TheCabin.net ·· Reading gains sweet rewards 06/07/08

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The University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting today to discuss president Lu Hardin's future with the university.

The meeting will take place at 11 a.m., and Rush F. Harding III, vice chairman of the board, told the Associated Press that Hardin offering his resignation may be one of the university president's options.

Vice president for university communications Warwick Sabin said he hasn't heard of any plans for Hardin to resign and said he has not been able to confirm the 11 a.m. meeting of the Board of Trustees as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.

"I'm confident the president has the votes to stay, if he would choose," Harding said. "However, I know the president cares deeply about the institution and he's assured me that he wants some resolution to this issue and he will put the interest of the university above his own."

The controversy began when news surfaced that Hardin had secretly received a $300,000 deferred-compensation bonus in May. Hardin has since repaid the money and said he would not accept it until faculty members receive raises and enough private funds are acquired to cover the early payment of deferred-compensation.

UCA administrators first said the money used to pay the bonus was public funds, but Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in an advisory opinion that the money used to pay the bonus was public money because it came from student book and food sales.

"The board is having a meeting in the morning to sit down with the president and figure out how to get this behind us," Harding told the Associated Press.

Information later surfaced that a memo had been distributed with typed names of three university vice presidents containing talking points on why Hardin's bonus should be kept secret. All three vice presidents denied authoring, or seeing, the document before it was distributed.

The university Faculty Senate met last week where faculty addressed concerns about Hardin and the administration. A Faculty Affairs Committee was to review and deliberate the facts considering Hardin's bonus and, if they feel action is necessary, recommend it to the senate. Faculty senator Ed Powers was selected to chair the committee.

Powers has previously said that "much of the action suggests there might be corruption in the system."

A vote of confidence and a request for Hardin's resignation are two of the options Powers said the committee could suggest to the senate. A closed meeting of the committee was scheduled to take place today.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.