And the Bernie goes to . . .

We congratulate the Arkansas Traveler, the University of Arkansas’ student newspaper, for getting the scoop April 26 that Bernard Madison was about to resign as dean of the UA’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

In Northwest Arkansas’ hotly competitive newspaper climate, it’s amazing that Jeff Smith, the Traveler editor, could beat the pros and get this story first. But Smith showed initiative by interviewing Madison on a Saturday night, a time when most reporters are off the clock. Madison made his resignation official April 27.

We’d also like to note that, on April 27, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote that state Rep. Sue Madison, a Democrat from Fayetteville and wife of Bernard Madison, said she was upset at an April 17 black-tie event “because of an article … that criticized her for working against the university’s interests as a legislator.”

The reference apparently was to a “Whisper” item in the April 19 issue of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal (which actually hit the streets April 17). The article didn’t criticize Madison. We wrote that some university officials had criticized her. We gave Madison a chance to tell her side of the story and thought she came out smelling like a gardenia.

Word of Madison’s rift with UA officials had been spreading since last year when she sought an attorney general’s opinion about salaries that were above the state line-item maximum for some UA administrators.

We think there was much more to this feud than just a newspaper article and some creative introductions at the soiree.