For months, Dr. Yvonne Kennedy has sat on the searing presidential seat of Bishop Community College, the Mobile, Ala.-based historically Black institution that has been riddled with numerous scandals over the past four years. 

Bradley Bryne, the new chancellor of the state’s two-year college system, said last week he will decide whether to recommend the firing of Kennedy by the June 28 state school board meeting. Yet, Kennedy may choose today to get off the hot seat on her own accord.

Her state Deferred Retirement Option Program, which she enrolled in five years ago, concludes today, and if she retires she is slated to receive a lump sum of $516,000 in addition to her regular pension, according to the Mobile Press-Register.

The lump sum is the accumulated amount of monthly retirement allowances that were placed in a DROP account over the past five years while she also earned her regular salary. If Kennedy, who has been at the helm of Bishop State since 1981, continues to work, she will no longer be able to defer these retirement payments.

Kennedy’s lawyer, J. Cecil Gardner, says he does not think Kennedy wants to retire.

“Dr. Kennedy has not told me that she is thinking about retiring,” he says. “Until she is able to get those problems corrected, I don’t think she is interested in retiring.”

Twenty-seven employees or former employees of the two-year college, including a former chief student aid officer, have been charged with stealing about $200,000 in financial aid and athletic funds. Also, after reviewing the school’s finances, federal authorities ordered it to repay $150,000 in Pell Grant funds last year. And, Financial Aid Services Inc., which was brought in last November to revamp the financial aid system, found that the college was violating federal regulations by not having a system to verify student aid information.

The financial aid problems first appeared during the 2003-2004 school year with a U.S. Department of Education audit of aid payments. Then, in 2005, state auditors found that one Bishop State alum and four students who were not attending classes were all receiving financial aid. That was followed by the financial aid fraud that surfaced last summer, resulting in the 27 indictments, 14 of which were announced last month.  The FBI is still investigating and the college has been placed on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.