Articles

Controversial Martin University president to retire this month

Algeania Freeman will retire Dec. 31 after three years at the school, officials said late Monday morning. Former NCAA executive Charlotte Westerhaus will serve as acting president while the predominantly black university conducts a nationwide search for a new leader.

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Martin professor’s ouster sparks student protests

Martin University students upset over the firing of a popular professor are staging protests over the direction the school has taken under new President Algeania Freeman. Freeman in January replaced the Rev. Boniface Hardin, a Benedictine monk who founded the inner-city school 30 years ago. She since has roiled many faculty members and students by letting go employees-many times without reason, they contend-as part of a strategy to cut costs. IBJ reported their concerns in July. But the Oct. 20…

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New Martin University president draws ire

In less than four months, new Martin University President Algeania Freeman said, she hit her two main objectives for the state’s
only predominantly black university: cut costs and increase fund raising. But her whirlwind of activity
has not come without controversy.

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Martin University to lose its founder, but not his philosophy

In an 80-grit patch of the city fluent in poverty and despair, the Rev. Father Boniface Hardin lectures a visitor on how businesspeople need to learn the language and culture of countries where they operate. If not out of deference, then do it for practical reasons, he says, painting a picture of foreign business partners who “bow their heads and say, ‘This guy is one big sucker and we can rip him off,’ in their language.” What at first sounds…

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