WHEELING – Former West Liberty University President W. Franklin Evans – whose tumultuous tenure at the institution ended on Dec. 31 after the university’s Board of Governors declined to renew his contract – remains on the university payroll, now in a consultant’s role.

Evans is now a research analyst and executive consultant for WLU. He lists that as his role on his LinkedIn page, and West Liberty University Board of Governors chairman Rich Lucas confirmed Evans’ new position.

Lucas said the board of governors began discussing this new role with Evans after members decided in August not to renew his contract.

The new position is “at-will,” Lucas said, which means West Liberty can terminate the agreement at any time without warning and without having to establish just cause, as long as the reason isn’t illegal. There also is not an employment contract associated with the position.

“His title pretty much describes the role,” Lucas said. “He’s helping us transition. He’s not a part of the search for a new president at all. He has specific tasks to perform in his transition out.”

Lucas did not give a specific end date for the job. He said that once Evans’ tasks are completed, the BOG will revisit the position to see if Evans is needed further.

“There are specific tasks he’s performing, and they’re very high-level, I will tell you that. … At the completion, it will be discussed and decided by the university’s (human resources) and executive management whether his tasks are completed or if he’ll be needed longer.”

Lucas did defer questions concerning Evans’ salary in his new role to the state database for state employee salaries, though the data for West Liberty had not been updated since February 2022. He also deferred questions about Evans’ specific job tasks to interim university President Cathy Monteroso.

The Intelligencer requested information from Monteroso about Evans’ specific duties and his compensation in his new consultant/analyst role. She provided neither, but did send a short statement about the position.

“Dr. Evans is serving in an at-will transitional consulting role reporting directly to me,” Monteroso said. “He does not have a contract that we can share, as our staff do not have contracts. Staff employees are at-will employees and we do not comment on specific personnel matters.”

Salaries of all state employees regardless of role, including all those employed at West Liberty University, are public record. For example, in 2021, Evans made $243,261.28 in total compensation as the university’s president.

Evans served as WLU president for two years, with much of that time mired in controversy. In his first year on the job, he was forced to apologize for having plagiarized parts of several speeches that he had made both on and off campus. Those speeches included his fall convocation speech, one he gave on Juneteenth and one he gave on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

He barely dodged termination in October 2021. The BOG voted 7-5 at that time to retain him. The board voted unanimously in November 2021 to publicly censure him.

WLU faculty’s displeasure in Evans’ leadership was evident. The university’s Faculty Senate in October 2021 gave a vote of no confidence to Evans. And in April 2022, a WLU faculty and staff survey showed very little trust in Evans’ leadership and personal integrity.

Soon after that survey was made public, Evans, the university’s first Black president, questioned whether race played a part in how the survey was conducted and how those results were presented.

The university is currently conducting the search for a new permanent president. It has hired the firm AGB Search to help lead the process. A new president is expected to be hired before the end of the spring semester.