Riley Veto's Acadome Resolution

It looks like former Alabama State University Board of Trustee Joe Reed's name is not going back on the the Acadome.

Riley vetoed a resolution that essentially demanded that the university's board of trustees restore Reed's name to the building. They took his name off the building last year.

“To me, this has nothing to do with Joe Reed" Riley said in a statement Friday. "I would veto this if they were naming it the Ronald Reagan Acadome. I vetoed this because I believe the Legislature should not micro-manage our universities. It’s bad policy for legislators to insert themselves in matters that boards of trustees are appointed to handle.

“When legislators decide to get involved in what universities name their buildings, you get the possibility of legislators making threats about funding if trustees don’t do what they want. Ken Guin insinuated that when he was quoted saying, ‘I wouldn’t want to ignore a resolution passed by those who fund me.’ That sounds like blackmail," Riley said.

-- posted by Markeshia Ricks