March 31, 2008

President of Alabama A&M U. Is Fired Over Assistant's Paid Leave

Alabama A&M University’s governing board voted today to fire the institution’s president, Robert R. Jennings, according to a news release from the Huntsville, Ala., university. The board had investigated Mr. Jennings over a job perk received by his former executive assistant, Marco McMillian. According to the board, Mr. Jennings had erred in hiring Mr. McMillian, who it said was underqualified, and had also improperly granted him a paid leave. The Huntsville Times reported that Mr. Jennings may have altered documentation concerning Mr. McMillian’s leave, an allegation that Mr. Jennings has denied. —Paul Fain

Comments

1. There is something else up with this story.
   ~~Alabama State alum

   — tlm    Apr 1, 11:35 AM    #

2. hmmmmmmmmmmm, who’s blue dress is this?????????????

   — grace    Apr 1, 11:52 AM    #

3. . . . And just think: THIS college president didn’t even comment on the intellectual limitations of women!

   — Phil Schwartz    Apr 1, 12:00 PM    #

4. It would appear that Marco is a man and hopefully he wasn’t wearing a blue dress to the office. Although anything can and does happen these days.

   — KB    Apr 1, 12:42 PM    #

5. May I refer you to a similar story in the bible, Genisis 18-19. The story is about a very sinful place. I do not know if they had anyone named Marco then. I do know that since they tried to “reproduce” and couldn’t, they tried to “recruit” and were certainly prevented from doing that too. So, someone gave them the rest of the “day” off

   — Ed    Apr 1, 03:29 PM    #

6. Marco came off like a bandit, huh? Little punk…he needs to be put on blast

   — jm    Apr 2, 10:05 AM    #

7. I think this entire episode is very unfortunate. You have a President who brings a school out of the red financially, tries to break down generational nepotism and cronyism and seeks to inspire future university development but the legacy of Alabama mis-education and racial oppression—which brings about ignorance—rears its head again. A&M has a history of administrative ignorance perpetuated by incompetent Boards of Trustees. For a good understanding of black colleges and the perpetuation of ignorance by antiquated schools like Alabama A&M please read Ann Jones’s book “Uncle Toms Campus”.

   — An Educated Negro    Apr 2, 11:42 AM    #

8. Dear “An Educated Negro” et. al. Your statement is essentially esoteric patios. It skirts the truth. Mr. Jennings is apparently a co-conspirator in what would appear to be an embezzlement. Embezzlement is is defined as a theft from a position of trust. Mr. Jennings gave his secretary, Marco, a leave of absence that he knew that Marco was not entitled to take. Mr. Jennings then paid Marco for the leave of absence using public funds. In California, a gift of public funds is not legal and is considered to be a crime. I wonder if they shared the money? You complained about Cronyism. Did Mr. Jennings hire Marco, even though Marco was underqualified and then, as the newpaper reported, changed the appearence of Marco’s level of qualifications, making him seem more qualified than he was? After apparently doing this, did Mr. Jennings then hired him? Did Mr. Jennings pass over other qualified candidates to hire Marco? What do you call that? I still have not come up to the level of education, as you imply I must, that will allow me to accept an incompetent and dishonest administrator who also appears to be a co-conspirator in an embezzlement, as a principled person, no matter what his sexual proclivities are (as others imply) or what race may be. The fact that he happens to be a negro has nothing to do with the subject, as you would try to make us believe it does, except to people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. I am also not so sure that many of us could accept your position in light of the fact that the Board of Trustees at Alabama, A & M, didn’t do a good job in remediating the problem by firing Mr. Jennings. It would seem to me that prosecution is in order. You should adopt a prespective of impartiality before trudging off on your narrow sighted path of scrutiny. If you think that what Mr. Jennings did was a good thing then your mama must have given you some bad information. There is a line about Stealing in one of the 10 Commandments.

   — Able to Look Past the End of My Nose    Apr 2, 08:45 PM    #

9. While everyone is assuming that McMillian was not qualified, does anyone know what the qualifications are for his position? Can anyone prove that he did not perform his duties effectively? Has anyone checked McMillian’s credentials? It was stated that he is no longer with the University; does anyone know where he is now? It seems to me that Jennings, with the assistance of McMillian, has been a positive asset to A&M. With all the negativity surrounding A&M, maybe you should look at the Trustees and their poor judgement.

   — mac    Apr 2, 10:21 PM    #

10. Trustee Burse had a good run of firing people while he was the embattled President at Kentucky State University. Maybe it is the only response he knows and President Jennings got in his way.

    — Ray    Apr 3, 06:52 PM    #

11. The entire situation is plain silly. Firing the president over hiring an assistant? I agree that there must be more to this story.

    — B    Apr 4, 12:40 AM    #

12. Able…Nose

    It seems a stretch that someone who probably draws a six figure salary would knowingly jeopardize his position for approximately$2,000 in what you call “embezzlement” Your account is full of misstatements.

    First, Marco was an executive assistant to the President, which many HBCU hire and the qualifications range from being a strong administrative assistant to actually requiring a doctorate degree.This is fact.

    From what I understand, Mr. Marco left the job at the University for a National Position (i.e. national position with his fraternity)

    Mr. Marco was not paid by Mr. Jennings, he continued to received his usual salary.

    Leave of absences in educational organizations is nothing new. In academia, sabbaticals (paid leave) are provided to administrators and faculty.

    It would be interesting to read the results of the internal “investigation” conducted by the “ad hoc” committee.

    Also, why did they table this issue at a time when there was significant transition in the Board of Trustees? Three members replaced in the interim.

    I tend to agree with the Educated Negro (and the majority) there is possibly motivation on both sides of this equation(as well as more to this story) and all should be investigated.

    — Hmmmmmm    Apr 4, 09:46 AM    #

13. Hmmmmm: I am certainly glad that you are not in charge of investigations in Alabama. I am also glad that you are not in charge of doling out money in Alabama, no matter what the sweet-heart deal was between Jennings and Marco. Is it ok to be paid for not working in Alabama when you are being paid to do so? It’s difficult to engage in a battle ow intellect when you’re oppponent is unarmed. I made no original statements. I did, however, comment on statements made by others, including what was in your newspaper. Yes, I believe that the Jennings did a stupid thing, got caught and resigned before he could be fired. I objectively read the article. I do not believe that all of the people that go to Alabama could come up with the same subjective conclusion that you did. Able hit right. You need to look up big words like “subjective” and ‘objective.”

    — School's Out    Apr 5, 07:04 PM    #

14. It seems to me that Hmmmm did not come to a conclusion on innocence or guilt, but like many here believe there is more to this story than meets the eye that warrants a full investigation. I for one would like to see this fully investigated. The school (well documented) has a history of getting rid of Presidents.

    Oh and BTW IN, you got it wrong also. Jennings did not resign, he was fired immediately during the course of the Trustee meeting. I for one have never seen nor heard the versions of the statements you commented on.

    I guess putting you (Sir Nose Devoid of Facts) in charge of investigations in Alabama would be great for all huh?

    — School's In    Apr 6, 04:05 AM    #

15. There is a crisis facing all HBCU’s. Even at our school in Tennessee. There are people at the top who it seems that they are there to tear down the culture. Why do we continue to allow these things to happen. People are so afraid of change and when you are young, gifted and black people have a problem. Recently our VP of Research decided to resign amend issues of not being able to implement. We still have this mentality of let’s wait and see…le’ts not make any waves. But when someone comes in and sees that things need to change for the betterment we develop this attitude of let’s get rid of them. I am not saying that he was right…but I think he tried to do something right. By working at my university I know that there are always eyes watching especially at HBCU’s and somebody at that governing board allowed this man to make those changes. But there again they are afraid to admit. HBCU’s are dying and we seem to sit back and let it happen.

    — Concerned    Apr 6, 04:40 PM    #

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