BSU board chairman answers critics

MUNCIE — Ball State University declined to release information about President Paul Ferguson's annual performance evaluation, said again that his resignation was voluntary and declared no disciplinary action was ever taken against him as the week during which he was relieved of duties wound down on Friday.

"I want to reiterate again that this was a voluntary decision," Indianapolis attorney Rick Hall, chairman of the university's board of trustees, said at a board meeting. "This was a resignation from Dr. Ferguson that was accepted by the board in a mutual decision."

In an interview after the meeting, The Star Press asked Hall why Ferguson's severance deal includes two months of paid sabbatical leave plus a year's base salary of $450,000 if it's true that he voluntarily resigned.

(Ferguson signed a five-year contract in 2014 that indicated the university would be under no obligation to compensate him if he resigned before 2019 and that he could even have to pay damages to Ball State if he resigned with less than 180 days' notice. The contract indicated Ferguson was to receive 60 days of sabbatical leave with pay and a year's salary if the board terminated his employment without cause.)

Students 'sit-in,' but don't learn much

"Again, it was a mutual agreement that was worked out between Dr. Ferguson and the board, and we all felt these were the terms under which it was best to move forward," Hall said in answering the question. "It's just part of the terms of his separation that both he and the board feel are appropriate under the circumstances."

Associate professor Amy Harden, who chairs University Senate, told Hall during a committee meeting earlier Friday that there was "unease" among faculty because the resignation was shrouded in secrecy.

And Carli Hendershot, a political science major at Ball State, on Friday led a contingent of students who attended the board meeting to state that the trustees' "lack of transparency calls into question their legitimacy."

Hall and trustee Frank Hancock encouraged the students to stay involved in governance of the university, and Hancock called attention to the fact that students are represented on the board by fellow student Dustin Meeks, like other members an appointee of the governor.

At the outset of the meeting, Hall said, "I want to assure you first of all there is no scandal, no other shoe that's going to drop, there's no financial crisis, there's not an emergency that's going to be revealed next week. This is a personnel decision and like …all personnel decisions on campus there is a desire to protect the privacy of all individuals involved."

By state law, personnel files of public employees are excluded from the Access to Public Records Act, except for compensation, dates of employment, job description, education, previous work experience and information relating to "the status of any formal charges against the employee; and the factual basis for a disciplinary action in which final action has been taken and that resulted  in the employee being suspended, demoted or discharged."

When The Star Press asked the university for records related to the factual basis for any disciplinary action it might have taken against Ferguson, BSU responded no such records existed because no such discipline ever occurred.

Ferguson's employment contract called for the board to meet with him after 12 months in office, and annually thereafter, to evaluate his performance. When The Star Press asked for records related to that review, spokesperson Joan Todd said, "We would never release an annual performance review from a personnel file for any employee, and we would not treat Dr. Ferguson differently."

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.