TUSKEGEE Ala.—The sudden resignation of Tuskegee University President Gilbert Rochon this weekend caught the university’s trustees off guard, according to a published report.
The Montgomery Advertiser reported that trustees had no prior knowledge of the announcement and that Rochon submitted his resignation Saturday, effective immediately, during a time at the meeting scheduled for the president’s presentation to the Board of Trustees.
No reason for the resignation was given in the university’s statement announcign the decision. Dr. Matthew Jenkins, an alumnus of the university who has served on the Board, has been named acting president of the school.
Rochon had served as president of the historically black university since Nov. 1, 2010.
“I just think he’s taking another job,” Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price, a member of the Board told the Advertiser. “There’s no animosity. Nothing negative can be said about Rochon.”