Legislator stalls 20 University of Arkansas colleges projects

Action comes after Fayetteville campus didn’t hire job candidate he favored


After the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville didn't hire his favored candidate for a job, a state lawmaker secured a legislative panel's delay in considering 20 proposed contracts and construction projects at colleges in the University of Arkansas System.

In recent interviews, state Rep. Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, said he asked the Legislative Council's Review Subcommittee co-chairman, Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, to have the committee "hold" onto the proposals during the panel's July 18 meeting because he wanted to express his concerns about the direction of the Arkansas Leadership Academy to UA System Vice President of University Relations Melissa Rust. The academy is on the UA campus in Fayetteville.

Eubanks said he didn't ask Rust to have UA-Fayetteville reverse its recent decision to hire Huntsville Public Schools Superintendent Clint Jones as the academy's director. Eubanks' preferred candidate was Tina Smith, director of policy and special projects at the state Department of Education.

"We'll be watching it to see what comes out of the Leadership Academy now as far as the direction," Eubanks, a former Paris School Board member, said when asked whether Rust satisfied his concerns. "Developing leadership at the building level is critical if we want to move education forward."

Read more: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/aug/19/legislator-stalls-20-ua-colleges-projec/