UM board approves Dearborn chancellor as interim president, but salary withheld
The University of Michigan Board of Regents on Thursday officially appointed Dearborn Chancellor Domenico Grasso as interim president during its annual meeting in Dearborn.
Grasso's appointment followed the May 4 announcement by former President Santa Ono that he would step down from his post after being selected as the sole finalist for the University of Florida's presidency. Days later, UM appointed Grasso, who said he would not seek the permanent post as UM's president.
"I am cognizant that leadership transitions like this can sometimes be unsettling," Grasso said as he presided over the meeting. "As president, I pledge to unite with our faculty, students and staff and with the region to continue broadening Michigan's impact."
It was unclear how much Grasso would earn as interim president since UM officials declined to provide his contract without a public records request. When Grasso was appointed UM's Dearborn chancellor in August 2018, he was awarded a five-year contract with a $425,000 base salary.
Grasso indicated that he and his wife would move into the newly renovated, $11.5 million president's house on UM's Ann Arbor campus.
No information was available yet regarding the search for UM's next president.
"We hope to have information soon on the presidential search process," UM spokeswoman Kay Jarvis said by email.
Derek Peterson, a professor of history and African studies and the new chair of the UM Faculty Senate, told the regents that faculty government wants to be involved in the presidential search. He said the faculty is crafting a statement of principles to help guide the process and wanted faculty members to be part of the search committee.
"It's in everyone's interest to turn the page," said Peterson, who in 2017 won a MacArthur fellowship, also know as a "genius grant."
More: While Ono's UM departure welcomed by critics, there's a worry of brand damage
Ono did not attend the meeting.
His departure from UM came less than three years at the helm and months after he negotiated an eight-year contract that experts said virtually guaranteed him an annual compensation of more than $2 millon and was valued at $21.3 million over the lifetime of the contract.
It also came after months of campus unrest over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the dismantling of the school's Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Democrats on the UM board reportedly tried to pressure Ono into standing up to the Trump administration over the president's executive orders regarding DEI, campus antisemitism, federal research dollars and more. When it became public, University of Florida offered Ono the president's job with a larger salary.
Two days after Ono announced his new job, he met with faculty, staff and students of the University of Florida.
Ono then wrote a letter defending his decision to shut down UM's DEI office that was published in Insider Higher Ed.
Jarvis declined to address questions about when Ono's last day was or whether he had moved out of the president's house.
"For questions related to the former president," Jarvis wrote, "you might try to reach him through the University of Florida."
kkozlowski@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: UM board approves Dearborn chancellor as interim president, but salary withheld