Trustees Oust AU's Ladner as President

Some trustees argued, and some challenged the agenda and tried to install another chairman, according to a source with knowledge of the probe.

Gottschalk, however, said, "It was a very candid, respectful discussion."

More than just Ladner's fate and the 11,000-student school's future hung in the balance; the trustees' decision could ripple through other nonprofit boards as their members wrestle with issues of oversight and compensation.

Trustees, auditors and attorneys have argued for months about dollar figures, legal clauses and tax implications of Ladner's spending. The Justice Department is investigating. On campus, though, the debate has been both simpler and more philosophical: Does he still have the moral authority to lead the university?

"What he did was just plain wrong," Leslie E. Bains, a Ladner critic, said in a statement sent when she resigned as board chairwoman Sunday after other trustees had challenged her leadership. "He spent university money on things such as his son's engagement party and, to this moment, still says he was justified in doing so, even as he offers to repay a small portion of what is really owed."

Although Ladner's attorneys have argued that his spending was justified by the 1997 contract, some board members say that agreement was never ratified and would not hold up in court.

Ladner's attorneys have said in letters to the board that the investigation has been unfair. His supporters say Ladner is an honest, ethical man who was rewarded for improving the university, then blindsided by new rules.

Ladner has warned other university presidents that they can expect similar scrutiny as new oversight of corporate boards trickles down to the nonprofit world. Ladner has offered to pay back about $21,000 and pay taxes on an additional $32,000 of indirect income over the years auditors examined.

His supporters credit him with elevating a university in turmoil, one that had weathered a sex scandal and four presidents in four years, to a thriving academic institution with a growing national reputation. They said he inspired the community -- and donors -- to believe in a school with a public service mission and an international vision.

In the morning, before trustees met yesterday, protesters gathered on the school's main quad. "He must go!" professor Randy Persaud yelled, his words echoing off the stone buildings. The campus was unusually quiet, with most people on fall break.

It was a much smaller, quieter rally than the September event that sent students screaming across campus to the boardroom to confront trustees. This time, students chanted: "No golden parachute! Not a penny more!" They asked for greater transparency on board decisions and student and faculty representation on the panel. A few dozen protesters marched to Butler Pavilion, hoping to see trustees arriving. And two women popped up on the stairs outside the boardroom, one with an "I {heart} Ladner" sign, and began arguing with protesters.

"Ladner made this school," said Brandy Wells. "I feel like the student body is represented as totally against Ladner," and that's not true, she said. "I think he did a wonderful job at this school."

On the other side of the door, the meeting went on without Bains, who in her resignation statement said that "a very small, but mean-spirited group . . . have attacked anyone who dared to present facts to the board that they did not like."

They tried to derail the investigation, she said, and threatened lawsuits to stop the board from meeting to vote on the results. "And finally, they tried to call a special meeting of the board to reinstate the president with a generous salary package for his wife," Bains wrote.

Ladner opposed her bid to become chairwoman in May and told her so. The board members already had divided over whether to limit Ladner's compensation.

"The damage he has caused to this university far exceeds any facts and figures [about his accomplishments] that anyone can give," graduate student Veronica Onorevole said.

Senior Jordan Landry said that he was disappointed. "I guess I wasn't surprised because I kind of felt the pressure coming from all the students on campus, and all the faculty members had built up enough that it really affected the board, and that ultimately led to his demise."

But he is sorry that it happened, Landry said -- sorry for Ladner and his family.