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Oregon State University’s Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday to discuss the leadership of F. King Alexander, Oregon State’s current president, over Title IX and the handling of sexual violence and misconduct when he was president at Louisiana State University.
In announcing the meeting, Oregon State’s board allowed for the possibility of a dismissal or discipline. It’s the latest fallout from explosive reports that led last week to former LSU head football coach Les Miles’s ouster from the University of Kansas.
“As OSU’s trustees, we are committed to accountability and openness,” said Rani Borkar, chair of the OSU Board of Trustees, in a publicly posted letter. “The purpose of Wednesday’s meeting is to review the findings and recommendations of the LSU report and discuss in public session with President Alexander his leadership over Title IX at LSU and subsequent information that has been shared about Title IX and handling of sexual violence and misconduct at LSU.”
The board will hear public comment and review the findings of an outside report commissioned by LSU “as it regards” Alexander’s leadership at LSU, according to Oregon State. It will then go into executive session “to consider the dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent who does not request an open hearing” in order to “review and evaluate the employment-related performance of the chief executive officer of any public body, a public officer, employee or staff member who does not request an open hearing.”
After the executive session, the board will return to public session to consider next steps or take potential action.
Several universities have been rocked by reports detailing allegations of sexual misconduct at LSU by Miles toward students when he was head football coach. Miles, who has denied the allegations in the reports, “mutually agreed” to part ways with Kansas, where he had been head football coach for two seasons. Kansas is paying him nearly $2 million under an agreement that includes nondisparagement clauses, and the Kansas athletic director who hired Miles, Jeff Long, stepped down from his position. Long will receive payments through February of next year totaling $1.375 million.
At Oregon State, Alexander has issued a letter saying he now regrets not taking stronger action against Miles. One report commissioned by LSU called the way the university handled sexual misconduct complaints a “serious institutional failure” and revealed that a former LSU athletic director recommended Miles be fired for cause in 2013. Alexander later told investigators that lawyers had said “there was not sufficient evidence to terminate Mr. Miles” and that he and LSU’s board agreed to a “recommended discipline plan for Coach Miles,” according to The Oregonian.
The faculty union for Oregon State has written that it is “deeply disturbed by the recent corroboration of President F. King Alexander’s role in protecting the head coach and star players of Louisiana State University’s football team. In doing so, he prioritized athletics over protecting victims of sexual harassment and assault,” according to The Oregonian.
Alexander has said he created LSU’s first internal Title IX office in 2016. Also that year, Miles was fired after the football team opened the season 2-2.
