Controversial Trustee Quits at N.Y.'s Mount Saint Mary

Andrew Bournos, a controversial new member of the Board of Trustees of Mount Saint Mary College, in Newburgh, N.Y., has resigned. Faculty members objected to Bournos’s social media profile, in particular his tweet about a video that claimed Jews and Muslims have no faith. The college initially decided that because Bournos hadn’t “liked” the video, he hadn’t endorsed it. But in a brief email to faculty and staff members on Tuesday -- a day after Inside Higher Ed wrote about the controversy and various other faculty concerns about shared governance on campus -- Albert Gruner, board chair, said he had accepted Bournos’s resignation. A college spokesperson said via email, "All of us at the Mount remain committed to providing our students with an outstanding education steeped in the proud tradition of the Dominican sisters." The college's advocacy chapter of the American Association of University Professors said in a statement Wednesday that Bournos's departure is "welcome news for the entire college community, and we hope it is the first of many steps to be taken by the Board of Trustees in order to repair and restore a healthy working relationship between the administration and the faculty, staff and students[.]"