Temple University is navigating its next steps after President Jason Wingard announced his resignation less than 2 years after taking charge. NBC10’s Frances Wang has the details.
What to Know
- Jason Wingard, the first Black president at Temple University, is resigning after a tumultuous tenure of less than two years and amid a surge of violence that has affected the north Philadelphia campus.
- The university said Tuesday evening that President Jason Wingard's resignation goes into effect Friday.
- Officials vowed to ensure “the highest level of focus” on urgent matters facing the university, “particularly campus safety” Officials said “a small group of senior Temple leaders” would guide the university while another president is being sought. Wingard has led the university since July 2021.
Jason Wingard, the first Black president at Temple University, is resigning after a tenure of less than two years and amid a surge of violence that has affected the north Philadelphia campus.
The university announced Tuesday evening that the board of trustees had accepted Wingard's resignation, which takes effect Friday, and lauded him for what it called significant contributions to the university's mission.
“Given the urgent matters now facing the university, particularly campus safety, the board and the administration will ensure the highest level of focus on these serious issues,” the announcement said. “We understand that a concerted and sustained effort must be undertaken as we attempt to solve these problems."
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Officials said “a small group of senior Temple leaders” would be designated to guide the university while another president is being sought.
“This group will have many years of experience at Temple and devotion to its mission,” the announcement said. “Each will have discrete responsibilities for the university’s essential functions and provide a stable foundation for us as we look toward the search for our next president.”
Wingard, 51, has led the 33,600-student university since July 2021.
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The resignation follows a tumultuous year for the university, which included the shooting death of Temple Police Sergeant Chris Fitzgerald, continued concerns over violence near the campus and a strike from graduate student teaching and research assistants that lasted six weeks.
Earlier in the month, the school's faculty union discussed the possibility of holding a no-confidence vote in Wingard and two other top officials. During an emergency town hall meeting earlier this month, faculty members cited their concerns over crime, the handling of the strike, university finances and cuts to the Temple workforce, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Wingard told a panel of state lawmakers last week that Philadelphia’s homicide rate has wrought a climate in which students, faculty, parents and staff are afraid.
It was just this past December when Wingard told NBC10's Lauren Mayk that he planned to move with his wife and teenage son to a university-owned North Carlisle Street house that is just a block from Temple's campus. The move was expected to be completed this spring.
"We're working on making sure that our transition isn't more disruptive to our near neighbors and to the community in general," Wingard told NBC10 at the time. "So we don't have a sense yet of what we're going to do but our major focus right now are the neighbors who are here on Carlisle Street."
The move would have made Wingard "the first Temple president to live on or near Main Campus in the institution’s recent history," the university said in a Temple Now post.
