The chancellor of Alabama’s system of two-year colleges, Roy W. Johnson, has told employees that they may no longer serve as voting members of the boards of private foundations connected to the colleges.
The action came in response to the case of State Rep. Bryant Melton, a former employee of Shelton State Community College, who has been charged with funneling $85,000 in legislative grants to the Alabama Fire College Foundation and using most of the money to pay gambling debts, according to the Associated Press. Mr. Melton has agreed to plead guilty.
“Every step possible to ensure that foundation funds and business are completely separate from college business must be taken,” Mr. Johnson wrote to the system’s presidents, according to the AP report. Presidents or their designees may remain on foundation boards as advisory, nonvoting members.
The foundations control millions of dollars, have hefty investments, and own property, including the homes of some college presidents, the AP reported.
Mr. Johnson’s announcement came at a time when people have raised questions about the ethics of his family members who are employed by the system. Mr. Johnson, his wife, his children, and their spouses earned more than $560,000 last year from jobs in the system (The Chronicle, May 22 and June 14).
