LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas board of trustees has discussed appointing the UA Fayetteville chancellor to serve temporarily as head of the system’s flagship university and president of the UA system, trustees confirmed Thursday.
The move - which could happen when UA System President B. Alan Sugg retires - would represent a major organizational change involving two of the most powerful and prestigious positions in Arkansas higher education.
The idea has sparked rumblings across the state over the potential shake-up of the central Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas power structure. Now the system is run by an independent president in Little Rock.
Chairman John Ed Anthony said Thursday that during an executive session April 16 the board talked about the idea of UA-Fayetteville Chancellor G.
David Gearhart serving in the dual roles.
Trustee Mike Akin said Thursday such a move could be only temporary because the two positions’ job responsibilities are too significant to merge permanently.
In theory, the blending of jobs would allow Gearhart - who has been UA chancellor for less than two years - to fulfill his commitment to the university while shifting into the president’s post at the same time, Akin said.
Every trustee interviewed Thursday said nothing has been set. Instead, the board is just starting to debate how best to pick Sugg’s eventual successor. The board could instead opt to launch a national search.
“Any reasonable person who is knowledgeable of the university would consider that this would be one of the things that would be discussed,” Anthony said. “A great deal of that would depend on the chancellor himself. He would have to show an interest in [the job] for that to be a viable option.”
Gearhart wouldn’t discuss on Thursday his interest in the president’s job or whether he would agree to serve in the two roles simultaneously.
But he did confirm multiple trustees had asked him privately whether he wanted the job when Sugg retires.
“My answer has been that I want to serve the university and the state and the people of Arkansas to my best capacity,” he said. “Right now, that’s as heading up this campus. Replacing Alan Sugg is going to be a tough thing. I think it’s just natural board members would be asking questions. I would guess I’m not the only person they’re talking to.”
The UA System president oversees nearly 20 universities, community colleges, institutes and schools spread across the state. They include the Fayetteville campus, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the state’s only medical school.
The head of each unit within the system answers directly to the president. His recommendations, including matters related to hiring and firing personnel, carry great sway with the board of trustees.
The job is also high-paying.
Sugg makes $289,170 annually, according to the system office. Gearhart’s salary of $282,540 isn’t far behind.
Sugg turned 72 on Thursday. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007. Since then, he has said it is in remission. Sugg is completing his 20th year as president of the UA system.
His contract runs through June 30, 2011.
Sugg said Thursday he will fulfill his contract.
After that, he made no promises.
“I’m just taking it one year at a time,” he said. “I’ll be talking about it with the board over the next year.”
Sugg said he’s staying out of the debate over his eventual successor. All he would say is that he doesn’t think anyone could do both jobs at the same time in the long-term.
The debate has raised concern from some powerful interests in central Arkansas.
A former member of the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board said Thursday that allowing Gearhart to serve as both chancellor and system president is “a terrible idea.”
The trustees instead should go forward with a national search and consider Gearhart for the job as part of that, said the former official who spoke only on the condition he not be named.
The former board member, who has been privy to the trustees’ discussion, is worried a move to combine the two jobs temporarily would ultimately become permanent.
The source said it would:
Create a conflict of interest preventing Gearhart from administering the system in an equitable way.
Force the relocation of the system office to Northwest Arkansas - away from the seat of state government in Little Rock.
Alienate the chancellors of the other system institutions, particularly the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
UALR and the University of Arkansas have squabbled over their roles in the state, off and on, since it joined the system in 1969.
The two schools opposed each other over UALR opening a law school in the 1970s. They disagreed when UALR began offering doctoral education courses in the 1980s. Then, in the late 1990s, former UAFayetteville Chancellor John A. White bristled when UALR opened a competing high-technology college.
The former higher education board member said blending the jobs would ignite tensions similar to the bickering that developed when trustees fought about 10 years ago over where to play Razorback football games - Little Rock or Fayetteville .
“This would be the worst thing to ever happen to higher education in Arkansas,” the source said.
UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson would only say Thursday that he had faith the trustees would make a wise decision.
“The prospect of Dr. Sugg retiring is not anything I’m enthusiastic about, nor, do I suspect, are any of the other chancellors within the system,” he said. “If an interim arrangement of any kind is necessary, I’m sure the trustees would make a good decision on that.”
John Rupe, vice chairman of UA-Fayetteville’s faculty senate, said Thursday the additional workload would challenge Gearhart’s ability to guide the Fayetteville campus if the trustees merge the two positions.
But he also said Gearhart’s new role would give the state’s flagship campus a more prominent place in the university system.
“It seems like his plate’s pretty full right now,” Rupe said. “But he’s a pretty effective guy; he might be able to do it.”
It’s crucial that Gearhart is allowed to focus on his goals for the Fayetteville campus, including increased enrollment, higher faculty salaries and a lower student-to-faculty ratio, he said.
“On the other hand, maybe our campus would fare better if he was over the whole system,” Rupe said. “There could be benefits either way, but there could be problems either way, too.”
Akin, the trustee, said he’d never support closing the system office in central Arkansas.
Sugg had the current president’s house built in 1996 on a complex that includes the system’s administrative offices.
Akin also said the trustees would never agree to blending the two jobs permanently.
“Both are full-time jobs. It would be very difficult for one individual to be chancellor of the UA and the president of the UA System,” he said. “To say one person could do an interim role for a short period of time with a lot of support from the vice chancellors and the system staff, that might be possible. For a short period of time.”
Trustees Jane Rogers, Sam Hilburn and David Pryor said little when reached for comment Thursday.
The other trustees either didn’t return calls or couldn’t be reached on Thursday.
“We’re always looking into the future. I’ll leave it at that,” Pryor said.
The board has never publicly discussed how to replace Sugg when he retires.
Anthony said his reading of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act allows the board of trustees to discuss how it may handle the search for Sugg’s replacement in executive session.
But there is no provision in the law that explicitly says public bodies may meet privately to discuss organizational or structural changes like this.
Instead, Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-106 (c)(1) reads “Executive session will be permitted only for the purpose of considering employment, appointment, promotion, demotion, disciplining, or resignation of any public officer or employee.”
The board of trustees is next scheduled to meet on May 21 at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
Information for this article was contributed by Evie Blad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 04/30/2010