State University of New York head to step down

Robert King will resign in June amid speculation over a falling out with trustees and Pataki

BY OLIVIA WINSLOW
STAFF WRITER; Staff writer Ellen Yan contributed to this report
April 5, 2005

SUNY Chancellor Robert L. King will resign in June, his office confirmed, concluding a puzzling series of events that began in January when he abruptly rescinded a request for a sabbatical and fueled speculation that a rift had developed with key trustees and the governor."The time has come to move on," King wrote in a April 3 letter to trustees his office released late yesterday."I have come to love higher education and very much want to move closer to students and teachers and classrooms," said King, who then offered to serve as an interim president at SUNY Potsdam, a move the trustees are expected to consider at their meeting scheduled for next week.King, former budget director under Gov. George Pataki, has been chancellor of the State University of New York since 1999. In his letter to the trustees, he said SAT scores of SUNY students have increased during his tenure and that SUNY enrollment has grown to a record 413,000. Research dollars SUNY institutions have obtained also have doubled to more than $900 million in the past decade, he noted.Pataki praised King yesterday, saying he has served with "distinction and success."Yet King's request for a sabbatical, which he rescinded two days later, came amid criticism from some members of the legislature. They didn't like that he would still be drawing his $250,000 a year salary and $90,000 a year housing allowance.

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