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VIDEO: Bentley plans to vote against firing ASU President Silver
[December 20, 2012]

VIDEO: Bentley plans to vote against firing ASU President Silver


Dec 20, 2012 (Montgomery Advertiser - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said Thursday that he plans to vote against firing embattled Alabama State University President Joseph Silver on Friday unless someone gives him a reason.



"I would like to hear their reasoning to fire him for cause," Bentley said Thursday. "That is what I would like to hear. I personally have not heard any reason to fire him for cause. Based on what I have heard this far, I'll vote against it." Bentley said he spoke with Silver at length on at least three occasions "and I am very impressed with Dr. Silver." "He had never been a president before, but I like Dr. Silver and I think they need to give him chance," he said. "They need to give him a chance to do the job they hired him to do." "Sometimes boards of trustees forget that they're not the ones that run a university. They hire people to do that. In fact, if they get too close to the day-to-day operations, they violate SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) rules." Bentley said he was uncertain whether that had happened at ASU.

Bentley did say he was unsure if Silver and board members would be able to work together after all of the animosity in recent weeks.


Bentley, by virtue of his position, is president of the ASU Board of Trustees, which is scheduled to meet at 2:30 p.m. Friday to discuss Silver's fate. Trustees placed him on paid administrative leave Nov. 30, just two months after starting the job.

Board members and administrators have declined to say why Silver was placed on leave two months into the job.

Silver has said he was placed on leave after he began to seek answers about questionable contracts and would not back off.

___ (c)2012 the Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.) Visit the Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.) at www.montgomeryadvertiser.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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