Former LSU president F. King Alexander offered to resign as Oregon State University president about how he chose to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct at LSU.
During a Tuesday morning meeting of the OSU Board of Trustees, President Rani Borkar said that Alexander had offered his letter of resignation to the Council on Sunday. The council then entered a non-public session to consider Alexander’s letter of resignation.
“Dr. Alexander is no longer trusted by the OSU community,” said Borkar during the public session.
Tuesday’s meeting comes less than a week after the OSU council reprimanded Alexander, putting him on 10 weeks probation and approving a third-party review of outstanding issues related to the LSU report and to collect feedback from the community, among other requirements.
Alexander, just nine months in his role as president of OSU, is under intense scrutiny and calls for his dismissal by community groups at the university, including the College Senate’s no-confidence vote in Alexandre’s presidency, which members issued a day later that he was scolded.
Council members said the reversal of last week’s decision came in response to the clamor of the Oregon state community.
The ballot surrounding Alexander is the latest in a wave of discipline or withdrawals from other universities related to LSU’s allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years.
Earlier this month, LSU released a report from the law firm Husch Blackwell that described a “total leadership failure” in the way LSU responded to cases of sexual misconduct, largely under Alexander ‘s management. The report detailed cultural problems at LSU, in particular, Title IX programs and allegations of misconduct across the university.