Hardin to pay back $300,000

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Lu Hardin

ADVERSTISMENT

University of Central Arkansas President Lu Hardin announced Wednesday that he would return a $300,000 bonus from UCA after mounting criticism of the payment from inside and out the university community.

Hardin said in a news release sent just before 2 p.m. that the decision came after consultation with faculty representatives, including UCA Faculty Senate President Kurt Boneicki.

Hardin said he will only accept a return of the bonus if UCA faculty get salary increases and only if private funds are used.

"I have already acknowledged that this matter was not handled well, and I deeply regret the mistakes we made," Hardin said in the release. "The UCA Board of Trustees and I are taking corrective measures to ensure this error never happens again."

The UCA Board of Trustees voted in executive session May 2 to accelerate the payment of a $300,000 bonus, originally approved in 2005 and scheduled for payment in 2010, as a reward for staying at UCA five years.

But the decision was never publicly announced, which has drawn criticism ranging from the UCA faculty senate to Gov. Mike Beebe.

The Arkansas attorney general's office is also investigating whether the source of the payment, a fund fed by profits from campus food and book sales, was legal.

The bonus also came within weeks of UCA cutting some staff retirement benefits and announcing that faculty members might not get raises in the coming academic year.

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

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