Dive Brief:
- University of Oregon President Michael Gottfredson resigned abruptly on Wednesday, citing the usually suspicious spend-more-time-with-the-family reason for leaving.
- As The Oregonian points out, Gottfredson's departure after two years on the job looks like a forced resignation. He doesn’t have another job lined up, and the departure was announced just one day before he left.
- The resignation came even before an interim president was named, and the university’s board was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss the succession plan.
Dive Insight:
Among his accomplishments, Gottfredson successfully lobbied the Oregon Legislature to give state universities the ability to form their own boards free from control of the Oregon Board of Higher Education. A new board was formed to run Oregon University, and on July 1, it was granted the power to hire and fire the university’s president. Whether that development had any effect on Gottfredson’s resignation is unclear. The president was criticized for his handling of rape accusations in March against three university basketball players — he allowed the two eligible players to play in the NCAA tournament, but after the case was made public, all three players were barred from the team even though they were not prosecuted in criminal court.