Scott Scarborough, defying his critics, said Saturday he will stay on as president at the University of Akron for a third year.
Scarborough broke the news on UA to Z, a weekly, hourlong infomercial the university airs Saturday mornings on AM radio station WAKR.
“As I look forward, I think the world isn’t going to stop changing, so we have to change,” Scarborough told the host of the radio show, adding that he “pops out of bed every day excited” about moving the university forward.
Wayne Hill, the university’s chief communications official, said Scarborough staying put isn’t news.
Scarborough told a group of students recently that he would be here for the 2016-2017 academic year, Hill said.
“Dr. Scarborough has a five-year contract that started in July 2014,” Hill said. “It’s a simple fact that when a calendar page changes, it’s just another day.”
Scarborough talking about his third year at UA months before his second year ends is almost certain to cause consternation among his many critics, both those on campus and in the Akron community.
Since arriving at UA, Scarborough has drawn pickets, public letters calling for his resignation and a vote of no confidence in his leadership by the Faculty Senate, followed by a letter from UA department chairs expressing similar concerns.
Trouble started when Scarborough, who has no local ties, rebranded UA as Ohio’s Polytechnic University. The rebranding brought fears that the plan was to eventually strip “Akron” from the university’s name.
That infuriated many in Akron, a city filled with the school’s employees and alumni and whose Main Street is occupied by University of Akron buildings.
Scarborough ultimately said the UA name would remain.
What followed, however, only worsened Scarborough’s relationship with the city and campus.
Among other things, his administration was criticized for:
• Spending nearly $1 million to renovate and furnish the presidential mansion in West Akron. The money, officials said, didn’t come out of university operational funds.
• Making $40 million in unpopular cuts, including changes at E.J. Thomas Hall and the UA Press, and eliminating the baseball program, along with laying off scores of employees.
• Implementing a $50-per-credit-hour fee on upper-level classes that later was rescinded.
On Saturday, John Zipp, president of UA’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and a sociology professor, didn’t read too much into Scarborough talking about a third year.
Scarborough’s supporters may see his statement as evidence he will stay, Zipp said, but Scarborough’s detractors may think no decisions have yet been made about Scarborough’s future.
“Every administrator at the university serves at the pleasure of who they report to,” Zipp said.
And for Scarborough, that’s the UA board of trustees.
Saturday’s radio program — hosted by Larry Burns, a UA vice president who Scarborough brought with him from the administration of the University of Toledo — aired four days before the first meeting of the University of Akron’s board of trustees since two new members were appointed last month by the government.
The board, with nine voting members, is slated to meet Wednesday and will include new faces: William A. Scala and Joseph M. Gingo.
It’s unclear whether ongoing tension between Scarborough and his critics will be on the trustee’s agenda.
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.