F. King Alexander offered to resign as Oregon State University president Sunday and the board of trustees seem eager to accept that offer.
At a meeting still in progress Tuesday morning, Rani Borkar, chair of the OSU board of trustees, said an outpouring of sentiments from students, faculty and others have convinced the board it needed to make a change.
Alexander, who started at OSU last July, has been under fire since early this month, when a review of Louisiana State University’s response to allegations of sexual misconduct was released to the public. The report was critical of Alexander, who led LSU from 2013-2019.
Last Wednesday, the OSU board put Alexander on probation until June 1.
There have been two new developments that could influence this morning’s debate:
The results of a no-confidence vote by the OSU faculty are now known and the numbers were heavily against Alexander.
The Faculty Senate voted 108-4 in favor of a motion calling for Alexander’s resignation.
Senate leaders referred the issue to the rest of the faculty. With 1,864 votes received, 83% voted in favor of a motion calling for Alexander’s resignation. About 11.7% voted against.
On Monday night, the Louisiana State University board of supervisors weighed in. If Alexander expected his former bosses in Baton Rouge would be helpful to his cause, he was sorely disappointed.
In a letter to the OSU board of trustees, Robert Dampf, chair of the LSU board of supervisors, claimed Alexander had misled them on several fronts.
Alexander has tried to cast doubt on independent review commissioned by LSU into the university’s handling of handling of sexual misconduct and harassment claims. Alexander told the Oregon State board repeatedly that the so-called Husch Blackwell report was a slipshod affair that got key facts wrong in part because the authors never even bothered to interview him
That was not exactly the case, Dampf wrote.
“Dr. Alexander was twice invited to be interviewed and instead communicated through Oregon State’s general counsel that he would only accept questions in writing,” Dampf wrote. “Had Dr. Alexander accepted the invitation for an interview, naturally the report would have included many of the details he indicated that he wished he would have been able to provide, and perhaps he wouldn’t be in the position he currently faces.”
Dampf offered several other points of “context and clarification.”
Louisiana universities had Title IX coordinators on campus prior to Alexander’s arrival. Alexander told the OSU board of trustees that he deserved credit for opening the offices.
Dampf added that he is “beyond offended” by what he called Alexander’s “arrogant and condescending comments about Louisiana’s culture, our state and our university.” Alexander has attributed the situation he encountered as president of LSU in part to the “different moral standard” in place there.
OSU spokesman offered this response: “We read this letter with interest. LSU’s concerns with President Alexander’s statements about his time at LSU seemingly would have better addressed directly to F. King Alexander and not OSU’s chair of the board and the trustees.”
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