It only took two years, but now Cornelius Kerwin can finally drop the “acting” part of his title. The Post is reporting that Kerwin, who took the helm of American University after petty cash-abuser extraordinaire Ben Ladner was forced to step down in 2005, will formally become the university’s next president. The Board of Trustees had been engaged in a search since January — former Mayor Anthony Williams was even floated as a possible nominee…

We’ve joked about it before, but it really seems to be true: this town eats university presidents for lunch. Today comes word that the president of the University of the District of Columbia, William L. Pollard, resigned yesterday and will step down at the end of June after five years in at the public university. The Post reports that he was asked to leave by the university’s board of trustees when his contract ends at…

First it was American, then Gallaudet and now Howard — all in all, university presidents in the District just aren’t having a good run. The Post reported over the weekend that the head of Howard University’s faculty senate called for the removal of the university’s president, H. Patrick Swygert, accusing him of financial mismanagement. Never one to see the glass as half-empty, Swygert, who has served the prestigious historically black university since 1995, fired back…

Given that the state of the District’s public schools is one of the city’s most pressing problems, we were excited to see Mayor Adrian Fenty host an online chat at the Post to clarify and explain his ambitious plans for a mayoral takeover. Unfortunately, the chat ended up sounding much like most of President George W. Bush’s public appearances — staged and scrubbed free of criticism. Fenty fielded 16 questions in total, none of which…

Post chats have never been good for university presidents. Just last year American University’s Ben Ladner was accused of cherry-picking questions to avoid anything below the level of fawning adoration, and yesterday embattled Gallaudet University president-select Jane K. Fernandes did her cause no justice by confirming what many of her detractors have claimed as her biggest flaws — that she’s divisive and insensitive. While saying she wanted there to be dialogue between her opponents and…

So you’re Jane Fernandes. In January you’re set to take control of Gallaudet University, the nation’s premiere institution of higher learning for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. But since your selection in May, it’s been nothing but headache after headache. Students protested the decision until summer break, but showed surprising resolve and kicked off the protests again this semester. So far they’ve taken over a building, blocked all entrances to the campus, taken 133 arrests in…

Bonjour, Washington. Still reveling in the beauty of yesterday’s weather? Today it’ll be mostly sunny, with a high around 77. Of course, then there is the issue of having to go into work…no way around that one, really. As for walking around the city, watch out for those exploding manholes; oof. Feds Seize Items from Alleged Area Prostitution Ring Owner Seizing more than $427,000 in cash and stocks, looks like federal agents have busted…

Good morning, Washington. Hopefully you’re getting the day off, especially because it seems Monday will be just as beautiful weather-wise as Sunday was. Did you spend your weekend in a productive manner? Running the Army 10-Miler, perhaps? I spent it playing flag football and drunk, so I’m going to go with “non-productive.” But still nice. I mean, at least we didn’t spend it at George Allen’s fundraising hoedown. Lord. It’s a Day That Ends…

Word to the wise — if you’re skimming some company money off the top for personal expenses, spread some of the love around. If not, well, it’s going to come back and bite you in the ass. That’s exactly what happened with former American University president Ben Ladner, who was fired from his $875,000-a-year job last October after news emerged that he had been too liberally spending university funds on personal expenses and opulent parties…

It was only a few months back that American University was the center of a local media storm, awash in allegations concerning the spending habits of its president, Benjamin Ladner. Accused of living large on more than $500,000 worth of university funds, Ladner was eventually fired, though not without a generous $3.75 million severance package. Things have quieted down some at the Northwest campus since then, even though a Senate committee has launched an investigation…