Staff Report
Published Jan. 29, 2009

Former S.C. State University President Andrew Hugine has been selected as a finalist for president at Alabama A&M University.

The top three picks for the spot were announced Wednesday, and interviews with the finalists will take place Friday with students, faculty and administrators. The board of trustees is expected to make a decision at a meeting Saturday, university spokesman Jerome Saintjones said.

Hugine, S.C. State’s ninth president, was voted out of the presidency by the school’s board of trustees in December 2007. The board cited his performance review and poor academic improvements at the school. The move stirred controversy within and outside the board. Hugine was placed on administrative leave until his last day in January 2008. He had been president since 2003.

In 2008, Hugine filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against S.C. State and several board members, claiming breach of contract and defamation of character. He said trustees conspired behind closed doors to fire him. The lawsuit also calls into question who is to blame in an alleged misuse of public funds at the university, which is the subject of an ongoing state investigation.

Alabama A&M’s most recent president, Robert Jennings, left in March after a conflict with the board.