NEWS

Sources: Former LC president being removed from faculty

Leigh Guidry
lguidry@gannett.com

Steps are being taken to remove former Louisiana College president Joe Aguillard from the faculty, multiple sources close to LC have confirmed.

Sources close to Louisiana College have confirmed reports that steps are being taken to remove Joe Aguillard, former president of the private Baptist school in Pineville, from the LC faculty.

It is unclear whether Aguillard's contract with the private Baptist school in Pineville is being terminated or could be settled. Aguillard did not return calls for comment this week. Current administration said it could not comment.

"I can't comment on personnel matters," said President Rick Brewer, who began a five-year contract at LC when he took office April 7, 2015.

Aguillard's controversial nine-year tenure as president of LC ended April 15, 2014, when the Louisiana College Board of Trustees approved an agreement that named him president emeritus and put him on a one-year sabbatical. The agreement called for him to return as a tenured faculty member in the school's graduate teacher education program fall 2015, but it is unclear whether he has taught classes.

He was given an office in the Alumni House on campus, and sources report he was locked out of it last week.

Sources report that lawyers have been involved in what could be a long process. As a tenured professor, the process to remove Aguillard from the LC faculty might not be an easy one. The number of tenured faculty dismissed nationally in a typical year is as low as 2 percent, according to the National Education Association.

According to the association, a college or university cannot fire a tenured professor without presenting evidence that the professor is "incompetent or behaves unprofessionally or that an academic department needs to be closed or the school is in serious financial difficulty."

Aguillard,who became president of LC in January 2005, narrowly survived an attempt to oust him as president in April 2013. The last two years of his presidency were marked by whistleblower complaints, allegations of misappropriating funds and misleading the LC board, and strong public statements both in defense of Aguillard and calling for his removal.

The college could see savings should his contract be terminated. In April 2014, sources connected to the LC board reported the details of Aguillard's agreement. He was to receive his full $202,007 base salary during the one-year sabbatical, 50 percent of his base salary — $101,003.50 — for his first year as a senior professor and then 30 percent of his current base salary — $60,602.10 — for all subsequent years he worked at the college.

The Rev. Randy Harper, current chairman of the LC Board of Trustees and pastor of Bellaire Baptist Church in Bossier City, did not return messages from The Town Talk requesting comment.