By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - The president of the fund-raising arm of Northern Kentucky University was fired Friday, one day after being arrested for dealing marijuana out of his home.

James Alford, who had headed the NKU Foundation Inc. for five years, is charged with trafficking marijuana over 8 ounces. He was released from the Campbell County jail on Friday after posting a $5,000 bond. An additional charge of trafficking in marijuana within 1,000 yards of a school is pending, police said.

Undercover narcotics agents made numerous marijuana purchases at Mr. Alford's home, according to police. He lived near the university in an apartment. Three-quarters of a pound of marijuana, a digital scale, plastic baggies and a .38-caliber revolver were seized from the apartment on Thursday, according to a search warrant on file at the Campbell County courthouse.

Mr. Alford could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

NKU President James Votruba said Friday that he regretted the circumstances but said he understood the firing of Mr. Alford was in the best interest of the foundation and the school it supports.

Mr. Alford was also suspended from his part-time teaching job at NKU, school officials said.

The departure comes when the university is in the midst of a fund-raising campaign. Kentucky's eight public universities have increasingly looked towards fund-raising for new sources of revenue as the state has shifted tax dollars away to pay for secondary education.

The NKU Foundation is a non-profit organization that receives private contributions and gifts for the school. It had $33 million in net assets, according to 2001 financial statements posted on the university's Web site, and is controlled by a board of directors independent of the school.

In a letter attached to the foundation's 2001 annual report, Mr. Alford boasted of increasing foundation assets by $8.3 million from the previous years, adding that one of the highlights was landing a $1 million donation to the business school.

Kenneth Harper, the chairman of the foundation, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com