The Board of Trustees for Oregon State University met to take public comments regarding the recent report about President F. King Alexander’s time at Louisiana State University. At LSU there were allegations of sexual misconduct centered around coach Les Miles, and included statements that Alexander did not take timely action.
In response to the students and faculty who shared criticism of the school and the board, the board has decided to place Alexander on probation until June 1.
Prior to the meeting, the United Academics of Oregon State University called for some very difficult and telling questions to be answered by the beleaguered president. While both the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies department of OSU and Associated Students of Oregon State University called for Alexander’s resignation. During the course of the meeting, held virtually on Zoom, several people said that Alexander should either quit or be fired.
The Board of Trustees did not get off easily on the issue. The process of hiring Alexander was painted as being secretive and done in a manner to hide the allegations regarding his time at LSU.
When Board Chair Rani Borkar said that those rumors were unfounded, and that they had found no evidence to make Alexander seem complicit in what happened at LSU, the public did not seem to believe him.
After the public portion of the meeting, the board met and decided to place Alexander on probation. They will be bringing in an outside consultant to determine what gaps may exist in the information they currently have.
By Sally K Lehman
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