UCA to investigate Hardin controversy

Summers on a college campus are typically slow in terms of faculty meetings and administrative discussions, but this was no typical summer for the University of Central Arkansas.

During a UCA Faculty Senate meeting Thursday, Dr. Kurt Boniecki, senate president, provided a timeline of the recent events, including a $300,000 bonus privately awarded to UCA President Lu Hardin and a controversial memo written by Hardin, but attributed to three university vice presidents.

After reviewing the timeline, Boniecki appointed a six-person Faculty Affairs Committee, chaired by senator Ed Powers, to gather suggestions and then decide upon appropriate action by the Sept. 9 meeting.

Hardin was not present at the meeting because he is still recovering from surgery to treat a tumor behind his right eye, Boniecki said. However, he will address the group at its next regular meeting.

With the current atmosphere of the university and the "sense of outrage" Boniecki said is felt by some of the faculty, several allegations arose during the meeting.

John Parrack, an associate professor of Spanish and faculty senator, said his colleagues within the College of Liberal Arts have informed him of a "pattern of allegations of interference by the president's office."

One of these allegations included the changing of student grades, particularly for students close to the administration.

"These allegations were all regarding changing a withdrawn failing grade to a withdrawn grade as a courtesy to students," Parrack said in an interview after the meeting. "And there are three issues with it that interferes in the independence of the academic side of the institution, it's a violation of the student handbook and it's inequitable that some students have that access."

A student whose grade is recorded only as "withdrawn" will receive no change to his grade point average from the course; however, the "withdrawn failing" grade will negatively affect a student's GPA.

Parrack said he has heard these allegations for about four years, but given the events of the summer and the emotion of the faculty, he said people have felt the need to "relieve themselves of their angst or complaints they've been hearing."

Another allegation Parrack presented to the senate Thursday was encouragement to fill teaching positions with people directly connected to Hardin without a review of their credentials.

"I've been told that if the president is aware of someone he feels would be able to teach one or more courses, he has sought to offer those individuals positions without submission of applications," Parrack said.

Lori Isom, a chemistry professor and faculty senator, also reported allegations described to her by employees of the university.

"I've actually had people come to my office privately with concerns about scholarship assignments and preferential housing beyond what has been in the papers," Isom said to the senators.

Isom also reported a general sense of discontent among her peers in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics for Hardin and his handling of the recent events.

"I've heard words like 'reprehensible' and 'detesting' and there have just been very strong emotions," Isom said.

Powers said the same holds true for his colleagues in the College of Liberal Arts, saying there has been a feeling of contempt for the president's activities in May and over the summer.

"I'd like to say many of the faculty in my college have contacted me and there's just a great deal of disgust over the issue with the president," Powers said. "For the record, I'd like to note that this is unacceptable."

Powers went on to say although he has not heard from every faculty member within his college, he has heard no support for the president so far. He added he will continue to gather input from them.

Powers' plans for the committee

The charge Boniecki gave to Powers and the rest of the newly appointed Faculty Affairs Committee was to review and deliberate the facts considering Hardin's bonus and, if they feel action is necessary, recommend it to the senate. He added time is of the essence when it comes to this particular decision.

"I think this is an important issue that frankly is distracting this entire university," Boniecki said. "So I'm going to request that whatever the subcommittee decides, all recommendations or resolutions, if any, come before the senate at our next meeting on Sept. 9."

Heeding the advice of Boniecki on the timely matter, Powers said the group will meet in what he said will be a closed session Thursday.

Powers said some of his colleagues have said change in the university's administration could be the answer and added "much of the action suggests there might be corruption in the system."

"They've also suggested a change in the way the state of Arkansas manages the university, even tweaking how the Board of Trustees is selected," Powers said.

A vote of confidence and a request for Hardin's resignation are two of the options Powers said the committee could suggest to the senate.

Although Boniecki only gave the committee less than three weeks to make a decision, Powers said he feels confident they can quickly arrive at an answer.

Powers also said the role of chairing the committee was not sprung on him, as Boniecki had given him notice of the decision prior to the meeting. He added he is comfortable with the position, as the decision is one that needs to be made soon.

The members of this committee include Powers, Clint Johnson of the College of Business Administration, Cheryl Wiedmaier of the College of Education, Robert Holden of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, Dee Lance of the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences and Rahul Mehta of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

The controversial memo

During Thursday's senate meeting, Boniecki also reviewed a set of three separate interviews conducted by the Faculty Senate's executive committee with vice presidents Barbara Anderson, Jack Gillean and Paul McLendon. The names of these administrators were included on the memo written by Hardin March 25 and distributed to the trustees during a May 2 executive session.

The three administrators have since denied writing or reviewing the information in the memo and none agree with every statement included.

After the meeting, Powers said if a student or faculty member were accused of attributing their work to someone else, they would "most likely be in a lot of trouble." He added if a department chair were in the same situation, he would probably be dismissed from his position.

Boniecki said he felt interviewing the three vice presidents involved was a good idea because it would give them a chance to speak directly to the faculty.

"We wanted to get their viewpoints, their words on this," Boniecki said. "And we ran these statements by each and every one of these vice presidents and they did have edits and we made changes, so this, I think, is a reference of their accurate statements."

In the closing comments of the interview, Anderson said she would have advised the president to format the document differently if given a chance, but added Hardin "works at warp speed," so she considers the document to be a legitimate error and not a deliberate decision.

However, Gillean and McLendon both said the fact that their names were included on a memo they knew nothing about was inappropriate and unacceptable.

The distributed memo listed talking points and suggestions to encourage Hardin to stay with the university. These suggestions included the acceleration of a $300,000 bonus not due to Hardin until 2010 and a $150,000-per-year deferred-compensation package. The board approved the acceleration during the May executive session, but has not yet voted on the deferred compensation. Hardin has since returned the money, stating it will not be repaid until private funds are available and staff and faculty receive raises.

(Staff writer Jessica Bauer can be reached by e-mail at jessica.bauer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)