WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2004
CAMPUS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
15
Alumni board fires president
By Jay Senter
jsenter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Something happened at the University of Kansas Alumni Association's board meeting over commencement weekend that led to the firing of long-time president and chief executive officer Fred Williams.
But neither Williams nor the board are willing to disclose just what that something was.
After a board meeting May 22, Alumni Association chairwoman Linda Duston Warren informed Williams that he 'had been placed on administrative leave with pay, after which he was asked to leave the premises of the Adams Alumni Association building, east of the Kansas Union.
Williams contended that, at the time he had been given no reasons for the action.
Williams received a letter from the board that informed him that his employment with the association had been terminated May 28.
Williams' attorney, Roger Stanton, confirmed that the letter did give reasons for the board's actions, but he declined to comment on specifics.
Stanton contended that the reasons outlined by the board in the letter failed
to justify firing Williams, who had served as the president and CEO of the association since 1983.
Warren said only that the board's decision was a personnel matter and that she was not at liberty to discuss the details of the situation.
Stanton said his client intended to seek fulfillment of his contract with the Alumni Association.
"This is a contract that they saw fit to submit to Fred and have him sign — it is not one that he sought," Stanton said. "Based on that, we intend to see that the contract is honored, and we hope to do that by negotiation."
Warren declined to confirm or deny that Williams and his attorney had threatened or initiated legal action against the Alumni Association.
Stanton confirmed that Williams, whose salary was set annually by a compensation committee, was making about $175.000 a year.
Stanton said that William's salary was modest compared to the salaries of alumni association presidents at similar universities.
As such, he rejected the idea that the board's move to fire Williams was a cost-cutting maneuver.
The board introduced former KU Chancellor Del Shankel as the interim director on May 28.
Over the course of his 45-year association with the University, Shankel, a former professor in biology and microbiology, has served in interim roles as Chancellor on two occasions - in 1980 to 1981 and again from 1994 to 1995.
Warren said Shankel seemed a natural choice for the interim role.
"He has been fantastic in his support of the University," Warren said. "We felt that he would bring to the position the quality that we would like to have there, and help us through the transition."
Shankel splits his time between homes in Seattle and Lawrence, and will be flying between the two over the summer before returning to Lawrence for full-time duties at the Alumni Association in September.
The Alumni Association is in the process of assembling a search committee for a full-time president and CEO to take over for Shankel, and expects to release the names of the members of that committee in the next two weeks.
Warren said the committee would be conducting a national search to find new president and CEO, but did not have a timeline set for making the hire.
—Edited by Amanda O'Toole
STATE
Kansas Archaeology Program sponsors annual summer dig
LINDSBORG — It's hot, windy and the payoff comes from breaking open clumps of 750-year-old mud.
And the volunteers of the Kansas Archaeology Training Program field school love it.
The training program, sponsored by the Kansas State Historical Society and the Kansas Anthropological Association, sets up at a different site each summer.
This year, participants in southwest Lindsborg are looking for remains of mid-13th century earth lodges.
"You never know what's inside each chunk of mud, so you have to keep busting them open to see if you missed anything," said volunteer Bob Thompson, 75, of Atchison.
Thompson and more than two dozen others began work Saturday on the 16-day, come-and-go project.
Tod Bevitt, the dig's principal investigator, said sites in the Smoky Hills had been excavated before, but this year, volunteers were looking for the remains of cooking areas and tools.
More volunteers, working in a laboratory at Smoky Valley High School, work to clean, weigh and catalogue the items. The finds will be sent to Topeka for further research.
— The Associated Press