AAMU Jennings alternately praised, criticized during tenure

Change welcome in beginning, but soon led to friction.

Dr. Robert Jennings was never trustees' first pick to become the 10th permanent president of Alabama A&M University.

They voted 5-4 to offer him the job on Dec. 16, 2005, after their unanimous first choice, Dr. Julian Earls, then director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, had turned them down in October.

Jennings, now 57, was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Future Focus 2020, an academic think tank and research training center in the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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AAMU Jennings fired for financial improperiety

The future of Alabama A&M University

Only a strong leader can save the university from itself

Whether you supported Dr. Robert Jennings in his almost two-year tenure at Alabama A&M University or whether you thought he had proved himself unequal to the task of leading the historically black school effectively, the decision by the board of trustees on Monday to fire Jennings must lead to this conclusion: This is a regrettable time for the university.

But we'll go further: A&M's leadership is, in fact, in chaos and there's little hope it can reach a state of equilibrium unless things change dramatically and soon.

Exactly why Jennings was fired remains unclear. Reports of Jennings' alleged questionable payments to staff members haven't been effectively addressed publicly.

The board has continued to meet behind closed doors to discuss his job performance, saying it was dealing with "good name and character" and getting legal advice.

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Jennings plans court action against firing by A&M

Photo: Fired Alabama A&M University president Dr. Robert R. Jennings.

Alabama A&M University President Dr. Robert Jennings was fired by the board of trustees in a 7-1 vote March 31, 2008, but will not leave without a fight.

"He feels like this was an absolute travesty of justice," said his attorney, John Saxon of Birmingham. "It was a kangaroo court. "I'm not even sure, first of all, that this was a lawful meeting."

Saxon said Jennings was not given a hearing or chance to respond publicly to the charges against him, and the termination was based on the report of an ad hoc committee never approved by the board.

"He has not been afforded due process, and we plan to fully challenge the decision and all of these points in Madison County Circuit Court," Saxon said. "I think he didn't play ball the way some people wanted him to play ball and to go along the way things had been in the past. And that bothered some people, some people in high places."

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Dr. Jennings is a Morehouse College grad earning a B.A. in sociology in 1972; earned a M.A. in educational psychology in 1974 and a Ed.S. degrees in interrelated learning, 1979 from Clark Atlanta University. He also earned a Doctor of Education degree in educational administration and policy studies from Clark Atlanta University in 1982.