Nampa college offers presidency to interim president

Joel Pearsall, who stepped in as interim president at Northwest Nazarene University in June following the resignation of David Alexander, was asked by the school’s trustees Friday to assume the presidency.

Pearsall is taking the weekend to think about the offer and will announce his decision Monday on whether to accept the four-year contract, school officials said.

Pearsall became interim president following one of the most tumultuous times in the school’s recent history.

Alexander resigned in May 2015 after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a student at NNU more than a quarter of a century ago.

In April 2015, NNU faculty overwhelmingly supported a no-confidence vote of Alexander, seeking a greater say in university decision-making and expressing dissatisfaction with Alexander’s decision to lay off Thomas J. Oord, popular theology professor..

Trustees eventually agreed to let Oord continue to teach in online classes part-time for three years.

Pearsall promised to collaborate with the faculty when he became interim president.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Nampa college offers presidency to interim president."