LANSING, Mich. – UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz will be the sixth president of Michigan State University in six years, a university that has been plagued by scandal.
“I still have a lot to learn and to be read on a number of those situations,” said Guskiewicz during a morning press conference. “Obviously, it’s been in the news, and I’m aware of it at that level.”
There’s also infighting on the MSU Board of Trustees that he may have to contend with.
“I’m going to work hard to find the unique talent and expertise that each of them brings to the board as a group,” Guskiewicz said.
As leaders of some of the nation’s most prestigious universities have come under fire for their congressional testimony on antisemitism, Guskiewicz said he has taken a different approach to tensions on campus at UNC Chapel Hill surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. And he’s promising to bring that mindset to Michigan State.
“We as a leading global public research university have a responsibility to help educate and model the way in which we should have respectful discourse around some of the world’s biggest challenges,” Guskiewicz said.
Madison Heights City Councilmember Quinn Wright serves on the board of the Detroit Spartans Alumni Club.
“This another positive step, turning over a leaf in the right direction to continue to move forward together,” said Wright about the change of leadership at MSU.