It seems the trustees of Alabama State University would rather fight than quit. Given an opportunity to settle its differences with the university’s departing president, and to settle a total of four lawsuits, the Board of Trustees voted, 7 to 0, with one abstention, on Monday to reject a broad agreement that was the product of weeks of negotiations, The Montgomery Advertiser reported today.

The deal would have allowed the departing president, Joe A. Lee, to collect the severance payment to which he was entitled. It also would have restored the name of one trustee, Joe L. Reed, to the university’s basketball arena, from which it was unceremoniously stripped in May. And it would have ensured Mr. Reed’s retirement from the board.

It was unclear what had led the trustees to turn down the agreement, and in particular why the board chairman, Elton Dean, first signed off on the deal, then voted against it.

Instead, the board voted to settle Mr. Lee’s lawsuit separately, although no one could say what form that settlement would take. The other lawsuits, some of which pit current trustees against each other, will now go forward.

“We had hoped to get all of this accomplished without airing a bunch of dirty laundry,” one lawyer involved in the overlapping litigation told the newspaper. “I guess not.” —Andrew Mytelka