Hardin resigns as president of UCA

CONWAY — Lu Hardin is resigning as president of the University of Central Arkansas effective Sept. 16, it was announced as the board of trustees went into executive session Thursday.

Tom Courtway, the university's general counsel and director of governmental relations, will serve as interim president.

Hardin will be given a paid sabbatical until the end of the university's fiscal year June 30 for health reasons and receive his public and private salary. On July 1, 2009 he will be paid his public salary either per month according to the terms of his contract or be given a lump-sum payment for the next three fiscal years totaling $670,162.35.

The trustees voted unanimously to accept Hardin's resignation and hire Courtway with Dr. Harold Chakales absent. The vote on Hardin's buyout was 5-1 with Dr. Michael Stanton voting against it.

Hardin cited two reasons for resigning: His health and to allow the university to heal. He also said that no trustees asked him to leave.

In a statement, Gov. Mike Beebe called Hardin a good friend but said that the decision was the right one.

"Lu Hardin has been a hard-working public servant for 25 years, but I agree that his decision to resign is the right one for him and for the University of Central Arkansas. UCA is an exceptional institution, and I'm confident that its leaders will move quickly to refocus their energies on the mission of education," Beebe said. "Lu is, and will remain, my good friend, and he and his family are in Ginger's and my thoughts and prayers."

Courtway was rehired by Hardin in August 2006 to an expanded position after a stint with Hendrix College in Conway as vice president for planning and operations. He was general counsel at UCA from November 2002 to November 2005 and was interim director of the state Department of Education for six months beginning in October 2003.

Courtway served as a state representative in the 1995, 1997 and 1999 legislative sessions. He has also served on the staffs of former Sen. Dale Bumpers and former Sen. David Pryor in Washington, D.C.

Board of Trustees Vice Chairman Rush Harding III of Little Rock said Wednesday that he spoke "several times" with Hardin in the past few days, "and the president wants a resolution to this crisis."

"He wants this to go away, and he'll put the interests of UCA first," Harding said.

Hardin said as recently as last week that he had not considered resigning over the problems that started in early July surrounding a secret $300,000 bonus and then in late July over a memo he wrote that indicated three of his vice presidents wrote it.

The board voted publicly in 2005 to give Hardin a $300,000 bonus if he stayed at UCA five more years. Hardin received the $300,000 bonus in June - two years early - but returned it July 17 after faculty members and others questioned the legality of the secret vote.

The memo, given to board members at a May 2 meeting, helped make the case for Hardin getting the bonus early and for no public vote being needed.

Hardin, a former state senator and former director of the state Department of Higher Education, was contrite during a July 29 interview.

"This is certainly serious and something that I've given a great deal of reflection to," he said then. "To say this has been a learning experience on how quickly I do business is an understatement."

Hardin makes $253,774, of which $51,614 comes from private funds, UCA officials have said. State law limits what he can make from public funds.

If the board takes no action before late September, his contract would automatically renew for a fifth year, trustee Harding said.

Since he became president in 2002, officials credit Hardin with increasing UCA's enrollment and getting the university off the American Association of University Professors' censure list for action taken by a previous administration.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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Information for this article was contributed by Debra Hale-Shelton of the <em>Arkansas Democrat-Gazette</em>.