By Madeleine Longwell
Staff Writer

Suffolk University President Margaret McKenna agreed to step down by the Fall of 2017 after weeks of dispute with the Board of Trustees. Problems between the Board and President McKenna began in the last weeks of January, which became public when board chairman Andrew Meyer suggested that McKenna should resign due to her “confrontational” style and unapproved spending.

McKenna is the university’s fifth president in as many years, and the board’s attacks against her have not been taken lightly by the Suffolk student body. More than 60 students turned out for protests in early February.

“Nobody in an administrative position is ever going to do everything that people like, but she has a vision,” Martha Richmond, biochemistry and chemistry professor at the university told the Boston Globe. “It’s just had a huge, huge impact on the community, and she sort of came here with a real commitment to bring some stability, not only bring some stability, but move us forward.”

Though she will be stepping down, McKenna intends to remain an active leader of the university until then.

“There will be nothing lame duck about me,” McKenna told the Boston Herald. “We now have the most engaged students and faculty and alumni of any school in the country.”

The agreement reached between President McKenna and the trustees also mandates that Chairman Meyer steps down as well, paving the way for new leadership across the board.