CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas on Thursday extended the paid leave of an associate vice president while administrators conduct a comprehensive review of the school’s international program, records show.
In an e-mail to Alex Chen, associate vice president for international engagement, Provost Lance Grahn wrote, “As our review and deliberations near completion, I am extending your paid administrative leave through Wednesday, November 2.”
Grahn then asked Chen to meet with him that day at UCA and added, “I expect that Jack Gillean, Katie Henry, and Laura Young will join us.” Gillean and Henry are UCA attorneys. Young is assistant provost for finance.
Earlier this week, trustee Bobby Reynolds said interim President Tom Courtway had suspended Chen with pay. In a text message sent Oct. 14 to trustees and released to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette late Thursday after a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, Courtway said he had “decided to suspend Dr. Chen for five days with pay.”
Reynolds said officials were investigating to determine whether some international students under Chen’s supervision had been working more than visa regulations allow. The regulations limit the students to 20 hours of on-campus work weekly and can have serious consequences if violated.
Gillean, who also is UCA’s chief of staff, said late Thursday that the term “suspend” was “an unfortunate choice of words” by Courtway. “Technically, Dr. Chen is on paid administrative leave,” Gillean said.
Gillean said he did not know of a suspension with pay at UCA in the past 15 years. Employees can be placed on administrative leave when the university has “reason to believe there is a matter that needs our attention,” he said.
“If a suspension is ... handed out, it means some determination has been made that that person did something to violate university policy,” Gillean said.
Chen did not return a phone message Thursday. Nor did he return other phone calls or e-mail messages seeking comment earlier this week.
In the text message,Courtway also wrote, “Over the last few we e k s , we have had several complaints from the Office of International Programs and, in particular,about Dr. Alex Chen.
“Based upon these complaints, and the advice of the Provost and his staff, Jack Gillean, Katie Henry and Graham Gillis [human resources director], I have decided that a comprehensive review of the entire international programs office needs to be conducted,” Courtway added.
“The situation in the international programs office is very tense. In order to make sure that the review is thorough and accurate, and all employees and staff may be interviewed, I have decided to suspend Dr. Chen. ... We do not believe the review can be conducted with him in the office.”
Gillean said he redacted a one-sentence paragraph from the text message. He said it mentioned specific issues of concern.
“I believe that portion of the e-mail is exempt from disclosure at this time” under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, he added.
Chen, a longtime colleague of former UCA President Allen Meadors, joined UCA in 2010 while Meadors was president. Chen was immediately granted tenure as a full professor in the school’s College of Business. Chen, whose annual salary is $122,400, formerly worked with Meadors at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and at Penn State-Altoona.
Chen is also a subject of other contention.
In June, Chen and Meadors went on a trip to Mexico, where they spent two nightsin Cancun at UCA expense during the time they had planned to visit a Mexican college more than 200 miles from the resort coastal town.They did earlier visit another Mexican college in another city. Meadors, who resigned under pressure Sept. 2 over an unrelated matter, was still president then.
Meadors resigned after the Democrat-Gazette reported about a food vendor’s $700,000 offer to renovate his UCA-owned home. He and board Chairman Scott Roussel had told other trustees that the money was a donation rather than part of a proposed contract renewal. The board and Meadors later reached a buyout agreement totaling $563,312, of which $225,325 is publicly funded.
Chen also has drawn criticism lately over his handling of a trip last summer to the British Isles as part of a UCA literature class and tour.
Courtway has declined to say whether the international students’ workload, the Cancun trip or the British Isles tour is under review.
Explaining the format of Courtway’s lengthy text message, Gillean wrote in an email that Courtway “typed it in an e-mail on his computer and e-mailed it to himself. He then opened it on his phone and cut and pasted it into a text message. So, what you are seeing is the e-mail version of the text. The text message itself was deleted by Mr. Courtway after it was sent.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/28/2011