Gary Abramson, an AU alumnus, has been selected as the new board of trustees chair in the wake of former chair Leslie Bains' resignation on Oct. 9.
The board of trustees met for three hours Thursday afternoon to discuss naming a new board chair, as well as the issue of former President Benjamin Ladner's severance package, which could reportedly be as much as one million dollars or more.
Acting chair Thomas Gottschalk addressed student leaders after the meeting, and said that while there was not yet a resolution on Ladner's severance, the board now has a "clear direction in their negotiations" with the former president's lawyers, and among themselves.
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 said the board expected to reach a decision on severance on or before the next board meeting on Nov. 11.
"We owe it to the university to solve this," Gottschalk said.
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.
Members of Students for a New AU, a group formed by anti- Ladner student activists organized the event. Several members of the club sat outside the board of trustees meeting in the Butler boardroom, and others canvassed the Quad asking for signatures for a petition to fire Ladner "with cause," which would dramatically reduce the amount of his severance pay and would assure he could not return as a professor.
A petition containing the signatures of 300 AU community members was delivered to trustee Matthew Pittinsky this afternoon.
"We were on the Quad asking for signatures and we had asked Matthew Pittinsky to sign," said Megan Linehan of Members of Students for a New AU. "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.
"Ethics is about how to live," Cohen said. "That's what Aristotle told us and that is the kind of philosophy Ladner does."
Cohen stressed that if Ladner got 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.
Linehan also reminded students at the rally about Ladner's severance package.
"The current package is twice Ladner's salary per year," Linehan said. "He also would receive $50,000 to relocate."
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."
According to Linehan, the faculty is doing all they can with the situation. They are limited though, because they could get fired, Linehan said.
Members of Students for a New AU also sold t-shirts for $10 urging Ladner to be fired with cause. Sheets of paper with a list of board members and their e-mail addresses were also given to students at the rally.
