UGA president says he will stick with contract

<p>University of Georgia president Michael Adams has been nominated as a potential candidate for president of the University of Tennessee system, but Adams says he will remain at Georgia at least until 2007.</p><p>Adams was nominated by search committee member Gary Sayler, a microbiology professor and founding director of the Center for Environment Biotechnology at UT, said Margaret Perry, search director.</p><p>In a prepared statement Monday, Adams said he was not pursuing this or other options and I intend to fulfill my commitment to the University of Georgia.</p><p>UT president John Shumaker resigned in August after an audit found he spent almost $500,000 on improvements to the presidents house, more than $165,000 for tailgate parties, and more than $34,000 on personal expenses, including travel on the UT airplane. In January, Tennessee investigators cleared Shumaker of any criminal wrongdoing.</p><p>A UGA audit accused Adams of misspending thousands of dollars in donors money and routinely failing to get proper approval for expenditures. Adams has denied any wrongdoing and has the support of the Board of Regents.</p><p>Three other Georgia educators and three former UGA administrators also have been nominated. Of those, only Shorter College accounting professor Robert Darville has said he would seek the job.</p><p>The others, former Georgia president Charles Knapp and former provost Karen Holbrook, now Ohio State University president, both said they were not interested in the job. LaGrange College President Stuart Gulley and Woodward Academy President Harry Payne also said they would not pursue it.</p><p>Former University of Georgia vice president Donald Eastman, currently president of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., could not be reached for comment Monday.</p><p>The UT president oversees a $1.3 billion budget for campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, Martin and Tullahoma.</p>

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