Norman Jones: Joining the notorious "rat pack"
A former high-ranking official at Alabama A&M left the university in 2019 after reportedly being caught having sex with a woman on a desk in his campus office, according to a report at donaldwatkins.com. Norman E. Jones, who was assistant vice president and comptroller at A&M for roughly nine years, chose to hastily leave the university after an internal investigation into the office incident. Donald Watkins, a longtime Alabama attorney who has become a leading voice in online investigative journalism, reports that Jones' current whereabouts are unknown, even though he has been a close ally and business partner with embattled A&M President Daniel K. Wims..
Under the headline "What Happened to Norman Jones, a Former Alabama A&M VP for Finance & Daniel Wims' Business Partner?" Watkins writes:
Norman E. Jones was Assistant Vice President for Finance & Comptroller at Alabama A&M University from April 2010 to February 2019. Jones was reportedly caught having sex with one of his female employees on the desk in his office on campus. Jones felt the urgent need to flee the university following an internal investigation into this incident.
Norman Jones also is listed by the Mississippi Secretary of State as Dr. Daniel Wims' general partner in Univest Limited Partnership, a Natchez, Mississippi, company. The Secretary of State's office reports that Univest, which was formed in 1999, is "active" and in "good standing" today. Both men are still business partners, according to the Secretary of State's website.
For whatever reason, Dr. Wims did not reference Univest on the annual Statement of Economic Interest he filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission in 2021 and 2022. In fact, Dr. Wims, who earns more than $400,000 per year, reported that he had no outside business relationships or associations of any kind in 2021.
Watkins' research produced several clues about what happened to Norman Jones:
According to his LinkedIn page, Norman Jones is now Vice President for Finance at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, a position he has held since June 2021. According to his LinkedIn page, Jones served as Vice President for Administration and Fiscal Affairs at Paine College (Augusta, Georgia) from October 2019 to June 2021. Jones also started consulting in higher-education finance after his sudden departure from Alabama A&M, beginning in June 2019. According to his LinkedIn page, Norman Jones is now Vice President for Finance at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, a position he has held since June 2021. According to his LinkedIn page, Jones served as Vice President for Administration and Fiscal Affairs at Paine College (Augusta, Georgia) from October 2019 to June 2021. Jones also started consulting in higher-education finance after his sudden departure from Alabama A&M, beginning in June 2019.
Norman Jones and Dr. John D. Jones worked together at Fisk University when John Jones served as the university's provost and vice president for academic affairs from May 2021 to April 2022. John Jones reportedly was forced out at Fisk for inappropriate sexual conduct. Like Dr. Wims,Dr. John Jones has a record of undisclosed job firings and sexual-misconduct complaints against him. Dr. Jones is now the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Alabama A&M, a position he acquired on July 13, 2022. Dr. Wims initially hired Dr. Jones as Alabama A&M’s interim Associate Vice President and Dean of Graduate Studies after Jones was forced out at Fisk.
Wims, John Jones, and Norman Jones apparently developed quite a reputation for their social activities in and around A&M's Huntsville campus, Watkins writes:
Norman Jones was part of the notorious “rat pack” of “womanizers” that Dr. Daniel Wims nurtured on the campus of Alabama A&M, while serving as Provost and President of the university. This was particularly true after Dr. Kevin Rolle resigned as Alabama A&M's Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer in 2017. Wims performed much of Rolle's duties on an interim and de facto basis. Rolle is now Chief of Staff to President Quinton Ross at Alabama State University.
Again, Dr. Daniel Wims' relationship with Norman Jones goes all the way back to 1999, when the two men (and several other partners) formed Univest Limited Partnership in Natchez, Mississippi.
Alabama A&M somehow created a culture that proved attractive to men who led what might be called "swinging" lifestyles. And the revelations about these Lotharios still are picking up steam. Watkins calls it a case of "birds of a feather, flock together," and he writes:
All three men – Daniel K. Wims, Dr. John Jones, and Norman Jones – have been forced out of a host of top administrative positions at various universities. All three of them have been on the receiving end of sexual-harassment complaints. All three of them have succeeded in their ability to obfuscate their true employment histories when applying for and receiving their current university positions.
All three of them have worked and flourished under an Alabama A&M board of trustees that is anchored by Trustee Kevin Ball, whose own unwanted sexual advances toward a female employee have been documented by a federal judge in Birmingham.
Under Dr. Wims' failed leadership, Alabama A&M has transformed itself from a center for academic excellence into a hotspot for sexual predators at HBCUs in America. This sad state of being has been tolerated, condoned, and rewarded by a weak and compromised board of trustees.
Coming up -- Dr. Wims’ well-known “close personal relationship” with one of his trustees. It’s been an open secret in Huntsville, Alabama for years.
Stay tuned!
