MUNCIE, Ind. — A newspaper has obtained an email revealing rifts between former Ball State University President Paul Ferguson and the Indiana school’s governing board chairman months before the president’s unexplained departure.
The (Muncie) Star Press reported Sunday that it obtained the email written by Ferguson to university officials in March 2015, 10 months before he resigned. It says Chairman Rick Hall micromanaged Ferguson on many matters, including hiring decisions, strategies dealing with enrollment and revenue losses and investigations into a university investment scandal preceding Ferguson’s tenure.
The board says in a statement the newspaper’s report “is a completely inaccurate portrait of Rick Hall.” It calls him “a thoughtful and inspiring leader.”
The newspaper reports a presidential search committee has forwarded five finalists for interviews. Hall says he isn’t one of them.
