Alford sentenced

Former president and CEO of the NKU Foundation, James Alford, 53, was sentenced to probation, 180 days of in-home incarceration and 400 hours of community service by Campbell County Circuit Judge Leonard Kopowski June 17. Alford, who once led the Foundation, managing day-to-day operations and millions of dollars in private donations to the university, pleaded guilty to selling marijuana to young adults from his Highland Heights home in May 2003. James L. Flood was named president of the Foundation on May 22.

Professor’s lawsuit ends in mistrial

A federal judge declared a mistrial last July in the defamation suit filed by NKU Professor Clinton Hewan against Fox News Network when the jury remained deadlocked after four days of deliberation.

Hewan filed the case after Fox published an article suggesting he advocated violence against former Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach, who fatally wounded Timothy Thomas, an unarmed, 19-year-old black man, an incident that led to riots in the city in 2001.

The comments stem from a forum held on campus from which Hewan was quoted in an April 2001 edition of The Northerner saying Thomas’ family should “quietly stalk that SOB and take him out.” Hewan testified at the trial that the comment was taken out of context and his intention was to spur discussion not violence

Supreme Court on affirmative action

On June 23, the Supreme Court ruled on two separate University of Michigan affirmative action cases earmarked as landmark decisions in affirmative action policy. The Court upheld Michigan’s law school policy that uses race as a determining factor, but not an overriding one, for admission. In a parallel case, the Court struck down the university’s use of a point system, upholding the earlier decision of the Court that quotas are unconstitutional as a means to increase diversity on college campuses.