ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
Sometime before Monday, Radford University President Douglas Covington will sit down with the university's rector, Jim Stutts, and finally look over his much-publicized annual review.
It's been more than a month since controversy erupted over the review, which some charged was the start of a veiled attempt to oust the president. Covington still isn't speculating about its contents. But the full board of visitors will go over the review Monday at its quarterly meeting.
It's a "positive review," Stutts said. Asked if Covington will keep his job, Stutts responded: "I certainly hope he will."
"I think after Monday, the picture should be very clear to everybody," he said.
Conducted by two independent consultants, the review is considered an institution review. The idea was to evaluate the entire university, with a focus on Covington, who took over in June 1995.
"I'm very interested in addressing [the report] with the board and receiving from the board any feedback that will be helpful to me in leading and guiding the university," Covington said last week.
A major change has occurred since the review was launched, however, and that's the resignation Oct. 31 of Karen Waldron, the board's rector during 1995. Waldron, who was elected vice rector this year, was to have gone over the evaluation with both Stutts and Covington.
Her departure comes only months after she inherited five companies from her father, the late Elbert Waldron, a Roanoke real estate developer. Karen Waldron said last week that she no longer had enough time to devote to Radford.
But she rejected the notion that her absence would hurt the review, or that the review had anything to do with her decision to depart.
"I feel very bad I can't finish this out," she said, but added: "We're all going to be fine, and it's going to be OK, and the world is not going to come to an end."
Whether the review will be made public is unclear. Stutts said he expected the board to release some sort of statement, and Covington referred that issue to the board itself.
"I don't plan to release it," Covington said. "But I think that's something the board is in a position to address."
Storm clouds gathered quickly in late summer when plans for the review were revealed. Board member Nancy Wilson said discussion of firing the president surfaced within the board this summer. Faculty and students rallied to support Covington.
Political science professor Al Pearson said the timing of the review - so soon after Covington's arrival - made him believe that "there may in fact have been a clandestine move to oust Dr. Covington."
Last week, Wilson said: "I hope we'll get the full report, unedited. What I'm concerned is, what the full board is going to do about it."
An independent consultant, former Towson State University President James Fisher of Annapolis, Md., arrived on campus last month. Aided by Curtis McCray, president of Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., the pair quizzed campus and community representatives to try to get a picture of Radford University.
Covington's arrival followed the controversial departure of longtime President Donald Dedmon and the tumultuous year that followed under the interim presidency of Charles Owens.
Radford minister Ronald Watson - who has suggested that the evaluation might have been motivated by racism because Covington is black - could not be reached for comment last week. However, he has called for a positive review, followed by a three-or four-year contract for the university president.
Late last month, Watson issued a list of questions for Stutts and the board to consider. Among them: "Has the Board of Visitors ever conducted a written evaluation of Dr. Covington's predecessors during their presidencies at Radford University?" That's a question that arose in recent weeks, as Covington's supporters wondered why he was being evaluated now.
David Worrell, the vice mayor of the city of Radford, wrote a letter to the editor in support of Covington. He said last week that Covington has become a visible member of the community, and that the board may have misjudged the extent to which the community has embraced the new president.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Covington. color.by CNB