Montgomery College's board of trustees late Thursday voted to not renew the contract of college President Brian K. Johnson and placed him on immediate administrative leave with pay.

The action followed a vote of "no confidence" last week by a majority of the school's full-time faculty.

Johnson, 52, did not attend Thursday night's meeting and did not return a phone call seeking comment.

"I can tell you that we, as a board, have decided to make a change in the leadership of the college," Michael C. Lin, chairman of the board of trustees, said in a statement after the hours-long meeting.

"The board voted not to renew Dr. Johnson's contract. We also voted to place Dr. Johnson on administrative leave, with pay, effective immediately so that the board can consider further action."

The trustees agreed to appoint Hercules Pinkney, who retired June 30 as vice president and provost of Montgomery College's Germantown campus, as interim president. He was to begin working this morning. Pinkney helped spearhead a plan to turn the campus into a bioscience hub.

"We arrived at these decisions after much discussion and deliberation," Lin's statement said, adding that the board believed that the action was "in the best interest of the Montgomery College community."

Johnson was hired in Montgomery County in December 2006 after a national search that drew 70 candidates. His initial salary was $220,000; he now earns $233,210. His contract runs until the end of June 2010.

Critics have accused Johnson of failing to provide leadership and vision for the college, missing potentially important meetings with state and county leaders and spending excessively on hotels, limousines and meals.

He has said little publicly about the allegations. In an e-mail sent last week to colleagues, Johnson said he is "committed" to the college.

"I consider my role as president to be a position of stewardship, standing accountable for the well-being of the larger organization," he wrote in the e-mail. "I remain focused on our students and ensuring that they receive the high-quality education and services that they expect and deserve."

The drama peaked Aug. 27, when more than 250 full-time faculty members attended a meeting in Rockville, and 93 percent supported a "no confidence" resolution against Johnson, said Rose Sachs, a full-time faculty member at Montgomery College and president of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

On Thursday night, dozens of full-time faculty, staff and administrators from all three of the school's campuses gathered outside Montgomery College's Central Administration Building in Rockville during the trustees' closed session.

All wore circular yellow stickers that said "Support MC!" One employee held up a sign that read, "BOT Make Us Proud," referring to the Board of Trustees.

The crowd began to gather outside the building at 5 p.m. to "show support for the students and the institution," Sachs said.

Judy Pearce, a full-time English professor at Montgomery College, said there was a concern from faculty about the apparent misuse of the college foundation's money, an independent fund that raises dollars for students' benefit.

"There seems to be something askew in the priorities," Pearce said. "If Dr. Johnson is our leader and his priorities are skewed, then maybe the college's priorities are skewed."

In July, the college's full-time faculty sent a letter outlining its grievances to the trustees board.

In April 2008, Johnson, along with a trustee and the college's director of governance relations, attended a conference in Boston and spent $1,042.31 on the hotel and $905.80 on limousine services, according to the letter.

The following month, the letter said, Johnson was scheduled to attend an event with County Executive Isiah Leggett at the college's Cafritz Foundation Arts Center. He also had planned a trip to New York for that same day. At the last minute, Johnson decided not to attend the college function, even though arrangements had been made to drive him to the event, then to the airport.

In the letter, faculty referenced a corporate card statement that showed "thousands of dollars" charged to Montgomery College on limousine services and hotel accommodations.

Also, there's an outstanding warrant for Johnson's arrest in Maricopa County, Ariz. According to the Maricopa County sheriff's office, Johnson still owes $12,000 in child support and would be arrested if he returns to that state.

Before Johnson took a job as vice president of the Community College of Allegheny County's Allegheny campus, he spent 20 years with Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz., where he started as a student adviser and ended his tenure as dean of students.