Top-cop hopeful bows out at UCA

Finalist resigned post after review

CONWAY — One of two finalists for University of Central Arkansas’ next police chief withdrew his application Thursday after news reports surfaced about his resignation from the chief’s job at Kennesaw State University.

Roger Stearns and the other finalist, Tom Saccenti, who is chief of police at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., were scheduled to visit UCA on Wednesday to meet with faculty, executives, other staff and students as well as law-enforcement heads in Conway. Both were to have lunch with UCA police officers and visit with UCA President Houston Davis, who formerly was interim president at Kennesaw State.

Davis and an eight-member search committee headed by UCA Chief of Staff Kelley Erstine “were made aware of Roger Stearns’ resignation from KSU [Wednesday] night from media reports,” UCA spokesman Christina Madsen said in an email Thursday to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “The president has notified the chair [Erstine] that the invitation needs to be rescinded.”

A short time later, Madsen sent another email saying that when Erstine “reached out to Stearns, he [Stearns] removed himself as a candidate.”

Madsen said the search committee chose not to add any other finalists, meaning the only one visiting UCA on Wednesday will be Saccenti.

The Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal reported Wednesday that Stearns resigned “abruptly” Monday after an internal review based on leadership concerns centered on him.

The Daily Journal reported that a Kennesaw State University spokesman would not say what prompted the internal investigation of Stearns or what that investigation found, but said additional information could be released in the coming days.

Saccenti has been police chief at Furman University since 2013, according to his resume. Before that, he was chief of the Marietta College Police Department in Marietta, Ohio.

Saccenti also was police chief at the Pioneer Police Department in Pioneer, Ohio, from 2007 to 2009 and director of campus safety at Trine University in Angola, Ind., from 2008 to

2010, according to his resume.

Of the 47 applicants for the UCA job, five semifinalists visited the Conway campus for preliminary interviews with the search committee. The committee had asked the two finalists to return next week, Madsen said.

UCA could end up hiring Saccenti, or it could determine the search “failed … and start all over again,” she said.

Stearns could not be reached for comment by telephone Thursday. There is no

listing for him in Kennesaw, Ga., or nearby Roswell, Ga., directory assistance.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Stearns’ resignation is effective Aug. 31. The newspaper reported that Stearns would work with the acting chief of police during the transition.

WSB-TV in Atlanta reported that sources told the station that employees had accused Stearns of inappropriate behavior and racial discrimination. The station did not identify those sources.

In his statement, Stearns said, “It has been my honor to serve Kennesaw State University.

“There were many challenges for this agency to accept tremendous change in the face of transitioning from decades-long leadership to a new direction and vision. This challenge increased when going through consolidation, followed by several leadership changes at the top of the institution,” Stearns added.

Former UCA Police Chief Larry James retired earlier this year. Maj. John Merguie is the interim chief.