Higher Education Perspectives
Op-ed: The Birmingham News on Yvonne Kennedy
By Associated Press
Jul 13, 2007, 19:49

Bishop State's controversial president is retiring at the end of the month, but now says she'll be sticking around campus. What part of "leave" does she not understand?

Yvonne Kennedy is getting a better deal from taxpayers than they have gotten from her. Taxpayers certainly didn't deserve the latest insult from the outgoing president of Bishop State Community College.

Her parting shot? She's retiring, but not leaving.

Just last month, Kennedy announced she'd retire at the end of July, news that came in the midst of complaints about her lousy management and calls for her to be fired.

Now, Kennedy says she'll be sticking around campus after retirement to write a book about Bishop State.

Better yet, her lawyer said, she'll be on hand to offer advice to those trying to clean up the troubled community college.

Which is interesting, considering that Kennedy helped create the mess at Bishop State.

This is a school on probation at the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools because of a number of administrative and academic problems. It's a school where tax dollars have at times been haphazardly spent and documented. It's a school where more than two dozen people, including college officials, face criminal charges in connection with financial aid fraud.

Kennedy, as both the college's president and a state legislator, bears tremendous responsibility for the mismanagement at the Mobile campus. Yet, Kennedy stayed on even after her weak leadership became apparent. She stayed on long enough, indeed, to qualify for a $531,000 lump-sum retirement bonus along with the healthy $7,600-a-month pension she'll begin drawing when she retires.

But that's not good enough for Kennedy. She still wants to remain a fixture at Bishop State, even though it will complicate efforts to bring about reforms and better leadership.

Postsecondary Chancellor Bradley Byrne says Kennedy will have no authority. But her very presence will stymie those who want to further investigate past practices at the school and intimidate those who want to make much-needed changes.

It's like buying a house a real fixer-upper, no less and having the previous owner refuse to vacate the premises.

Kennedy's retirement meant she could leave her job under a cloud but still on remarkably favorable terms. Taxpayers' only reason to accept this arrangement was that it would be cheaper and quicker for her to leave voluntarily than to force her out. This newspaper was among those who accepted that rationale.

But Kennedy doesn't want to do the one thing this lopsided deal requires of her. What part of "leave" does she not understand?

- Associated Press