By Josh Moon
Alabama Political Reporter
Alabama State University’s search for a new president continues to move at a snail’s pace.
After more than two hours of picking apart a profile document the university plans to use in hiring its next president, the search committee responsible for that hire voted to hire an outside law firm to conduct much of that work
Pompey and Pompey, a two-person law firm in Camden, will now be primarily responsible for receiving resumes and vetting candidates.
A website for the firm lists its expertise as civil litigation and criminal defense. Brenda Pompey, a former president of the Alabama Lawyers Association and one of the partners in the firm, is also listed as an expert in labor negotiations.
It has now been more than seven months since former ASU president Gwendolyn Boyd was fired by the board, and university officials have not been eager to start the search process for a new president. Instead, each initial step has been slow and deliberate.
Privately, sources close to ASU have told APR that the university is concerned that quality candidates won’t seek the job because of the school’s current economic and operational state.
A source close to interim president Leon Wilson, who served as university provost prior to Boyd’s firing, said Wilson and his staff have uncovered “an absolute mess” left behind by Boyd and that things are “much worse than we ever imagined” with university finances.
However, two sources said officials believe the problems are relatively short-term matters that can be corrected “in months, not years.”
Until those issues are closer to correction, however, they said the school will not make serious moves towards finding a new president.
