Southern W.Va. College President Told to Vacate Office

At an emergency meeting Monday, the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education placed Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College president Pam Alderman on paid administrative leave and told her to vacate her office, WOWK-TV reported.

Vice Chancellor Chris Treadway read a resolution at the meeting that stripped Alderman of her authority and access to the institution, noting that she had violated restrictions placed on her by Southern’s Board of Governors last month in response to alleged ethical violations.

“The president has taken actions in apparent violation of restrictions placed upon her by the board, including unauthorized communications with [the Higher Learning Committee] and unauthorized participation in media interviews despite clear directives to the contrary,” Treadway said.

Other accusations levied at Alderman at last month’s meeting include that she attempted to buy a luxury vehicle with taxpayer money, terminated employees who filed grievances against her and gave her ex-husband a high-paying job at the college, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

Alderman denied many of those allegations, turning the tables on the council at last month’s meeting.

“You said you have lost confidence in me, but I have lost confidence in the commission,” she said, according to the Gazette-Mail. “I’ve called numerous times asking for help. I called numerous times to talk to the chancellor and was told we don’t get into that, you have to handle that, you have to figure that out, we cannot give you that information. I was given no information at all. You don’t want to listen to the truth, and we are here with the truth.”

According to the resolution introduced Monday, the council also seized power from the college’s Board of Governors, preventing it from overseeing presidential appointments for two years.

“I would just like to take a moment just to say that this is not something that we as a council have taken lightly,” council chair Christina Cameron said. “It was a hard decision to make.”

The council has appointed Corley Dennison, vice chancellor for academic affairs at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, to serve as interim president until June 30, which is when Alderman’s contract officially expires.