by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
A vote held Monday (April 24) that one University of Arkansas System Board Trustee said was nothing more than an “advisory vote,” went against a resolution supporting a deal that would indirectly connect the University of Arkansas System with the University of Phoenix (UofP).
Transformative Education Systems (TES), an organization loosely but not legally affiliated with the UA System, was incorporated to raise the financing to acquire the UofP and enter into licensing and affiliation agreements with the UA System. Arkansas law does not allow the UA System to directly acquire the UofP, according to Patrick Hollingsworth, UA System interim general counsel.
TES has UA System representation, but most of its officers are independent. The three TES board members are UA System Trustee Ed Fryar, former Trustee Ben Hyneman, and Gina Terry, former chief financial officer of the UA System.
