Main Justice

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will make $100,000 for his one-year job as a professor and administrator at Texas Tech University, the college’s student newspaper reported today.

Alberto Gonzales (DOJ)

We reported Tuesday that the controversial Bush official will teach an undergraduate course called “Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch” and will help recruit minority students for the college. One unnamed professor told The Daily Toreador that Gonzales was not worth the money.

“I think it’s preposterous for him to come here,” the faculty member told the paper. “They’re trumping up some fake position to bring him in, and I don’t know what his responsibility will be, but I’m certain it won’t be commensurate with his pay. If you look at his teaching load, it’s incredibly reduced.”

Students also aren’t happy with their new professor. They have expressed themselves through Facebook groups including “Alberto Gonzales Doesn’t Belong At Texas Tech” and “Texas Tech Students and Alumni Against Employing Alberto Gonzales.” The Toreador said in a staff editorial that the controversy surrounding the former Bush official far exceeds Texas Tech’s employment of hotheaded coach Bobby Knight, who infamously threw a chair across a basketball court.

“He was involved in so many scandals,” senior Reagan Tatsch told the paper . “One of Texas Tech’s mottos is strive for honor. That kind of goes against it by hiring him.”

Top university officials lauded Gonzales in a statement this week. Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance said the former Attorney General will “prepare our students for success.”

Gonzales told The Blog of Legal Times in an interview yesterday that he is excited about his new job — his first one since he resigned as Attorney General almost three years ago. He added that he expects to fit in at the conservative college town. Read the full post here.