It comes down to Tuesday’s vote on whether Temple University’s board of trustees will replace Bill Cosby with NBC correspondent Tamron Hall.
According to board chairman Patrick O’Conner, the class of ’92 grad will likely secure the position.
“We went up [to New York] and had lunch with her. She blew my socks off,” said O’Conner.
After admitting to extramarital affairs and being accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a number of women, Cosby resigned from the board in December of last year.
This will be a pleasant change of pace for Hall, who currently has her own one-hour segment on Today called TODAY’S Take. She is very outspoken against domestic violence which ties in well with the board’s objectives. Temple reportedly needed more women on its board, and Hall’s addition would bring the total to four.
Though she hasn’t officially been named a board member, her cover feature on the current issue of Temple Magazine certainly shows a lot of support for the alumna.
“I’m the girl who came to Temple never having seen Philadelphia,” Hall said. “This city gave me my soul. This university gave me my confidence.”
The confident feeling is mutual, according to Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Theodore A. McKee, a Temple board member.
“It’s wonderful that we were able to find someone of such national stature and prominence and intellect to serve on the board,” he said. McKee accompanied O’Connor to New York to meet Hall. “It’s also positive that she will help us to do more to increase gender diversity on the board.”
A native Texan, Hall chose Temple after she saw one of its sports teams on television and decided to visit, O’Connor said. She earned her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Hall recently visited the university with her niece who has shown an interest in attending.
After graduation, Hall began working for television in Texas. Following her time there, she spent 10 years at a news station in Chicago. Hall has been nominated for an Emmy twice— once for her consumer report segment, “The Bottom Line,” which premiered in 1999 and another in 2011 for a segment titled “Education Teacher Town Hall.”
In 2010, she received the Lew Klein Alumni in the Media award from Temple University.
“She’s a home run for us. She’s an exciting, vibrant, loyal alum. She’ll add a new dimension to our board,” O’Connor said.
