Olens To Step Down As Kennesaw State President

KENNESAW, GA — Kennesaw State University President Sam Olens will step down in February, the university announced on Thursday.

The announcement comes just over a year after Olens, the former Cobb County Commission chairman and Georgia Attorney General, took the post amid controversy that has only continued throughout his tenure. University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley has named has named Ken Harmon interim president of KSU.

Harmon currently serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs for the institution.

Olens was hired by the Georgia Board of Regents in November 2016. Almost immediately, faculty, students and others expressed concern that Olens had no experience as an administrator at a university.

Protests also centered on what some called Olens' anti-gay stances taken while on the Cobb commission. More recently, Olens drew criticism for his handling of Kennesaw State football cheerleaders taking a knee in protest during the National Anthem.

After five cheerleaders kneeled during the anthem on Sept. 20 to protest racial injustice, Olens banned cheerleaders from the football field before games. He reversed that decision after it received nationwide criticism.

The Board of Regents launched an investigation into his handling of the protests and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Olens was pressured into his original decision by officials including Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren and state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs.

Olens will resign effective Feb. 15, 2018, the university said in a news release.

"Sam is a truly dedicated public servant to the state of Georgia and has contributed much of his life for the betterment of Georgians," Wrigley said in the release. "I thank Sam for his service to Kennesaw State University and the University System of Georgia. On behalf of the university system, we wish Sam and his family the very best."

Meanwhile, the university system will begin a national search for the next president of Kennesaw State. A campus-based presidential search committee will be formed and announced. Members of the committee will include representatives from KSU faculty, staff, the student body, alumni and KSU’s local community and will be appointed by current Board of Regents Chairman C. Thomas Hopkins, Jr., chairman-elect James M. Hull and Wrigley. Nominations for the search committee should be submitted to the Board of Regents.

A Regents’ special committee also will be formed and comprised of Board of Regents members. At the conclusion of the campus committee’s work, the campus committee will forward for consideration to the Regents’ special committee the credentials of three to five unranked candidates.

Photo courtesy Kennesaw State University