LSU System President John Lombardi announced Sean O’Keefe’s resignation as chancellor of the University at a 12:30 p.m. news conference.
Former LSU System President William Jenkins will serve as chancellor until the search for a new chancellor is completed.
Jenkins assured the decision was made in a “non-political” process.
Jenkins, who stepped down as System president this past year, will now return to the office he held between 1996 and 1999. Also, he served as interim chancellor before O’Keefe took the post.
Lombardi said he had a long conversation about the future of the University with O’Keefe, but Lombardi would not comment on the details of how O’Keefe resigned.
Lombardi said the result of the conversation was O’Keefe’s resignation.
“[O’Keefe] wanted take a different direction in his career,” Lombardi said.
Lombardi said the chain of events that led to his resignation were kept quiet because it the personal matters of O’Keefe.
“There is no virtue in externalizing personnel evaluations,” he said.
Although O’Keefe’s contact gives him the opportunity to serve as a professor, Lombardi said he thinks O’Keefe is “on track to do other things.”
—-Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected].