Mark Schlissel
Mark Steven Schlissel (born November 24, 1957) is an American academic administrator and medical scientist who was most recently president of the University of Michigan. He was named the 14th president of the university on July 1, 2014, following the retirement of Mary Sue Coleman. His initial contract with the University of Michigan lasted five years, and he received a second five-year contract, which was due to expire in 2024. He had planned to step down as president in 2023, but was removed by the University of Michigan Board of Regents on January 15, 2022, due to  involvement "in an inappropriate relationship with a University employee." He is the only University of Michigan President to have had a successful motion of no confidence passed against him by the faculty senate. He holds both a professorship of microbiology and immunology and a professorship of internal medicine within the University of Michigan Health System as well as a professorship of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology in the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Biography. Schlissel was born in Brooklyn, New York in a traditional Jewish household. He was raised in Old Bridge, NJ, graduating from  Madison Township High School, Old Bridge, NJ in 1975. He was inducted into its Wall of Fame in 2017. Schlissel was named the 14th president of the University of Michigan in 2014, serving in that role until January 2022. He graduated with a BA in Biochemical Sciences from Princeton University in 1979. He earned his MD degree and a PhD in Physiological Chemistry from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1986 through the Medical Scientist Training Program. His residency in Internal Medicine was conducted at the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1986 to 1988. His postdoctoral research fellowship was under  David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Whitehead Institute. Previously, Schlissel became a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1991. He moved to the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley in 1999 as an associate professor, becoming a full professor in 2002. At UC Berkeley, he served as Dean of Biological Sciences in the College of Letters & Science from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, he became provost at Brown University. Schlissel is married to Monica Schwebs, an environmental and energy lawyer, and they have four children. University presidency. The beginning of his  career as president of the University of Michigan involved controversy surrounding the athletics department and a federal investigation into the Brendan Gibbons sexual assault case. In 2018, John Cheney-Lippold, an associate professor of American culture, declined to write a letter of recommendation for a student applying to study abroad in Israel, citing human rights concerns and his support for the BDS movement. In response, Cheney-Lippold was put on probation, had his pay cut, and had his subsequent vacation days cancelled. The university and Mark Schlissel were criticized for disciplining him, citing a breach of free speech, the right  to boycott, and professorial independence. Mark Schlissel has come into conflict with climate activists over his support for continuing University investment in oil and gas industries. In 2018, in response to continued refusal to meet with climate activists, students organized a sit-in at Mark Schlissel's office in the evening following the Global Climate Strike to demand a one-hour meeting with Schlissel. In response, University of Michigan Police were called in by an unknown administrative source to disperse the protesters. Following repeated threats, several students were arrested and were subsequently charged with trespassing on university property. There has  been a significant backlash to this decision, and there are continued calls for charges to be dropped against the protesters, citing the non-violent nature of the protest, the withholding of evidence by university lawyers, and the fact that the University of Michigan had never previously pursued trespassing charges against students. Under Schlissel, the University of Michigan's tuition has risen to the highest of any American public university. COVID-19 response. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Schlissel and other administrators were criticized for their plans and policies to reopen the University of Michigan for the Fall 2020 semester. Criticisms from faculty , staff, and students included the administration's lack of transparency about its plans to safely reopen the campus. Beginning in July 2020, a leaked memo to Schlissel from the university Ethics and Privacy Committee spread around campus, asserting that the administration's reopening plans did not meet safety guidelines. Additionally, rumors and speculation circulated around the university, including an anonymously authored op-ed in "The Michigan Daily" which made the claim that a member of the board of regents had influenced the university's reopening decision because he stood to profit from a return to in-person classes. The claim  could not be substantiated, and the regent in question denied the allegations. On September 8, 2020, the university's graduate student employee union authorized a work stoppage because of concerns with Schlissel's reopening plans and policies. It was the union's first strike since 1975. On September 9, more than 100 resident advisors went on strike at the university. On September 14, Schlissel announced that the university was taking legal action to force striking university workers to return to work. On September 16, the graduate student union membership voted to accept a deal from university, ending the strike and  returning to work the following day. On September 16, 2020, the University of Michigan Faculty Senate convened to consider a motion of no confidence in the university's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Schlissel's leadership. While the motion concerning the pandemic response failed to pass with 915 in favor, 991 against, and 198 recorded abstentions, the motion of no confidence in Schlissel's leadership passed by a margin of four votes, with 957 in favor, 953 against, and 184 recorded abstentions. It was the first time in the University of Michigan's history that a no confidence motion  had passed against a president. However, the motion was largely symbolic because Schlissel was accountable to the board of regents, not the faculty senate. The following day, the board of regents unanimously voiced support for Schlissel and the administration's handling of the pandemic and the university's reopening. Firing. On December 8, 2021, via an anonymous complaint, the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan were informed that Schlissel may have been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a University employee. After an investigation, they learned that Schlissel, over a period of years, used his University email account  to communicate with that subordinate in a manner deemed "inconsistent with the dignity and reputation of the University." On January 15, 2022, Schlissel was fired as President of the University of Michigan by the University's Board of Regents. He had earlier negotiated early retirement with a final annual salary of $927,000; but "that “golden parachute” contract is now void because Schlissel was fired for cause."