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Freeman responds to critics

• Albany State University's president responds to criticism from students.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

ALBANY — Albany State University President Everette J. Freeman has reached out to the student body and addressed issues that has drawn critcism from them, such as his leadership style and university finances.

In a Monday morning e-mail titled “Open letter to ASU student body,” Freeman talked about his motivation for joining the ASU family, stating that he was prepared to meet the expected challenges when he “accepted the call to become the eighth president of Albany State University.”

“I also believed that Albany State University was the kind of place that had proven to be strong and resilient in the face of adversity, and that together we would continue to grow and build and strong and vibrant intellectual citadel,” he wrote. “I still believe it.”

During the past few weeks, students have openly criticized Freeman for closing the Presidential Scholarship Program; for a proposed $100 per semester increase to student fees as a vehicle to pay off a multimillion dollar debt on its stadium, the Albany State Municipal Coliseum, and for not being more visible around campus and at student functions.

In an opinion piece in the college newspaper, “The Student Voice,” ASU senior Chuncey Ward wrote: “Alumni are bitter with the direction of their alma mater and most importantly, the majority of the students don’t respect you or approve of your leadership.”

Ward went on to blast Freeman for attending too few on-campus sporting events.

To those sentiments, Freeman responded:

“I have spent the better part of my three years as president dealing with a series of financial crises that I had no hand in creating, but which demanded my undivided attention. I make no apologies for erring on the side of placing ASU’s future as my chief priority.”

In his lengthy e-mail, the president talked about his open-door policy, his invitations to be shadowed, the dinners and extracurricular activities he’s attended and how he has “greeted, complimented and congratulated student scholars, athletes and student ambassadors who continue to showcase the best and brightest that ASU has to offer.”

He continued, “If I have not extended myself even more or expressed in more public ways how very proud I am to serve as your president, blame it on the demands of this job and not on the heart.

“Robust, spirited dialogue is the lifeblood of the academy and I always welcome it and relish it. I do take exception, however, with those who argue that I ‘do not care’ about the well being of Albany State University or the students who provide ASU its essential lifeblood.”

During a brief conversation with The Herald, Freeman said that the exchange between him and students is natural.

“It’s part of the normal flow of university life,” he said. “This isn’t a boxing match. This is an ongoing conversation that the (community) is having.”

In his e-mail, Freeman went on to address some university issues he inherited, such as the stadium debt and the scholarship fund established by ASU’s sixth president, the late Billy C. Black.

The fund was created through a $3 million unrestricted gift of the late Ray Charles, an Albany native, and was “suspended by me (Freeman) as a matter of financial necessity after the first $2 million ... was depleted after several years of student awards.”

Freeman explained that his predecessor, Portia Holmes Shields, “used the remaining $1 million as collateral for the short-term stadium loan from SunTrust Bank.”

In discussing prior leadership, Freeman was quick to write: “My intent is not to ‘tarnish’ my predecessor’s legacy. Dr. Shields’ enduring contributions to ASU speak loudly enough to silence any unearned criticism.

“I have only recently spoken about actions Dr. Shields took because I have been pressed to explain ‘how we got to this point. There is no way to explain ‘where we are now’ without referring to the decisions that were made prior to my arrival.”

As it relates to the student fee increase, Freeman said he delivered the information student leaders requested following an initial presentation.

“All information,” he wrote, “regarding the history of the stadium debt, copies of financial documents, information regarding fee increases at other institutions, as well as documents showing efforts by the administration and the ASU Foundation to extinguish the stadium debt, were provided.

“I have been as open and transparent with the (Student Government Association) leadership as I can be.”

Freeman closed his letter on a positive note, noting that he and students could take the easy way out, but saying that neither would.

“I would not have come to students to bail out ASU if I did not have to,” he wrote. “Let us together place ASU first!”

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