search committee in 2012, pointed out in a letter to the editor published Sunday, Hudson’s application came late in the process but zoomed to the top. Of 12 applicants, he was one of three finalists given a public interview. I sat in on all three and wrote a column afterward saying there was little doubt who would be hired.
My first impressions were that he was personable, dedicated and intelligent — a good fit for the job. That he would eventually lose the job for trying to use the position to further enrich himself and his family is astounding. In February the Board of Trustees extended his contract through 2019 and increased the compensation package to $360,000. That’s a 31 percent increase over four years — awfully good considering the state of higher education finance today.
Hudson had come here with a red flag on his resume. In 2010, while president of the University of Houston-Victoria, he was reassigned, according to the Victoria Advocate. The reasons weren’t announced publicly, but the newspaper obtained hundreds of e-mails and letters that revealed a conflict between Hudson and the university system’s chief administrator.
Basically, Hudson went beyond his authority, at least in the eyes of his boss. He soon chose to leave Houston.
That certainly didn’t disqualify him from the ASU position, but it may be why Henderson State University, searching for a replacement for Welch in 2011, passed up on Hudson and others, reopening its presidential search process. Eventually, Glen Jones was hired from an ASU administrative position.
As to what should happen next, Welch has a good plan. He immediately named Dr. Lynita Cooksey, vice chancellor for academic affairs and research, as acting chancellor but is apparently looking for an interim chancellor to lead the campus until a search for a permanent replacement.
Some have suggested that Welch should take over the Jonesboro role. Many alumni haven’t accepted the need to have a president based somewhere other than Jonesboro, but it’s a university system now, big and complex enough that the board long ago decided to separate the positions. It would be a foolish course to turn back the clock.
To reinforce that opinion, I turned to Dr. Robert Potts, who set a high standard for both positions but is now happily retired in Alabama. Before stepping down, he advised the trustees to locate the president’s office in Little Rock and sees much potential conflict with having the top two administrators on the same campus.
I tried unsuccessfully to talk him into coming out of retirement. Needless to say, though, he’s always available for consulting and maintains a strong interest in ASU.
Beyond finding a replacement, Welch and the board should perhaps conduct other audits, for certain in regard to the Mexico campus project, and should reconsider the convention center deal and college restructuring. A change in leadership, for whatever reason, should involve a full status review.
Roy Ockert, a resident of Jonesboro, is a retired editor of The Jonesboro Sun.