RWU president's son resigns controversial university job
4:52 PM Wed, May 13, 2009 | Permalink
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The 26-year-old son of Roger Williams University President Roy J. Nirschel resigned as a university fundraiser Monday, after his arrest Saturday on assault charges in Hoboken, N.J. The university confirmed the resignation of Christopher Nirschel in a one-sentence statement, which also said he had taken a leave of absence without pay on May 5. On May 6, the university's Faculty Senate publicly debated and criticized the hiring of the president's son as unethical and questioned his qualifications. President Nirschel, in a phone interview Wednesday, declined to discuss his son's situation. "My conversations with him have been strictly personal, as a parent," the president said. "As a person, I feel badly about his situation. But a person is innocent until proven guilty. I am certainly sad for anyone who has a significant miscue and is being charged." Christopher Nirschel was hired in the fall of 2008 for the position of a regional major gifts officer. He raised money and recruited students from the New York and New Jersey area. His hiring sparked controversy on the Bristol campus after RWU's student newspaper, The Hawk's Herald, broke the story in March. Some students and faculty said that appointment violated the university's policy on nepotism, which prohibits the hiring of close relatives unless they are found to be the most qualified for a position. According to the job description, five years of fundraising and a bachelor's degree were required for the job Chris Nirschel got, which pays $45,000 to $90,000 a year. University spokeswoman Judith Johnson said that Chris Nirschel was hired at the entry level salary. Chris Nirschel attended Roger Williams for a while, but the president and Johnson declined to say whether he had graduated. President Nirschel said he had no role in the hiring of his son, and said he was confident the correct procedures had been followed by the university's human resources department. "Perception is not always reality," the president said. "I didn't participate, encourage or discourage his employment. Certainly, he has the same last name as I do, and one could draw their own surmising on that. The sense of the people who hired him was that [the name] would be a positive and show enthusiasm for the university." A higher education Web site, InsideHigherEd.com, and The Hawk reported that Hoboken police arrested the younger Nirschel after he allegedly assaulted a police officer after a bar fight in Hoboken early Saturday morning. Five days before Chris Nirschel resigned, RWU's Faculty Senate passed a resolution criticizing the hiring. "Faculty Senate objects to the hire of the President's son which did not conform to the university's hiring policies and detracts from the transparency so important to the functioning of the university and violates the principle of inclusive excellence," the motion stated. According to the draft minutes of the May 6 meeting, the Faculty Senate entered into executive session to speak about a private letter President Nirschel had written about his son, Christopher, taking the university job. After 65 minutes, the faculty came back into public session to discuss their concerns openly, in particular whether human resources followed proper procedure in hiring the president's son. Professor Matt Stein, president of the Faculty Senate, said he could not comment on his colleagues' concerns, but noted in an e-mail that, "the senate went into executive session for about an hour, but came out ... because it wanted its debate be part of the public record." 
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