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Plagiarism, allegations of institutional racism and votes of no-confidence are not the issues university boards of governors want to be associated with the president of their college. However, over the past 10 months those have been some of the defining matters for President W. Franklin Evans at West Liberty University.
That will change at the end of 2022, as on Wednesday the university's Board of Governors, by an 8-4 vote, decided not to renew Evans' contract. The vote will bring to a close Evans' two-year term leading the hilltop campus and allow for a new start at WLU in 2023.
"Dr. Evans was hired two years ago with an 11-0 unanimous vote," West Liberty board Chairman Rich Lucas said following the meeting. "We took a lot of time assessing his entire body of work over the last two years -- we did his presidential assessment from the first year, faculty, staff, and community outreach. Each governor took that body of work and made their decision either to extend or renew his contract. I know … for a fact that each board member did the absolute best thing that they thought was best for the students at our university."
Evans narrowly avoided being fired last October, after it was learned he had plagiarized portions of speeches he gave on campus and in the community.
The board censured him for those actions.
Then, in April, the university's faculty expressed its lack of support with Evans on his leadership and personal integrity. He, in turn, said he believed his race -- Evans is Black -- factored into their vote.
The entire saga has overshadowed much of the good work being done on campus. The university's governors would have been irresponsible to allow it to continue into next year.
Given all that's taken place over the past 10 months, it appears West Liberty's governors had little choice but to move in a new direction. It will be interesting to see how they approach the next hire.