LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Wayne State University’s leadership crisis just jumped from the medical school to the president’s office.

Less than a week after the School of Medicine lost its interim dean in protest, university president Kimberly Andrews Espy has informed the Board of Governors she is stepping down. Her resignation, expected to be formally announced September 17, ends a two-year tenure marked by growing friction with faculty and trustees, according to The Detroit News.

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At the center of the controversy is the abrupt suspension of longtime medical school dean Dr. Wael Sakr. Faculty erupted after learning Sakr had been placed on paid leave in August with no explanation, and interim dean Dr. David Rosenberg quit in frustration after realizing the school’s executive committee had been cut out of the process. Nearly 200 professors signed a letter blasting the secrecy as “defamation by silence.”

Espy’s handling of the matter only deepened mistrust. Board members, already uneasy with her management style, saw her failure to communicate on the Sakr controversy as the last straw.

Espy, who came to Detroit from Texas in 2023 with a five-year contract worth over $1 million annually, leaves less than halfway through her term. Law school dean Richard Bierschbach is expected to serve as interim president.