Jacobs to step down in 2015

University of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs announced March 21 that he will step down on June 30, 2015.

“My time in Toledo has been among the most personally rewarding years of my life, and Ola and I are looking forward to many more at UT and in the community,” Jacobs, 72, said in a press release. “I’m excited by a new opportunity to help UT and other universities adapt to the financial and resource pressures that will grow only more challenging over time.”

Joseph Zerbey, chair of the UT Board of Trustees, said Jacobs’ departure is a “mutually agreed decision between Dr. Jacobs and the board of trustees.”

Jacobs’ contract was to run through June 30, 2016, meaning that the president will leave one year before his contract ends.

“Most of us agreed that it was understandable that he left a year earlier than his contract called for,” Zerbey said. “What his personal reasons were are his. We agreed to accommodate that mutually.”

Zerbey said “it’s pretty much agreed” that after stepping down as president, Jacobs will be leading a new entity called the Institute of University Transformation.

“That was Dr. Jacobs’ idea,” Zerbey said. “He’s very qualified to develop it. It’s in its early stages and a lot of it has yet to be determined.”

Zerbey said Jacobs is concerned about “the rapidly changing environment in higher education” and how universities like UT will cope with it.

“If he can concentrate and focus his very great deal of expertise that he has in that area, it will benefit not only us, but it should benefit higher education throughout the country,” Zerbey said.

The details of this arrangement are not yet determined, Zerbey said, including whether Jacobs will receive any kind of severance for leaving the presidency early and what he will be paid for his new role. His annual salary as president is $392,700.

“We have yet to see the plan and the makeup of what it will be,” Zerbey said. “I think the idea has been approved, but the content, the actual working parts of it have yet to be determined.”

Zerbey said in the initial announcement of Jacobs’ departure that UT and the surrounding community owe Jacobs “a debt of gratitude for his success in raising UT’s national profile.”

Faculty Senate President Linda Rouillard criticized Jacobs’ time in office, telling the IC on March 22 that “we are in desperate need of new leadership.”

She publicly displayed her dissatisfaction with Jacobs at the March 25 Faculty Senate meeting, saying this “is the lowest point I have seen at UT in terms of morale, enrollment [and] academics.”

“Dr. Jacobs’ leadership has shown a … lack of integrity, a disregard for academics, a disdain for faculty and a willingness to treat students as cash cows,” Rouillard said. “His leadership adopts fads rather than research. … Regular budget shortfalls have been followed by scour spending.”

Rouillard said Jacobs has “stifled the faculty voice at every turn” and that she feels change is needed.

“It is time to re-discern the faculty role and responsibilities in program development rather than allow administration to organize academic programs in the shadows in an effort to find the wealthiest students,” Rouillard said. “It’s time to re-assert the faculty role and responsibilities in financial and budgetary issues.”

Rouillard said that it’s “time for full disclosure” and she wants the faculty to have “direct, two-way communication with the board of trustees.”

“We have recently heard some reports that give us hope that we are entering an era in the history of the university that will be more transparent,” Rouillard said.

When it comes to making the decision of whom the next UT president should be, Rouillard told the IC she thinks “faculty, staff and students should be working with the board of trustees.”

Jacobs became the 16th president of UT in July 2006 after being selected to lead the merged institution formed by the joining of UT and the former Medical University of Ohio. He has served UT for eight years and the former Medical University of Ohio for three.

Student Government Vice President Lauren Jencen said Jacobs’ stepping down will impact students because she feels he is “the face of the University of Toledo.”

“I know that he’s been a big component with the merger, and he’s been an active president on campus,” Jencen said. “I’m just interested to see who can fill his shoes.”

According to Zerbey, a national presidential search will be in the works and a formal search process will soon be announced.

Associate News Editor Amanda Pitrof also contributed to this story.