There is likely a goodly amount of financial chicanery going on in public higher education, but the Alabama system must be said to take the cake.

Remember some time back that a slew of community-college officials there were convicted of crimes ranging from fraud to money laundering, and that former chancellor Roy Johnson pleaded guilty to 15 corruption charges? Demonstrating anew how slowly the wheels of justice turn in academe, Inside Higher Ed reports: “Nearly three years since Johnson’s firing, the scandal still hangs over the system, and the former chancellor is still awaiting his July 1 sentencing.”

Moreover, critics of the appointment of the current (and departing) chancellor of the state community-college system, Bradley Byrne, asserted that not only was he unqualified for the post but also that no formal search was held, leaving him the sole candidate.

Evidently there is a movement afoot to increase transparency in the system. About time, n’est-ce pas?