On July 10, the board of trustees of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania voted not to renew the contract of the university’s president Brenda Allen.
President Allen filed a lawsuit and a second lawsuit was filed by the attorney general of Pennsylvania. The suits claimed that decision to oust President Allen violated the state’s Sunshine Act and the university’s own bylaws when they voted in secret on the contract issue. In addition, five newly appointed board members were not allowed to vote on the contract extension.
Only July 24, William P. Mahon, a judge on the Chester County court, ruled that President Allen must be reinstated to her post. The board would be allowed to revisit the issue at its August 6 meeting but the five new members must be given the opportunity to participate in the decision. Also, two board members who resigned after objecting to the board’s decision not to negotiate a new contract with President Allen would have to be reinstated.
At the August 6 meeting, the board of trustees voted unanimously to negotiate a new contract for President Allen.
Before being named the fourteenth president of Lincoln University in 2017, Dr. Allen was provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. She is the former associate provost for institutional diversity at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Earlier, she taught at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
A graduate of Lincoln University, Dr. Allen holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Howard University in Washington, D.C.