'Gift' Linked to Contract at Central Arkansas

Allen C. Meadors, president of the University of Central Arkansas, on Thursday apologized to trustees who were upset to realize that a $700,000 "gift" from Aramark to renovate the president's home was linked to a contract for the company to provide food services at the university, the Associated Press reported. Meadors asked the trustees to consider rejecting the gift and seeking a new set of bids on the contract to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest. Meadors said that he thought it was common practice for such grants to be linked to contracts.