Alabama’s State Board of Education has appointed a state senator, and longtime Republican politician, to be the chancellor of the state’s troubled system of two-year colleges, according to the Press-Register, a newspaper in Mobile, Ala.
The new chancellor, Bradley Byrne, will give up his seat in the Senate. He will be the fourth person to lead the system since July, when Roy W. Johnson was fired as chancellor amid allegations of nepotism and corruption. The most recent interim chancellor, Renee D. Culverhouse, resigned on Tuesday, citing health problems.
The two-year system is the subject of state and federal investigations, and some critics have said its problems stem in part from cozy relationships between its top officials and state legislators. At least one state leader, the head of the Alabama teachers’ union, said Mr. Byrne should not have been appointed as permanent chancellor without a larger search. —Elyse Ashburn
