Editorial: "Where there's Smoke?" - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Editorial: "Where there's Smoke?"

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By Collin R. Gaston - bio | email

  • Editorials

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  • Thursday, May 16 2013 7:20 PM EDT2013-05-16 23:20:04 GMT
    In my editorial on Tuesday I chided our legislators for being the last state to pass a no-brainer  bill legalizing home brewing.  Today I want to challenge them to be one of the first states to pass another no-brainer;
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    •   
MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -

There certainly is a lot of smoke over at Alabama State University this week, but is there a fire – it depends on whom you trust. The current President Joseph Silver, currently on paid administrative leave, has alluded that there might be a number of questionable fires burning and was placed in "administrative time out" when he dug deeper, asked questions and attempted to let some people go.

If on the other hand you believe John Knight, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ASU, the university has been thoroughly audited and no illegal or inappropriate financial transactions have been brought to his or the university's attention to date.

One thing is for sure, someone or a group of someone's is going to be leaving ASU in the not so distant future.  Both sides cannot be telling the truth on this one and buried somewhere in all of this is the truth.

We'll offer this without hesitation - whoever is not telling truth must be routed out immediately.  If it's proven that there are endemic issues at the university with university or board officials – they all must go.  If it comes out that Dr. Joseph Silver's statements of perceived improprieties are baseless – he must go.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that ASU will be a better institution for having gone through this; it just won't come without a few bumps a bruises getting there.

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