BATON ROUGE -- LSU System President William Jenkins informed his staff Thursday that he was resigning to become president emeritus, effective this summer.
"I am at peace with this decision," Jenkins, 69, said. "It is my hope that I can make an even greater contribution to LSU in the future."
As president emeritus, Jenkins said, he would help LSU reach its announced goal of doubling its $504 million endowment and with hurricane recovery.
LSU board chairman Bernie Boudreaux, one of six LSU board members appointed by former Gov. Mike Foster and whose terms expire in January, said a national search would be conducted.
Jenkins was forced to step aside, Sen. Robert Barham, R-Oak Ridge, told senators on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon. Barham had said earlier that there was a move to squeeze Jenkins out and replace him with Sally Clausen, president of the University of Louisiana system, who dates Boudreaux.
"I am extremely saddened because Bill Jenkins, to me, was the gold standard," Barham told senators.
Barham said his information came from board members, but not Jenkins. He told senators not to believe that it was Jenkins request that he step down. "Don't fool yourself. Bill Jenkins is the consummate gentleman," Barham said in a floor speech to his colleagues, who applauded when he finished.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco said she was unaware of Jenkins' decision until she learned about it from the media. Gannett's online editions broke the story late Wednesday afternoon.
"There's a lot of pressure over there, as there is over everywhere," Blanco said. "I respect his decision."
Asked if Boudreaux and Clausen's personal relationship would interfere with Clausen's becoming LSU president, Blanco smiled, then said, "I can't see that member continuing to be a member."
A native of South Africa, Jenkins received his professional veterinary medicine degree in 1958 and specialist credentials in 1968 from the University of Pretoria. In 1970, he received a doctorate from the University of Missouri in Columbia.
After a four-year veterinary medicine practice, he joined the University of Pretoria faculty.
In 1978, he joined the faculty at Texas A & M University. Ten years later, he was appointed dean of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. He became LSU's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs in 1993, chancellor of LSU in 1996 and system president in 1999.
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