Old Dominion U. Cuts Ties to Powerful Lawmaker It Had Hired

Old Dominion University has rescinded a $40,000-a-year contract with a Virginia lawmaker after e-mail messages obtained by a local newspaper, The Virginian-Pilot, showed that the influential legislator expected the university to hire him to run a new teacher-training center for which he had sponsored startup funds in the state legislature. The lawmaker, Del. Phillip Hamilton, a Republican, had denied any quid pro quo, and the university had said he was hired because of his background in education.