DETROIT — The manner in which the University of Michigan Board of Regents removed Mark Schlissel as president Saturday has drawn some criticism because it changed the course of the state's largest public university outside the public eye.
Before the regents announced Schlissel's termination, they held an unannounced virtual meeting earlier that day to address accusations the university's leader had an undisclosed "inappropriate" relationship with a fellow employee. Shortly after, the board voted by email to fire him.
UM spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed the regents met via Zoom and voted by email to remove Schlissel and appoint former President Mary Sue Coleman as his interim replacement. The board said in a Saturday statement it would "affirm its decision during the Feb. 17 meeting on the Ann Arbor campus."
