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Following charges that he had an inappropriate connection with a university employee, the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents will remove President Mark Schlissel from his job.
According to a Saturday announcement from the board, after Schlissel’s departure, school administrators would designate Mary Sue Coleman, a former University of Michigan president, as Interim President. The board stated that it will approve the decision at its meeting on February 17, but that the removal is “immediately effective.”
The board said it began looking into Schlissel on Dec. 8 after receiving an anonymous tip that the president was having an affair with a university employee.
Schlisslel used his school email account to correspond with the employee over a period of years, according to the board, in a “manner inconsistent with the dignity and repute of the University.”
“As members of the Board of Regents, each of us aspires to foster an atmosphere in which everyone in our community may thrive and do their best work, and where everyone feels secure and respected,” the board said. “We recognise that today’s decisions were unexpected, and that such a drastic adjustment can be very distressing. We take our constitutional responsibilities as a governing board seriously, and we are all in agreement that this decision is in the best interests of the University we love so much.”
The board revealed dozens of emails and conversations between Schlissel and the employee, citing “the interest of full public disclosure,” including one in which the president instructed the employee to “give me a confidential briefing.”
A policy at the institution barred a supervisor from having a “intimate connection” with someone over whom they had power.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Schlissel was appointed president in 2014 and his contract was extended for another five years in 2018. He announced his retirement in 2021 and said he would leave in 2023.
Coleman, who left the job in 2014, said she was “proud” to be the interim president in a statement.
“I am honoured to be asked to serve the University of Michigan again, despite the circumstances,” she stated.
