Following the removal of Benjamin Ladner as AU's president, students, faculty and administrators have been wrapped up in news reports and student protests, but AU isn't the only school that's faced a change in leadership after a presidential scandal in recent years.
Scandals have affected schools large and small, from the 52,000-student University of Colorado system, to the 3,500-student Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania. These scandals have ranged from controversies over professors to sexual abuse years ago to presidential spending. Some leaders chose to resign while others chose retirement.
In 2002, Mark Perkins, the president of Towson University in Towson, Md., at the time, resigned after being accused of exorbitant spending. Perkins began his presidency with a lavish $56,000 inauguration party, according to an Asssociated Press report. Perkins had the university buy him an $850,000 mansion and he went on to make over $800,000 in renovations to the house, which ran $360,000 over budget. These renovations included a $79,000 elevator and a $25,000 multimedia system, all paid for by the university, according to an article in the Chronicle for Higher Education.
University System of Maryland Regents - similar to university trustees - told Perkins he'd be fired if he didn't step down. Published reports said university officials believed the mansion was necessary for hosting university-related events.
Towson students did not protest loudly for or against Perkins, according to Carole Dunsworth, Towson's director of university relations.
Perkins was president for under a year and enrollment was not affected, Dunsworth said.
University of Colorado System President Elizabeth Hoffman resigned after two major scandals, one regarding Colorado football recruitment policies allegedly involving rape and another surrounding an uprising against Colorado professor Ward Churchill. Churchill compared "technocrats," those working in the World Trade center on Sept. 11 to Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who promoted the use of gas chambers for the mass extermination of Jews and oversaw the maltreatment, deportation and murder of millions of Jews in World War II.
Hoffman eventually resigned after pressure from the Colorado legislature. Hoffman resigned because she said she wanted the school to move forward, according to Michele McKinley, communication director for the University of Colorado and a graduate of AU.
There was no protesting against Hoffman, according to Trevor Martin, director of public relations for the University of Colorado Student Union.
"The students liked Hoffman or were indifferent ... She did wonders for this school in terms of fundraising when there wasn't any money coming in from the state government," he said.
McKinley said these scandals haven't played a role in admissions, citing a two-year study conducted by the university, although Martin said admissions are low this year, compared to 2001 when admissions were at a peak.
"We've received lots of misdirected and misinformed media bias from these scandals," Martin said. "Also, everyone thinks UC is a party school because of all the debauchery, so yes, it has affected our school. ... Decreased admissions combined with state funds drying up for our university has contributed to a low morale for students who are used to having one of the top 50 schools in the nation in 2002," Martin said.
Former President William Garvey of Mercyhurst College, located in Erie, Pa., retired in late 2004 after allegations were published in The Erie Times-News that he had sexually assaulted young boys 30 years prior to his presidency, while coaching youth basketball in Erie.
Garvey, who increased enrollment at the school by 3,000 students during his tenure, denies the allegations, but said he retired for health reasons and also so the university could move on.
This scandal did not affect Mercyhurst at all, according to Bill Welch, director of college relations. He said admissions for the freshman class only went down 10 students from 715 to 705, and many students were not affected by the scandal.
"The students respected all that the president had done for the college but felt the allegations were real serious and the best thing for him to do was resign," Welch said. "Some were worried about what was on tomorrow's test, not what the president did 20 or 30 years ago."
Peter Bedard, a freshman in the School of International Service, said he thinks AU's student morale won't follow the same path as UC's.
"Ladner is gone now, so I think we'll all try to move on from this," Bedard said.
The Ladner debacle is slowly winding downAfter a months-long investigation into the former president's spending, trustees announced Oct. 10 that Ladner would not return to AU as president. The board authorized the university to report additional taxable income in the amount of $398,000 and to seek reimbursement from Ladner for certain personal expenses in the amount of $134,000, The Eagle previously reported.
Justin Broubalow, a freshman in SIS, said he thinks the future of AU will not be damaged because of the scandal.
"American already faces a lot of competition from area schools like George Washington and Georgetown, so AU might find it a little more difficult to draw prospective students," he said. "However, I don't think American's academic image will be tarnished."
Some students who applied to AU said they did not take its president into account.
"When I applied, I looked at the school, and not at who the president was," said Kyle Coppin, a freshman in SIS and a member of the AU ambassador program. "Admission applications have been going up a lot this year, even from last year."
Bedard feels admissions will probably stay the same. "I don't know though - maybe the publicity will increase our name recognition," he said.
