Meyers will resign as president of NSU

NORFOLK

Norfolk State University president Carolyn Meyers, whose leadership has been criticized in recent months, will resign effective June 30.

Ed Hamm, rector of Norfolk State's board of visitors, on Monday confirmed Meyers' departure, saying she will leave to pursue other interests. He didn't elaborate on her plans.

Meyers, 63, could not be reached for comment.

Sources close to the university said that Meyers had allowed improper enrollment practices that could have jeopardized the school's accreditation and that she had lost the board's confidence because of poor judgment and weak leadership.

Hamm said the board offered Meyers the option to take some leave time but that she preferred to remain through June 30. Meyers, who's ending the fourth year of her five-year contract, will continue to earn her $285,450 annual salary.

The rector said the board is considering assigning an interim assistant to the president "to help facilitate the continued growth of the university."

At its next meeting in March, the board will discuss the search for Meyers' replacement, Hamm said, including the framework it will use to decide what the university needs in its next president. An interim president will be in place July 1.

Meyers submitted the resignation in early November with the understanding that it not be made public until after Jan. 1.

Meyers often has been praised for her spirited personality, sometimes bragging about her students as though they were her own children. She also was known to be data driven, which brought criticism from those who thought she moved too slowly but kudos from those who appreciated her analytical view.

Her hiring in 2006 was seen as a coup, a female scientist with degrees in mechanical and chemical engineering who completed postdoctoral work at Harvard University.

Community leaders were surprised by Monday's announcement, and some said they hate to see Meyers leave.

Norfolk councilman Paul R. Riddick, whose ward includes some of the area around Norfolk State, said he has enjoyed working with her on community projects.

"I admired her as a president, and I hope the best for her," Riddick said.

Old Dominion University president John Broderick said he was disappointed by the news.

"I always found her easy to work with and wanting to do what was best for the students of Hampton Roads," he said.

Meyers' future has been in question for the past four months. In October, the board held a six-hour closed meeting to discuss her work as well as the results of internal audits.

The next month, Meyers was named a finalist for the president's post at Morgan State University in Baltimore but did not get the job.

The board has questioned Meyers' ability to manage, according to several people who did not want their names used because of their close ties to the university.

Sources cited concerns that Meyers had allowed irregular admissions practices that could have jeopardized the school's accreditation. In addition, they say that she hasn't given Norfolk State the vitality it needs and has allowed the school to become stagnant.

Some people have raised eyebrows at what's been described as Meyers becoming "too chummy" with certain board members and their relatives - inviting them to her home for card games, for example - which blurred the line between employee and boss and diluted the oversight and direction the school needed.

Red flags also have been raised by students and faculty. Students have complained that the university has made a publicized push to increase enrollment but hasn't told students where it will house the new students and where they will attend classes. Dorm space is limited, and students have noted that some classes have doubled in size from last year.

The faculty senate's last report to the board listed several issues with Meyers, including a lack of follow-through on plans and recommendations.

The report stated that "there appears to be an absence of vision and fund raising among our leadership."

Curtiss Wall, the outgoing faculty senate president, said Monday that he wanted to "express sadness at her leaving the university and to wish her well in her future endeavors."

He commended Meyers for establishing focus groups when she arrived to get faculty feedback but noted that some of the recommendations from those groups remain untouched, Wall said.

"There are many faculty who are looking forward to new leadership since her leadership wasn't seen as being as effective as it could have been," Wall said.

The president's work came under scrutiny at the beginning of the fall semester.

On Sept. 4, the board gave Meyers a unanimous vote of confidence, based on her meeting certain goals and objectives for the previous school year.

But internal audits, including looks at the school's procurement practices and enrollment management, prompted the board to call the special meeting Oct. 13.

The enrollment audit was prompted by a worker who had called the State Employee Fraud, Waste and Abuse Hotline program in March, alleging that the university was accepting students who did not meet the minimum requirements.

An investigation found that the school had a "significant number" of unqualified applicants who were processed for admission or were accepted for enrollment the past three years. Some enrollment decisions were made without required documents or before official transcripts or SAT scores were received.

In addition, the admissions office was inconsistent in following its own guidelines that were more lenient than the board's policy at the time.

The investigation found, however, that many of the accepted students did not enroll at Norfolk State.

Following the audit, the board last month revised its admissions policy and is expected to announce a new admissions director this week.

The employee who made the complaint said he was let go recently and was told it was for poor performance, but he thinks the decision was made because he was asking questions. He does not want his name used for fear it will prevent him from finding work, he said.

Since 2008, he said the word in admissions was to "get the numbers up by any means necessary."

The head count has climbed steadily during the past three years, from 6,155 in fall 2007 to 6,325 in 2008. This fall, it jumped more than 10 percent, to close to 7,000.

The former employee said the problems were exacerbated when Meyers instituted six-month contracts, instead of 12-month contracts, for administrators. That created a cutthroat pressure to perform, he said, and others at the university said the shortened contracts have been a death knell to morale.

Denise Watson Batts, (757) 446-2504, denise.batts@pilotonline.com