Struggling Knoxville College Fires President
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
Dr. Barbara Hatton, president of struggling Knoxville College, was fired this week amid utility cutoffs and claims the faculty hadn’t been paid.
Hatton, 64, reportedly locked herself in her office until Knoxville police arrived, then left the campus of the historically Black college without comment.
“Obviously, as you know we have been under some duress, financially,” trustee chairman Ronald Damper of Chicago told reporters.
“And so we have been going through a process of raising funds, and we just thought this was the best time now for us to make this move,” he said.
Hatton, a former president of South Carolina State University, became president of Knoxville College in 1997 shortly after the Knoxville school lost its accreditation because of funding problems.
