Here’s what people were saying about the departure of embattled University of Akron President Scott Scarborough:
• Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan released this statement about Scarborough’s departure: “Today’s announcement provides an opportunity to move beyond a difficult period in the history of our university — although many challenges still remain. I urge the Board of Trustees to fully engage faculty, students, alumni and community stakeholders in an open dialogue regarding the type of leader our university needs.
“Greater Akron’s economy requires a strong, growing University of Akron focused on expanding research activities and student success. The University is an indispensable partner for our city and our region. As we continue to compete in a knowledge-based economy, we need the innovation and creativity the University of Akron has always produced.
“Our community must now come together and lend our best efforts to ensure a successful search for a new president.
“I would like to thank Dr. Scarborough for his service and commend him for making tough decisions during his tenure. I wish Dr. Scarborough and his family well and offer him the best in his future endeavors.”
• Dan Coffey, a political science professor at UA who led the committee for a no-confidence faculty resolution against Scarborough, said he was glad the board finally made the decision. “I think declining enrollment, (down 24 percent for the upcoming fall compared to the fall of 2015), and the university budget — the reasons Scarborough was hired — weren’t getting any better,” Coffey said. “Scarborough’s statement last fall was that he didn’t know if the budget was any better or not. That’s a problem, because if you can’t guarantee that the budget is going to get any better, than maybe you aren’t the right person for the job. I think the board knew last December that a leadership change was needed, but they wanted to give it some time.”
He said he agrees with the board of trustees’ timing because it’s the end of the academic year, the fiscal year ends June 30, the students are gone and there is time to get someone new to put policies in place and become acclimated to the job by the start of fall classes.
• The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation provided a $250,000 unrestricted grant to the school early last year. Kyle Kutuchief, the foundation’s local program director for Akron, said the nonprofit wanted to help the president.
On Tuesday, Kutuchief said he hopes the next president focuses on putting students first. The Knight Foundation wants to attract and retain young talent.
“It needs to be about educating students,” he said. “We are a college town and it’s a very important role. The next person that they pick needs to make sure the students are the top priority.”
• Joe Kanfer, chairman and chief executive officer of GOJO Industries, said he doesn’t want to dwell in the past and wants to look forward for the university.
“The university is a very important part of this community. We’re supportive of the university moving on and integrating well with the community and finding its next leadership,” said Kanfer, who was also a member of the eight-member UA Business Executive Advisory Council, formed to offer advice to UA leadership on improving the school’s relationship with the community.
Kanfer said the committee met once. Business leaders told Scarborough that the “university is an extremely important asset integrated within the Akron community and that it’s important for the university administration and trustees to reach out widely and broadly and connect across the community.”
Kanfer said he wants to see the community “get behind the university and not send signals that the community is not 100 percent behind the university in moving on.”
• Summit County Executive Russ Pry said the county will do anything it can to help the university as it searches for a new leader.
“I hope the best for Scott and his family in this transition period,” he said. “I want to continue to work with the university. It is a key partner here in our community and we need to have strong working relations.”
Pry, who received his law degree from UA in 1984, wasn’t surprised by the news that Scarborough and UA are parting ways.
“There were so many rumors and rumblings for so long,” he said. “It seemed that something was going to happen.”
• Nicole Mullet, the founding executive director of ArtsNow, a new nonprofit seeking to promote and strengthen arts and culture in Summit County and a former UA employee, issued this statement: “Last summer, community partnerships ensured Greater Akron would enjoy a robust and exciting season at E.J. Thomas in spite of preliminary concerns. I believe we will see a similar spirit of collaboration in upcoming months during this time of transition, because the significant challenges facing our university remain and it will take a community effort to ensure success.”
• William Beyer, who worked at UA for more than 37 years before retiring in 1998, said he was thrilled that Scarborough will no longer be at the helm of the school.
He described Scarborough’s tenure as a “full disaster,” noting that he had a lengthy list of failures.
“This took too long to happen,” said Beyer, who served as chair of the mathematics department, associate dean of the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences, and an associate vice president over his UA career. “The big question is what will they do now?”
Beyer, 86, of Akron, who also graduated from the school in 1952, was one of many people who were withholding donations because of Scarborough. He and his wife, Delores, had established the William H. Beyer Statistics Scholarship, and last year the Dr. William Beyer Conference Room was dedicated in his honor in the Arts and Sciences building.
UA still needs to get rid of other employees who were hired by the president, Beyer said.
He said he would continue to withhold donations until he sees how the board of trustees moves forward.
• The corrections to the university that Scarborough made were “founded in good principle, but they were very poorly implemented and did not take the community into consideration as they did the implementation. In my mind, subsequently that’s where trust has been lost,” said Donzell Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Welty Building Co. and chairman of the Greater Akron Chamber board of directors.
“I think that it’s good for the university that they’ve recognized that they’ve got a problem. You have to have a leader that people want to follow and believe in,” said Taylor, who was also a member of UA’s Business Executive Advisory Council.
The committee of business leaders created to help improve the school’s relationship with the community only met once in December, Taylor said.
Scarborough was criticized for not reaching out to business and community leaders during his tenure.
The mistake Scarborough made was in failing to get ‘‘buy-in from the community and maybe moving faster than the community was ready,” Taylor said. “For most good plans, you’ve got to create awareness and implement it.”
• FirstEnergy Corp. President and CEO Chuck Jones, who chaired the UA Business Executive Advisory Council, said: “With today’s announcement, it’s now time to move forward to identify a new leader for the university. When selected, I hope to work with the new president to help ensure the University of Akron remains a strong and vibrant part of our community.”
• Patricia Donovan, theater manager at UA’s E.J. Thomas Hall, said people involved with the performing arts program are looking ahead after controversial programming and personnel decisions during Scarborough’s stay.
“Not everything that happened last year at E.J. was Dr. Scarborough’s fault,’’ said Donovan, who would not elaborate.
“Dr. Scarborough did not hinder us in any way with this past season and I don’t think any other university president coming in is going to hinder us in the future. … I’m hoping now that the university can move forward and come together with the community and refocus on the students, which is where everyone should have been from the beginning.”
• Graduates Over Greed, an anonymous online group that has been outspoken in its criticisms of Scarborough and the UA board of trustees, released this statement: “While we are grateful that the University of Akron Board of Trustees has finally taken action to protect the future of the University, their delay in doing so has created great unrest in the community. Graduates Over Greed will continue to hold the board of trustees and the interim president accountable until we are satisfied that their intentions are finally focused on the well-being of students, faculty, and staff.”
Staff writers Betty Lin-Fisher, Marilyn Miller, Kerry Clawson and Rick Armon contributed to this story.