This story has been significantly updated since it was first published.
After a 2-1/2 hour closed session, University of Arkansas System trustees voted today to extend the contract of system President Donald Bobbitt for two years.
The board, which has seen more than its share of contention in recent months, was unusually quiet after the lengthy executive session. Most of the discussion in the closed meeting dealt with Bobbitt, according to chairman Morril Harriman. Not one member spoke for or against the contract extension during the open part of the meeting.
There were no audible “No” votes. There was not a roll call, and it was not immediately clear if anyone abstained. Trustee Sheffield Nelson had recently urged fellow trustees to begin seeking a new president.
Bobbitt, 66, has been president of the system since late 2011. His current contract expires at the end of December, when the extension is to begin.
Harriman said the board would ultimately vote on the amended contract after it is put into writing.
Ben Beaumont, the UA System’s senior director of policy and public affairs, said in an emailed response to questions from the Arkansas Times, “It was a voice vote, which is what most of our votes are, so [there was] no roll call of trustees. … I didn’t hear any no’s.”
The lack of any public discussion during today’s meeting was almost as noticeable as the outcome in that even the most vocal of Bobbitt’s critics — Nelson — was atypically silent.
Trustee Ed Fryar made the motion to extend Bobbitt’s contract. Trustee Col. Nathaniel “Nate” Todd seconded it.
In fact, the only other person who spoke publicly about the matter was Harriman, who stated only the most basic terms of the extension and did not give his position on the matter.
Bobbitt’s salary will remain the same in the extended contract, Beaumont said. Bobbitt makes an annual salary of $510,000 plus $150,000 in deferred compensation. His contract was last extended in 2019, for four years.
Under the motion, the contract amendment will include a provision that the board can exit the contract with a 90-day notice and that Bobbitt can exit with a six-month notice.
The motion also “affirmed Dr. Bobbitt’s appointment as a tenured professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, which he has the option to return to at the conclusion of his service in the President position,” Beaumont said.
“I’m honored and thrilled to continue to serve in the role of President of the University of Arkansas System,” Bobbitt said in a statement after the meeting, attended by some trustees in person and by others remotely.
Bobbitt’s future at the UA System had been in doubt in light of two major defeats in less than a year.
Recently, a divided board rejected Bobbitt’s 2-year-long, largely secretive effort to affiliate the university system with a nonprofit entity that would then buy the troubled online-onl University of Phoenix with private dollars. Earlier, in November, the board unanimously voted to name Charles Robinson as the new chancellor of the system’s flagship campus, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, despite Bobbitt’s efforts to get Robinson to withdraw his application. Bobbitt had even offered Robinson a half-million dollars to drop out of the selection process and remain provost.
The University of Phoenix debacle led some trustees to distrust Bobbitt, most prominently Nelson. In June, Nelson sent an email accusing Bobbitt of deception and “subterfuge” in the handling of the issue and urged the board to begin looking for a new president. The board responded by voting 7-3 for a resolution that scolded Nelson for sending the email and said his information was inaccurate.
More recently came another email urging board members to find a new president, this time from wealthy timber businessman and former trustee John Ed Anthony. Anthony cited the repeated divisions on board votes and said he and others, including Tyson Foods Inc. chairman and former trustee John Tyson, believed the board should seek new leadership for the UA system.
In response, trustee Kelly Eichler said in an email, “I’m afraid that this is the way that Mr. Tyson is trying to get what he ultimately wants, to be rid of Dr. Bobbitt. Interference with Board business has been the m.o. thus far, and is the epicenter for our division.”
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette first reported on the email exchange, which the Arkansas Times obtained under an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request today.
In an emailed statement reported earlier by the Democrat-Gazette and shared today with the Times, a Tyson Foods spokesman said, “Like many Arkansans, Mr. Tyson cares deeply about the University of Arkansas. He has varying opinions regarding sports, leadership and educational quality. Mr. Tyson has not spoken to any members of the Board of Trustees about this or any other current issues before the Board.”
Anthony told the Democrat-Gazette that he had talked with one of John Tyson’s representatives, but not Tyson himself.
Also today, the board approved a motion to offer the general counsel position to current associate general counsel David Curran. The offer depends upon the parties’ agreement to terms of employment.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Bobbitt’s contract extension was for 10 years. It is for two years.