The Alabama Senate has confirmed two new trustees for the Auburn University Board of Trustees. Both of the new trustees, Wayne Smith of Franklin, Tenn, and Michael DeMaiorbus of Huntsville, are white. That's a point that concerns members of the black caucus in the Senate.
The Senate's seven black members mostly supported Smith and DeMaiorbus when the nominations came up for confirmation Thursday. But the black senators complained that only one of Auburn's 15 trustees is black and that in the future they may work to delay future trustee nominations if they are not more diverse.
Democratic Sen. Hank Sanders of Selma, who is black, says he is extremely concerned that less than 1 percent of trustees are black while close to 10 percent of the student body is black.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
