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The University of Akron announced Tuesday morning that its controversial president, Scott L. Scarborough (right), is stepping down today, by mutual agreement with the board.
Scarborough has been involved in repeated controversies during his less than two years at Akron. He has led efforts to make significant budget cuts, which would have been controversial even if he had not been spending money on renovating his university home. Many were shocked by the $951,000 in renovation costs, and in particular $556.40 on a decorative olive jar (without any olives).
Some of his controversial decisions were reversed. He tried to eliminate the jobs of everyone at the university press (but then pulled back on that). And just last week he ended a relationship with a local company to supplement its student advising and mentoring staff. The company, Trust Navigator, had no other higher ed customers, and the move came soon after the university eliminated numerous positions in its student success division. And the $840,000 price tag seemed to many to be too high for a university that was struggling with enrollments and revenue.
