The AU board of trustees reached an agreement late in the week which would give former President Benjamin Ladner the choice to accept a severance package worth between $3 million and $4 million, or be fired "for cause" and jeopardize the severance offer, a source close to the board told The Washington Post.
The AU board of trustees met Thursday afternoon and unanimously elected Gary Abramson, an AU alumnus, as new board chair, but failed to settle the issue of Ladner's severance package. Tom Gottschalk had been serving as acting chair, following former chair Leslie Bains's resignation on Oct. 9.
A three-trustee team was selected soon after the board meeting on Oct. 10 to negotiate with Ladner's legal representatives, Gottschalk said. At that meeting, the board announced Ladner would not return as AU's president after a months long investigation into his finances, but that the issue of severance had not yet been reached.
Gottschalk addressed administrators and student leaders after the meeting Thursday and said while they had no resolution on Ladner's severance at that time, the board had a "clear direction in their negotiations" with the former president's lawyers and among themselves.
"We owe it to the university to solve this," Gottschalk said.
The board vowed to agree on a severance package by the Nov. 11 board meeting, Gottschalk said, but Ladner is expected to accept or decline Friday's offer by early this week, according to the Post.
While the board of trustees met inside Mary Graydon Center, students, faculty and staff gathered on the quad to protest Ladner's severance package, as well as his possible return to the university as a tenured professor, a stipulation in his employment contract.
Megan Linehan of Students for a New AU, a group formed by anti-Ladner student activists, organized the rally on Thursday. Linehan said the latest offer was excessive and far exceeds previous estimates.
"It's offensive ... a slapped-in-the-face feeling," Linehan said Sunday afternoon.
Leonard Jaskol, who led the board's Audit Committee through the months-long investigation into Ladner's expense accounts, resigned effective Friday because he said "his conscience would not allow him to vote for any money to be paid to Ladner," according to the Post.
On Thursday, members of Students for a New AU canvassed the Quad asking for signatures for a petition to fire Ladner "with cause." The petition containing the signatures of 300 AU community members was delivered to trustee Matthew Pittinsky on Thursday.
"We were on the Quad asking for signatures and we had asked Matthew Pittinsky to sign," Linehan said. "He admitted he was a trustee and we had a good conversation with him ... later we asked him to bring the petition to the board meeting."
Chris Sgro, a senior in the School of Public Affairs, expressed the growing concern that AU needs more student representatives on the board of trustees before a group of about 30 people
Rev. Mark Schaefer, United Methodist Chaplain at AU, also spoke at the rally.
"As you know, AU is a church-affiliated school and we have a higher obligation to obtain a rigorous standard of ethics," Schaefer said. "What we do as an institution reflects our values and ethics, we must retain them and live them out."
Alexander Cohen, an AU alum from the class of 2000, expressed his support for Ladner.
"I don't know what makes a good university president," Cohen said. "I do know what makes a good philosophy professor."
Cohen said that Ladner's release doesn't change the fact that he is a good professor. He called Ladner "one of the sharpest people I have ever met" and said that Ladner is the reason he is studying for a doctorate in philosophy.
Cohen stressed that if Ladner gets too much money, it is the board of trustees' fault. He called the board's decision to pass judgment on Ladner "obscene."
"Every employee, whether a janitor or a president, has a right to negotiate with his employer for as much money as that employer is willing to pay," Cohen said.
Cohen said that he would not take issue with a protest to push for students on the board of trustees, but resents the students' claims that Ladner is a crook. He also suggested that AU should file a derivative suit against the board of trustees if it wants to get back the money the board gave to Ladner.
Andrew Gardner, a freshman in the School of Communication and the Class of 2009 president shared his views on Ladner's severance package.
"Ben Ladner has been removed from his job for stealing from the school," Gardner said. "This proposed package is another way for him to steal from us."
Peter Brusoe, a doctorate student and a member of the Graduate Leadership Council thinks that the severance package should be as low as possible.
"Giving him zero money isn't realistic, but it shouldn't be a golden parachute, and we can't afford a golden parachute," Brusoe said. "I also feel like most of the magnificent things done during the Ladner administration are due more to the work of Neil Kerwin."
- Eagle Staff Writers John Riley and Ryan Grannan-Doll and Eagle Contributing Writer Josh Goodman contributed to this article.
