Why BSU president left, why it matters
MUNCIE — Former Ball State University President Paul Ferguson and the chairman of the university's board of trustees began butting heads early in Ferguson's short-lived presidency over cronyism, politics, a welcome reception and more, The Star Press has learned.
The unhealthy relationship culminated in Ferguson's resignation last January, only 18 months after he took office. The conflict centered on allegations that the chairman micromanages the university. It fragmented the board. And some wonder if it could harm the school's chances of attracting a strong leader as its next president.
Eleven months after Ferguson's sudden, unexplained resignation, a presidential search committee finally has forwarded the names of five finalists to the board for upcoming interviews and a selection.
Board chairman Rick Hall recently dispelled rumors that he is one of those five finalists, though he said he was encouraged to run by dozens of constituents.
BSU trustees respond to Star Press article
While some alumni are grumbling that the university has lost momentum, seen too many administrative turnovers/vacancies and lacked a brand since longtime President Jo Ann Gora left 30 months ago, Hall said in a recent interview the school is performing very well based on metrics including enrollment, affordability, fundraising and helping students find jobs.
Ball State has done all it could to keep the reasons Ferguson left a secret. The board's severance contract with him includes a mutual non-disparagement clause — a protection of reputation clause — a confidentiality clause and a clause controlling public statements by Ferguson and the board. BSU officials also denied the media access to emails, text messages, letters and so forth related to the reasons for the resignation, asserting those records either didn't exist or were not a public record.
Ferguson was viewed as a faculty-friendly president. Several weeks after the resignation, a Faculty Council committee wrote that faculty were "encouraged," "revived" and "reinvigorated" by Ferguson's moves toward an "open, collaborative, communicative campus." The lack of transparency over his departure caused some faculty to express a lack of confidence in the board of trustees as well as concern about the school's ability to hire another top-flight candidate to serve as the next president.
But in the end, with Hall's help, the University Senate approved a resolution "supporting a campus community united in its mission" and elected a new senate chairman who said he has "great pride and respect for our institution" over a reform candidate who had compared the board of trustees to the politburo.
The Star Press has obtained an email written by Ferguson that at long last provides a peek behind the curtain into his heretofore unexplained resignation. Written in March of 2015 from Ferguson's university email account, the digital message was received by senior university officials. Hall's supporters say it paints an inaccurate, one-sided portrait of the chairman. Hall himself — a partner at Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg, one of the 100 largest law firms in the country — says he is legally prohibited from commenting on it. Ferguson, now the dean of a private religious school in his native Southern California, didn't return a phone message from The Star Press.
The email included examples of conflict between Hall and Ferguson, who would remain at BSU for 10 more months after writing it. Highlights include:
• Starting in mid-October of 2014, barely into Ferguson's first semester in office, Hall increasingly displayed an "emotional" and "negative" tone of "irritation," "frustration," "tension," "anger" and "condescension" toward the president and sometimes cabinet members. The model of "collaboration" and "separation of powers" between the chairman and the president "has not been utilized well." An "uneasy and unproductive tension" developed over the chairman's and the board's "level of interaction for leading the university."
• Hall "on occasion lobbied for the hiring of a favored candidate," often in conflict with cabinet members and even when "the information at hand would suggest the favored candidate is not a good choice for Ball State." Multiple sources have told The Star Press one of those candidates was Paris McCurdy, Hall's former teammate on the nationally ranked Cardinal basketball team captained by Hall in 1989. The sources say McCurdy was turned down for two jobs during the Ferguson administration. Recently, he was hired into a newly created $80,000 position.
• In December of Ferguson's first semester as president, Indianapolis-headquartered Ice Miller LLP, a rival of Hall's law firm, served as host of an event introducing Ferguson to . Gov. Mike Pence. After invitations were sent, Hall "strongly directed" the event "to be simply canceled" on grounds that his firm was "left out or made to look bad" and that the reception was really just an Ice Miller "networking event" in disguise. The reception was not canceled.
• As the result of a conversation with Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, Hall "felt strongly and indicated a path of action for Ball State to get out in front to support" Republican-backed legislation to repeal the state's longtime prevailing wage law, aka Common Construction Wage Act, that establishes rates paid to construction workers on public works projects. Pence pushed hard for the controversial repeal, which sparked opposition that brought thousands of contractors and union members to the Statehouse lawn in 2015. None of Ferguson's cabinet members thought it was a good idea to publicly support the repeal, and no other state schools supported it, either. The idea was dropped.
• Hall "dressed down" cabinet members and expressed "significant anger" for perceived lack of progress in hiring an independent auditing firm to investigate the university's $13.1 million investment scandal.
• Hall and Ferguson also clashed over whether or not to maintain flat enrollment growth to ensure higher quality of the student body — despite losses in undergraduate enrollment and revenue during the previous five years. In a "tension-filled phone call" to the president, Hall objected to the administration's discussion of an enrollment growth strategy with Sen. Finance Committee Chair Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, that was "perceived by the chair as totally inappropriate and the chair wanted the entire concept removed from further discussion — primarily based on the concept that the board had not endorsed a growth policy."
• Hall "chastised" the president for being too slow in presenting to the board a new policy to weed out lazy professors. When the president emailed Hall to inform him of the University Senate's passage of the initiative, the chairman gave Ferguson the silent treatment, ignoring the email.
While there are two sides to all of these stories, Hall says he mostly can't comment.
"You know the restrictions that we have on the agreement with Paul and we are going to honor that agreement, and I am not going to comment on what purports to be an email from a former president to a former trustee," Hall told The Star Press.
BSU trustees respond to Star Press article
The chairman, a two-time member of the conference all-academic first team while playing basketball at BSU, reportedly tried to get McCurdy a job with the Cardinal Varsity Club, which supports BSU athletes, and at the alumni center/development office, during Ferguson's tenure. Finally, McCurdy was hired into a new position, director of community diversity initiatives, this past September. It pays $80,000 a year.
Hall says he was not instrumental in getting the job for McCurdy, who led Ball State to its only Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA basketball tournament in 1990. Associate Provost for Diversity Charlene Alexander proposed hiring the former star athlete, Hall said. "Of course it's something that I think is a good idea, but it's not something I mandated to take place," he said. "It's nothing that I said, 'You need to find a spot for my old buddy.' No."
Hall does express his approval of the hiring because it shows a stronger commitment by Ball State to the Muncie community and the importance of diversity, two initiatives the board of trustees were asked to support during public forums on the search for the new president, he said. McCurdy, who earned a bachelor's degree in general studies from Ball State, will concentrate on raising community awareness of the university as well as discover/oversee partnerships and sponsorships between the school and the community.
Hall received his law degree cum laude from Northwestern University after graduating summa cum laude from Ball State in accounting and political science. He was first appointed to the board in 2007 by Gov. Mitch Daniels, who also reappointed him to a second term. Pence reappointed him to a third term.
Hall now seems to be making himself the face of the university like no trustee before him. He not only attends many events, he speaks at them; from the fall convocation (a giant staff meeting in Emens Auditorium to kick off the new academic year) to an alumni reception on the S.S. Lillypad, a two-story, 110-passenger houseboat on Lake Wawasee in Northern Indiana.
His high visibility has led to speculation that he was campaigning for president.
"I think the observation that the board has been more visible and I in particular more visible is an accurate one," Hall said. "But it's important for people to recognize … that in times of transition it's important for the board to be more visible, to create a feeling of stability on campus to show that there is leadership in place."
Hall became chairman right before the transition from Gora to Ferguson, who inherited the investment scandal. "I took an active role in that issue, a very visible role, because the last thing we wanted to do was stick Paul with a mess he didn't create," Hall said. "In this past year we've been in a similar transition, all of 2016 nearly."
In the wake of Ferguson's unexplained resignation, there was a call on campus for more board transparency and communication. "I have tried to accommodate that," Hall said. "The good thing that has occurred this past year … is there has been more communication between the board and campus."
Literally dozens of people, Hall says, from all constituencies, including the Muncie community, faculty, donors, administrators and fellow board members, have asked him to run for president as a nontraditional candidate. "My response to that always has been and still is, I am not pursuing the presidency … I am not among the finalists, nor is Mike Pence, nor is Evan Bayh, nor is Bigfoot," he said.
Education policy experts and other observers who have seen the complaints Ferguson made about Hall in the email obtained by The Star Press say it indicates "unusual" and "off-center" governance by Hall and the board.
"What a mess," Eric Kelly, a BSU urban planning professor and former chair of University Senate, told The Star Press. "The chair getting involved is just crazy. It makes it a crazy job for a president. They will probably deny it, but I think you will find multiple trustees engaging in micromanagement. It ought to be a concern to everybody, because it's going to affect the ability of the university to hire somebody good if the trustees micromanage to that level. I'm afraid they will wind up with someone so eager to be president that he or she will do whatever the board wants. That's not the kind of leader this institution needs. There are major issues to face here, not a crisis, but major issues to be addressed."
Kelly called it "very strange" for Hall to tell Ferguson "what parties he should or shouldn't go to. That's outrageous. The president ought to get out to as many different parties as he or she can. His law firm can have one for him, too." Equally outrageous "and maybe unethical" was Hall's attempt to get the university to support repeal of the prevailing wage law, Kelly said.
Kelly called Hall's speech at the fall convocation "extremely weird." Kelly thought Hall would introduce acting President Terry King and update everyone on the presidential search. "But he did no such thing," Kelly said. "It was kind of self-aggrandizing. He talked about himself. He just told us what a nice job he was doing. It sounded like maybe he wanted to be president."
To set the record straight, King told The Star Press, "I'm running Ball State, not someone else. In my experience here, our board is good at asking questions, providing direction and holding us accountable." Regarding lack of a Ball State brand, King says a nearly yearlong vacancy in the position of vice president for marketing and communications will be filled shortly. It's common for such searches to take that long, he said.
The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) recommends that boards "put a high degree of trust in the leadership they selected with the expectation that strategic goals will be achieved." In addition, the organization says board members "must understand that while they hold fiduciary duties individually, they act collectively as a board … Absent a particular designation of authority by the board to an individual board member or officer … no single board member or officer has authority to bind the institution or determine its course of action."
The AGB also suggests that board members avoid "even the perception of any personal agendas or special interests" and "should not be seen as advocates for their appointing authorities or for certain segments among their constituents or the electorate."
Hall reportedly told Ferguson that Ball State should support repeal of the prevailing wage law because it demonstrated "our student-centered approach — potential cost savings."
After reviewing Ferguson's email, Michael Poliakoff, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, told The Star Press: "It seems very unusual for a board chairman to be acting independently — if that's what's happening — of the (board's) committees and the full board in making decisions." If there is a significant policy issue, the protocol is for the board "to make a resolution," which "gives the institution its important transparency," he said. A board cannot fulfill its strategic function, its oversight function, if it is tied up with micro-management, he explained. "To the contrary, they must look at the big picture and set the direction."
Trustees Frank Hancock and Marianne Glick, both of whom spent a decade on the board, submitted their resignations to Pence a month before Ferguson resigned, though they weren't replaced until much later. Pence named Jean Ann Harcourt — the president of a school supply company, a leader in local, state and national Republican politics and a host of the annual "Picnic with Pence" fundraiser — to fill out Glick's term. The governor named Mike McDaniel — executive director of governmental affairs for the Krieg DeVault law firm in Indianapolis and a former GOP state chairman — to take over for Hancock, also a Republican.
In a recent interview, Hancock, the owner of Sports Graphics in Indianapolis, acknowledged the board, himself included, got out of bounds "a little too much."
"We had transitioned from a board with little input into Jo Ann’s plans — until she sought it — to a board which some members wanted to direct Paul from day one," Hancock said. "The pendulum moved from the far right to the far left, when it should have stopped in the middle.”
He thinks the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal changed a lot of university boards, "including ours, and had a lot to do with the board's over-reaching, in my opinion. While trustees now had a better understanding of our accountability and responsibilities, presidents now were being asked to provide boards more information than ever before. While Jo Ann had started the process, I think when Paul came in, we kind of went overboard in requesting not only more information, but digging into the details. The more transparent the information Paul provided led to more questions being raised. In many cases, those answers led to further questions and it went on and on in some cases."
Hancock continued: "All of a sudden we were no longer a board advising and consenting to plans and programs presented, but we were now digging in deep, questioning many of the aspects the plans and programs were based upon. It’s my belief this fundamental change in the board's interaction with the university president over the past four years, its inability to police itself when some members strayed too far in the weeds, played a part in both Jo Ann retiring and Paul leaving the university. Will it have an effect on the hiring of the next president? I don’t know."
After he resigned but before he was replaced, Hancock asked for a meeting with Pence's chief of staff, Jim Atterholt, "to go down and explain why I was resigning, what I thought the governor could do with my appointment, what I thought the board needed. When I did go down, I was surprised, startled maybe, that Rick was there and sat in on the meeting. I didn't realize he was going to be part of the meeting."
"I guess that meeting was not particularly productive then," said Anita Levy, a senior program officer at the American Association of University Professors. "It sounds like the chair has the governor's blessing to some extent, so it may be difficult to rein him in under those circumstances, if he's an avid supporter of the governor."
After reviewing Ferguson's complaint email, Levy told The Star Press: "It looks as if the chair is getting into the weeds quite a bit. Some of it may be pure personality differences. It's hard to tell from a distance. He may be a micromanager, and it looks as if no one else on the board has tried to rein him in, or tried and been unsuccessful in doing so. But it does appear the board, taken as a whole represented by the chair, has overstepped its authority in some of these instances."
One could call Hall an avid supporter of Gov.-elect Eric Holcomb. After a board of trustees' meeting in Muncie on Sept. 9, the board toured a new BSU facility at Launch Fishers, a co-working space for entrepreneurs in Fishers, then traveled to Hall's house nearby on Crooked Stick Golf Club, where Hall hosted a fundraiser/reception for Holcomb. The candidate's campaign committee reimbursed Hall $2,683 for catering and event supplies.
"I am a Republican and I supported the Republican candidate in the governor's race," Hall said. "I have a lot of Democratic friends, a lot of good working relationships with Democrats, and don't view my role on the board as a partisan role. I view it as looking out for the well-being, with my colleagues, of Ball State as a whole."
Hall says he typically spends 10 to 20 hours a week on Ball State business, though BSU spokesperson Joan Todd says he has been known to devote up to 70 hours a week (all unpaid) to the chairman's job. The chairman sees himself as a "facilitator," not a micromanager, including in between board meetings.
"I don't have any significant inherent powers that are different than any other trustee," he said, "but rather as chair it is my role to help facilitate the discussion between the president and other members of the cabinet and the full board."
Hall's supporters paint a different picture of him than the portrait in Ferguson's email.
"I would never characterize Rick’s leadership as a micro-managing," Phil Repp, BSU's vice president for information technology, told The Star Press. "His leadership is bold and clearly passionate in moving Ball State forward. Does he engage us and ask us to help him move Ball State into a more prominent place? Yes. I was most impressed when Rick came to the faculty convocation this past fall in the midst of questions about President Ferguson leaving the institution. I thought that act showed us he is a leader who faces challenges with us and not to the side. That is what Ball State needs."
Under Hall's leadership, the board changed its structure a few years ago, establishing committees for more conversations.
"Literally, our meeting table got bigger and all the cabinet and the trustees were at that table," Repp said. "I see only positive from such a robust conversation about Ball State and where it should go. I welcomed that kind of openness and straightforward leadership. Questions from the trustees only make us better."
Amy Harden, associate professor of fashion merchandising, saw no evidence that the board overstepped its authority during her tenure as chair of University Senate, which coincided with Ferguson's tenure as president. The Senate's level of communication and connection with the board increased during that time, she added. Her description of Hall includes "thoughtful," and someone who ensures that all information is considered, who has a "strong insistence on accountability" and who is "sincerely interested in my thoughts and input of the faculty viewpoints and willingness to work together." She found Hall's temperament to be "open to ideas, collaborative, and very strong and focused on the goals of making Ball State stronger."
No one can claim Ferguson was a perfect president. Some accused him of refusing to look past 2018 (Ball State's 100th anniversary) when it came to strategic planning; of focusing his efforts internally, trying to give faculty and students everything they wanted, which is why he was well liked on campus; and of not doing enough fundraising. Though he may not have been given much of a chance.
How does Hall respond to allegations that board dysfunction/micromanagement has hurt the chances of getting a really strong next president?
"It would be a disservice to Ball State University to not bring a very strong leader to serve as president, that can work with the board, that brings different talents and perspectives to the table, that can work with the faculty … and work with the administration," the chairman said. "We want a strong leader that has a vision for the institution and wants to continue our upward trajectory."
What's unfortunate about the perception that Hall runs the university is "it's such a disservice to the people who are doing such a great job on campus," Hall said. "And I want to share why I think we are in good shape."
"Higher education is about value proposition. What are the students being taught that translates into the job market and at what costs? And we have what everybody else wants. We've got a faculty deeply committed to teaching that does an outstanding job. And we have an administration that by necessity, because of our funding, has developed a culture of fiscal responsibility. So when you combine those things the results you get are a 93 percent job placement rate, you get the lowest tuition increase in nearly 40 years, and the appetite for a Ball State education is at an all-time high … We had our second-largest freshman class in 15 years. Those are the types of metrics the board focuses on in determining whether the university is performing well, and it's up to the president and the cabinet to implement the measures that produce those results."
Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.