Seth Slabaugh

The Star Press

MUNCIE — Ball State University's board of trustees accepted the mysterious, sudden and unexpected resignation of President Paul Ferguson during a special meeting at the university's Indianapolis Center on Monday.

The board last week sent The Star Press a written notice of the special meeting that contained no agenda, as well as a written notice of an executive session immediately before the special meeting whose agenda included personnel matters. The special meeting was open, but no one from the press or the public attended. However, no explanation for the resignation was given during the open meeting, The Star Press has learned, nor was one given after the meeting.

"There is something going on for his resignation to be so sudden, and the trustees ought to tell us what it is," said BSU professor Eric Kelly, a former chair of University Senate. "This is weird. I'm stunned that it's happening mid-semester. I would not have been surprised if they had announced he would be leaving effective July 1. Coming in after a strong president like Jo Ann Gora … is very tough. I kind of expected he would wind up with a two-year job for a whole bunch of reasons. But the fact he's leaving so suddenly is stunning."

Was Ferguson terminated without cause?

Formerly president of the University of Maine, Ferguson had been hired as Ball State's 15th president effective Aug. 1, 2014. He signed a five-year contract with Ball State.

The board's unwillingness to say why Ferguson quit is fueling speculation in the public and on campus, such as: Is the university facing a financial crisis? Is Ferguson facing a health crisis? Is it related to a crisis in management of on-campus enrollment, which continues to decline?

And the board has hired Ball State graduate Myra Borshoff, a retired Indianapolis public relations consultant and an expert in crisis communications, to advise it on Ferguson's departure. But she said in an interview on Monday, "I have a lot of expertise in crisis communications, but this would not fall into that category. Oftentimes when organizations have situations like this, they have me work with them to maintain a level of confidentiality within the institution, so it doesn't put anyone inside the organization in an awkward position."

Associate professor Amy Harden, current president of University Senate, told The Star Press: "I am surprised by the seemingly abrupt nature and am immensely saddened by this news. In the short time he has been at Ball State, he has had a tremendous positive impact through the various initiatives and the refreshed refocus on Ball State as the university for entrepreneurial learning and community engagement."

Like almost everyone else, she has no idea why Ferguson left.

Was Ferguson terminated without cause?

Political science professor Joe Losco said, "The faculty will be sorry to see him leave. As a scholar and former faculty member himself, he understood faculty concerns and seemed genuinely committed to helping faculty achieve goals they had set for themselves in research, teaching, and service. His demeanor is always cheerful and upbeat.".

Ferguson, a toxicologist, was the first scientist to lead Ball State. His initiatives included a plan to address declining on-campus enrollment.

No matter how many ways the question was asked, Indianapolis attorney Rick Hall, chairman of the trustees, declined during an interview on Monday to say why Ferguson was leaving.

The president simply asked the board for a two-month sabbatical leave and submitted his resignation to be effective at the end of that leave, Hall said. "That is something that he and the board agreed was a good route forward. The board has great confidence in the ability of the faculty and the administration and all that they have accomplished in the last decade" and the university is in a "good position to build on our past success," Hall said. "The future is very bright."

Students react to Ferguson resignation

Ferguson was paid a base salary of $450,000. His five-year employment contract, executed in June of 2014, states that "it is understood that both parties desire and anticipate a long-term relationship" but included all kinds of escape clauses. For example, it gives the board authority to fire Ferguson without cause, in which event both parties "will work cooperatively to prepare a public announcement" regarding the termination.

"The board will have ultimate decision-making authority over the content and timing of the public announcement," the agreement states. "Both parties agree not to make any public statement that would disparage or defame the other."

That agreement also calls for Ferguson to receive damages equal to one year of his salary if he were to be fired without cause.

"It has been an honor and privilege for Grace and me to work with and to serve the faculty, staff, and especially our students, at Ball State University," Ferguson said in a prepared statement that was distributed Monday. "We have, together, worked diligently to refresh our vision and legacy of beneficence and entrepreneurship, refocused on being student-centered and community-engaged, and improved many of our policies and procedures to be best practices."

"While the board and Dr. Ferguson are disappointed that this relationship has ended, we wish Dr. Ferguson and his wife, Grace, well in their future endeavors,” Hall said in a prepared statement.

Last July, the trustees adopted a $345-million general fund budget for 2015-16 that included no pay raises for Ferguson or his cabinet at the president’s request.

The trustees have appointed Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Terry King as acting President. King served as Interim President in 2014 when former Gora retired after 10 years.

“The board has tremendous confidence in the ability of the faculty and the administration to build upon their past successes,” Hall said in the news release, noting that “the collective effort of the entire university community will be especially important as we approach the Centennial Celebration of Ball State in 2018.”

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.

FERGUSON TIMELINE OF EVENTS:

Here's a timeline of Ball State President Paul W. Ferguson's tenure at the university. His resignation was announced Monday afternoon by Ball State:

May 22, 2014: Paul W. Ferguson, 61, president of the University of Maine since 2011, was named the 15th president of Ball State. Ferguson was unanimously approved by the Ball State Board of Trustees. Ball State Board of Trustee chair Rick Hall confirmed to The Star Press that Ferguson will be paid a base salary of $450,000. At Maine, Ferguson earned a base salary of $270,000 during the fiscal year 2013. Ferguson said he is committed to preserving the "excellent" legacy at Ball State.

May 23, 2014: Ferguson says that working with athletics will be a key element of his tenure. He'd been close with coaches and administrators at stops at UNLV, SIU-Edwardsville and Maine, and called college sports both a large financial commitment and a community-impacting enterprise. "Athletics is the front porch to the university, so we want to do it well if we're going to do it," he said.

July 5, 2014: The Star Press reports the contract between Ferguson and Ball State appoints Ferguson for an initial term of five years, beginning Aug. 1, at a base salary of $450,000. "It is understood that both parties desire and anticipate a long-term relationship," the agreement states. "Therefore, the board (of trustees) ... may offer to extend this agreement for additional years."

Sept. 17, 2014: Ferguson adds a new position to his cabinet — senior adviser to the president and chief of staff. The appointment of Julie Hopwood, who has been Ferguson's right-hand person for a dozen years at other schools, increases the number of women on the nine-member cabinet to three. Hopwood holds four college degrees, including two master's degrees and a law degree. Her $200,000 salary is lower than all but one other cabinet member and will require no new funding, the president said. Ferguson, who became president in August, compared the new cabinet member to "almost an ambassador" "who will make sure the office of the president is connected to all constituencies."

Sept. 13, 2015: On-campus enrollment at Ball State University has dropped for the fourth consecutive year, but overall enrollment is up as the number of online students grows. The school has 16,602 on-campus students this fall, down from 18,241 in the fall of 2011. That means 1,639 fewer students are taking classes on the main campus this fall than four years ago, a decrease of 9 percent. The university issued a news release headlined, "Ball State sees a 2.6 percent increase in total student enrollment for fall 2015."

Oct. 22, 2014: The university's board of trustees endorses the plan to consolidate health sciences academic programs, clinics and labs into a new college. Provost Terry King said the consolidation of health-related assets would improve collaboration, scholarship, quality and public access to clinics and labs, especially for the underserved population. Ferguson also endorsed the new college, emphasizing the opportunity for it to improve community-based service. Ball State operates more than a dozen clinics and labs, including audiology, autism, speech language, counseling, human performance, biomechanics, nutrition assessment, gastrointestinal, micro imaging, neuropsychology, renal and metabolic and psychoeducational diagnostic intervention.

Oct. 25, 2014: Ball State University seeks $52.5 million from the state to construct a 150,000-square-foot health professions building for nearly 2,500 students majoring in health programs, including nursing. Paul Ferguson told the Indiana Commission for Higher Education that enrollment in the nursing program has nearly doubled in the past decade. The new building, to contain classrooms and teaching/research laboratories, will be the university's top capital request to the legislature when it reconvenes on Jan. 6 for a session to adopt a two-year budget for 2015-16 and 2016-17. Ball State's other capital priorities are $27.5 million for expansion/renovation of the College of Architecture and Planning; $11.6 million for underground utility improvements; $15.9 million for other repairs and rehabilitation; and $6.2 million for a new instructional venue for the department of theater and dance.

Jan. 5, 2015: Paul Ferguson will replace the top two officials in charge of maintaining and enhancing the institution's image, brand and visibility. Ferguson announced in an email that he had accepted the resignations of Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications, and Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communications. Taylor, whose salary was $236,810, was a member of the president's cabinet. Proudfoot, whose salary was $156,563, already has landed a similar position at the University of Arizona, which called him "a veteran brand builder." Ball State is searching for a new vice president/treasurer to replace Randy Howard, who left for to become CFO at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and for a new athletic director to replace Bill Scholl, who quit to take the AD job at Marquette University.

Jan. 9, 2015: Ferguson announces Mark Sandy is the school's new athletic director, bringing to a conclusion a four-month search to fill that vacancy after Bill Scholl accepted an AD position at Marquette.

Jan. 16, 2015: The Indiana Secretary of State's office is investigating Ball State University's loss of $13.1 million in investments to fraud. The secretary of state's securities division disclosed on Thursday that it is conducting a criminal investigation.

Feb. 7, 2015: Ferguson presents a new, less "generic" vision statement; a "refreshed" strategic plan that "will embrace risk" and "expect failure;" $50,000 out of his own pocket to start a scholarship fund to reward students driven by entrepreneurial beneficence; and plans to increase revenue through enrollment growth. Ferguson, who has retained an enrollment management consultant, will push for a 20-percent increase in graduate student enrollment and a 35-percent increase in fully online student enrollment. Ferguson also will back plans to increase research funding.

May 2, 2015: The state Legislature approves Ball State University's request for $62.5 million for construction to house a new college of health sciences and professions. In addition, the Legislature approved a 3.4 percent increase in state appropriations for the university's operations budget over the 2015-17 biennium, BSU trustees were told.

July 16, 2015: Ball State University is the state's biggest gainer in a new report of on-time college completion rates. Only a third of students who entered Ball State in 2005 graduated within four years, while nearly 45 percent of those who enrolled there in 2010 graduated within four years, according to an Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) report. BSU's 12 percentage-point increase over five years was the highest among Indiana's four-year public schools, followed by Purdue University-West Lafayette (11.5), Indiana University-Bloomington (10.1) and IUPUI (8.4). While Ball State showed the most improvement, its 44.7 percent on-time completion rate remains in third place behind IU-Bloomington at 59.8 percent and Purdue-West Lafayette at 49.1 percent.

July 18, 2015: Ball State University's board of trustees adopts a $345 million general fund budget for 2015-16 that includes no pay raises for President Paul Ferguson or his cabinet. Ferguson and the cabinet opted to go without pay raises this year even though Indianapolis attorney Rick Hall, board chairman, said trustees were pleased with the administration's dedication and "servant leadership" and had planned to give them raises. "We determined that the faculty and staff should get those additional dollars for merit," Ferguson said. "A significant hallmark of servant leadership is giving back. We believe in this university and want to provide an additional financial reward to our outstanding faculty and staff." The budget includes a 2-percent increase in funding for salaries plus additional funds for merit raises, promotions and travel.

Aug. 22, 2015: Ferguson appoints distinguished professor Michael Goldsby as the school's first CEO (chief entrepreneurship officer). As Ferguson starts his second year at Ball State, the phrase "immersive learning" created during predecessor Jo Ann Gora's tenure is taking a back seat to the term "entrepreneurial university." "We've owned it," Ferguson said in the president's annual address to faculty and staff kicking off the fall semester. "It's ours ... Ball State is the entrepreneurial university ... Ball State in the eyes externally is looked upon as the entrepreneurial university." Also, Ferguson welcomed Jennifer Blackmer, the school's first associate provost for entrepreneurial learning.

Sept. 13, 2015: On-campus enrollment at Ball State University drops for the fourth consecutive year, but overall enrollment is up as the number of online students grows. The school has 16,602 on-campus students this fall, down from 18,241 in the fall of 2011. That means 1,639 fewer students are taking classes on the main campus this fall than four years ago, a decrease of 9 percent. Ball State reports the total enrollment had increased from 20,655 last fall to 21,196 this fall, but didn't explain that total enrollment includes thousands of exclusively online students. Total enrollment this fall is down compared to four years ago when it was 22,147. Julie Hopwood, who took over as BSU's interim vice president for enrollment services eight months ago, told The Star Press, "The decline in on-campus enrollment and the increase in admissions standards over the past five years was part of an overall enrollment strategy." She added that the school is creating a long-term enrollment management strategic plan based on contemporary best practices.

Sept. 16, 2015: Last year, Ball State University climbed from 181st to 173rd in U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings. This year, it rose to 168th. Meanwhile, the median salary of former Ball State students 10 years after entering the school is $39,000, just about the national average, according to the White House's new College Scorecard. Ball State finished the magazine's Best Colleges rankings in a tie for 168th with Texas Tech, University of Central Florida, University of Idaho, University of Louisville and University of Maine, where Paul Ferguson served as president before coming to BSU.

Sept. 24, 2015: Ball State University is planning a $5 million expansion and renovation of Emens Auditorium, a venue that has united town and gown for more than half a century. The project will add about 12,000 square feet to the front of the building, expanding the lobby for more pre-event, intermission and post-event crowds, relocating the box office to an interior area, adding much-needed restrooms to the main floor, and also adding hospitality space, a conference room and office space.

Sept. 25, 2015: Ferguson calls the newly renovated Botsford/Swinford residence hall a national model of sustainability and 24/7 living-learning.The $35.7 million project includes energy-efficient revolving doors that prevent drafts, sunlit lounges, water-bottle filling stations that reduce plastic in the waste stream, geothermal heating/cooling and a toxin-free carpet/tile/sink/window/etc. cleaning product called "ozone ewater" that eliminates germs, odors and stains without the chemicals. Academically, the residence hall, which is filled to capacity (577 students), is Ball State's 14th living-learning community, this one catering to emerging media and communications students.

Oct. 3, 2015: In an interview with The Star Press, Ferguson says he remains an evolutionist. "I think I've been very evolutionary. I think that really is the heart of where the Centennial Commitment (18 by '18) came from. When we spent a lot of time talking to a lot of people, 55 departments, alums, constituencies from the Legislature, donors and friends, it was really building on the legacy of Ball State University. We developed ...this vision from where beneficence meets the spirit of entrepreneurship ...We have used the term refreshed as a real, I think, good characteristic of evolving ..." The Centennial Commitment established 18 major goals for the university to accomplish by 2018, the University's 100th Anniversary.

Oct. 7, 2015: Ferguson travels to Atlanta to sign a new commitment to fight climate change, the increasing pace and intensity of which he and 45 other presidents are deeply concerned about. Ferguson attended the ceremony at Agnes Scott College as BSU president and as vice chair of a higher education climate leadership steering committee that he will begin chairing next July.

Nov. 14, 2015: Ball State University could be paid up to $277 million at auction to relinquish the license of WIPB and take the public television station off the air. The opening bid price of $277 million for WIPB is the maximum amount the government will pay the university to relinquish its license and go off the air. The opening price for WIPB to relinquish its UHF channel and move to a lower broadcast televsion brand (VHF) is $111 million. Ball State's board of trustees in September authorized President Paul Ferguson to participate in the preliminary auction process.

Dec. 1, 2015: Ball State grad David Letterman announces he is donating the props, sets and other historic collectibles from his tenure as host of "Late Night" on NBC and its successor the "Late Show" on CBS to Ball State.

Dec. 23, 2015: Ball State football coach Pete Lembo announces he's leaving for the University of Maryland, where he'll become an assistant coach and special teams coordinator.

Jan. 8, 2016: Ball State announces the hiring of Mike Neu, 45, as the new football coach. Neu spent the past two seasons as New Orleans Saints' quarterbacks coach. After completing his career in 1993 as the Cardinals' all-time leading passer with 6,221 yards and 43 touchdown passes, he went on to play three seasons professionally.

Jan. 25, 2016: Ball State announces Ferguson has as requested a two-month sabbatical leave and has submitted his resignation to be effective at the end of that leave. Trustees appoint Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Terry King as acting President. Dr. King served as Interim President in 2014 when former President Jo Ann Gora retired after 10 years.