Some administrators in Alabama’s system of two-year colleges said on Wednesday that they didn’t appreciate being called cockroaches by a top state ethics official. According to The Birmingham News, Jim Sumner, director of the Alabama Ethics Commission, said recently that an avalanche of alleged wrongdoing in the system was like “pulling the linoleum back” in the course of remodeling a house “and all these roaches crawling out.”

The system has been beset with allegations that include a bond-issuing arrangement, a house deal, family cronyism, and illegal lobbying. The system’s problems prompted the ouster last month of its chancellor, Roy W. Johnson (The Chronicle, July 13).

One two-year-college official said Mr. Sumner’s comment was “ill-timed and a gross generalization.” Another said the remark was “a very broad-brush statement which reflected negatively on many of us.” Mr. Sumner responded that he was talking only about the accused administrators, not the colleges themselves.