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President Kevin M. Guskiewicz (MSU photo)
Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, who is leaving to become president of Clemson University in South Carolina, touted his accomplishments in a statement Wednesday while criticizing some board of trustees who made his job far more challenging and frustrating.
When hired in 2024, he had become the sixth president in six years. Faculty and students were looking for stability at the school.
"Together, we have accomplished so much in a relatively short period of time," he said. "We launched important initiatives that reflect the values and aspirations of this university, specifically to ensure our actions today keep the university competitive in the future and support our students’ success. We advanced work through the One Health Initiative, the Green and White Council, modernizing our general education curriculum, supporting the Student Success Center and continuing our commitment to improving relationship violence and sexual misconduct through our ongoing institutional assessment project."
But with praise for the school came criticism of some board of trustees he clashed with. He did not specifically name anyone, but it was clear over time who they were.
The latest disagreement came earlier this month when three trustees voted against a new Code of Ethics and Conduct that prevents trustees from speaking publicly in their individual capacity about disagreements on university policy. The measure passed 5-3.
"Effective university leadership requires a shared commitment to collaboration, trust and a forward-looking vision," he said. "While many across this university community have embraced that spirit, it has become increasingly clear that there are differing perspectives within the Board of Trustees regarding how best to move MSU forward.
"At times, too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements rather than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us. While I firmly believe we are all better when there is a diversity of viewpoints informing decisions, our ability to make meaningful progress is hampered when disagreements move from offering alternative perspectives into publicly undermining decisions and putting personal interests above the best interests of the university and our faculty, staff and students.
"What is perhaps most troubling is the actions of some to abuse their access to privileged and confidential information to mispresent facts, manipulate situations and selectively use and leak that information to promote personal agendas."
