Less than a week before former College President Gene Nichol’s resignation, Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s office implemented a new policy changing the way that state universities negotiate the selection of presidents and their contracts, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
p. Formerly, the policy of the attorney general’s office was that school-specific assistants to the attorney general would dispense legal advice regarding the selection of presidents and their contracts. Now, all advice will be handled by Ronald Forehand, chief of the education section.
p. The reason for this change is said to foster better relations between a college president and each school’s Board of Visitors and, in Forehand’s words, to “[provide] consistent legal advice to all universities.”
p. Forehand intends to sit in on board meetings and meetings involving presidential searches. He wants to be provided with access to all “relevant” e-mail correspondence.