CONWAY -- The University of Central Arkansas board of trustees named a Georgia educator, Houston Davis, as the school's 11th president Wednesday evening without any discussion and several hours after taking what the board chairman described as a "straw vote" during a meeting that was closed to the public.
Davis, 43, has been interim president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia since June. The public research university has 34,900 students with four campuses, including one in Italy.
Davis, who holds a doctoral degree, was executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at the University System of Georgia in Atlanta from May 2012 through May of this year. Among his previous positions was vice chancellor for academic affairs from July 2007 through April 2012 at the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education in Oklahoma City.
No public vote on Davis was taken immediately after the board's executive session ended earlier Wednesday and before trustees left the meeting place, which was a room at the president's official residence rather than at a campus administrative building where most meetings are held. Board Chairman Shelia Vaught said trustees sent a proposed contract to all four finalists for the position.
When asked how the board knew which of the four to have show up at Wednesday night's open board meeting when the public vote was finally taken, she said the trustees had taken a "straw ballot" earlier in the day.
A straw vote is an unofficial vote taken to get an idea of how people view an issue. The Arkansas attorney general's office has said that public bodies should not poll members, and an Arkansas statute requires decisions reached in executive sessions to be voted on publicly.
Because the straw vote was during a closed executive session, there is no way to know how each trustee voted then. The public vote taken Wednesday evening was unanimous.
According to UCA spokesman Christina Madsen and UCA's general counsel, Warren Readnour, the trustees went into executive session Wednesday morning to discuss four candidates for president. The board later emerged from executive session and said it would meet Wednesday night.
Under Arkansas statute 25-19-106, open public meetings, the law states in part "(4) No resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation, or motion considered or arrived at in executive session will be legal unless, following the executive session, the public body reconvenes in public session and presents and votes on the resolution, ordinance, rule, contract, regulation, or motion."
According to Madsen and Readnour, the board said in open session that it would meet later. The board did not disclose then whether it had reached consensus on a candidate, and the university or board would not say when trustees arrived at their decision.
Davis will succeed Tom Courtway, who is stepping down from the presidency, a position he held twice on an interim basis and was officially named to once.
Davis' starting date has not been decided, Madsen said.
Welcomed with a standing ovation, Davis spoke briefly to the audience at Wingo Hall, UCA's administrative building.
"We are so appreciative of the trust that you are showing," Davis said. "We are naturally attracted to all you have to offer."
Referring to UCA, he said, "Everyone loves what we have but is not satisfied by it. ... We're all going to roll up our sleeves" and put on "our thinking caps."
Davis praised Courtway, who took over the presidency during times when UCA was trying to recover from fiscal and morale problems.
"I look forward to being able to continue the great work that you've done," Davis said.
"I'll leave you with a 'Go, Bears!'" he said.
Courtway succeeded two presidents who resigned under pressure -- Lu Hardin and Allen Meadors. Both were later convicted of crimes: Hardin, a felony; Meadors, a misdemeanor. Neither man was incarcerated.
UCA is the fifth-largest public university in Arkansas. The enrollment is 11,487, down 2.3 percent from the previous fall.
Readnour has said that state law would allow UCA to pay the next president up to $307,330 in the current fiscal year and $343,750 in the next fiscal year. Those figures do not include other benefits the school or the foundation could provide such as housing and automobile allowances.
A Section on 11/03/2016