Hocking College reinstates Ron Erickson as president after ousting him in June
Columbus Dispatch
September 29, 2011
The new chairman of the board of trustees says common business sense — and the school’s undeservedly dismissed leader — have been restored at Hocking College.
Parlaying the votes of four recently appointed trustees with his own, Rocky Boots Inc. Chairman Mike Brooks and his allies voted Tuesday evening to restore Ron Erickson as president of the public two-year college.
Erickson was dismissed by a 7-1 board vote on June 3 amid a long-lingering feud with the trustees over what he denounced as micromanagement of the day-to-day operations of the Nelsonville college.
Brooks was the lone dissenter then, but the departure in recent months of four trustees — two who resigned and two whose terms expired — set the stage for Erickson’s return. Brooks described the four as “Light loyalists,” a reference to retired 41-year college president John Light.
Brooks worked with the four new trustees to arrange his appointment as chairman of the trustees on Tuesday night, and the new majority then voted 5-4 to return Erickson to the president’s office.
