Two years after his arrival at Michigan State University, President Kevin Guskiewicz announced Wednesday that he would be leaving for Clemson University. 

Guskiewicz's departure marks MSU’s seventh leader to hold the position of university president in ten years. When he assumed the role in 2024, the president was all too aware that the situation at MSU was far from a fairytale. 

When Guskiewicz was just a finalist for MSU’s top spot in 2023, he formally asked for the Board of Trustees not to interfere with his job — something the last two presidents before him had cited in their own resignations. 

Most notably, President Samuel Stanley resigned in October 2022 saying he had "lost confidence" in the board and grown tired of frequent interference by trustees. Stanley took to the helm in 2019 in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal with promises to "restore trust" in the community. 

Guskiewicz inherited a university plagued by governance instability. He walked into MSU towards the end of an investigation into trustees Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno.

An investigative firm's report eventually detailed numerous violations by both trustees, including interference in university legal affairs, accepting gifts from donors, and encouraging students to embarrass their critics, among others. Both trustees were then censured by the board and later recommended for removal by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who declined to do so in June of 2025. 

So, when Guskiewicz agreed to take the job after an arduous presidential search process in 2023, he had all trustees pledge to let him lead MSU "without undue interference." His MSU presidency would then be characterized by attempts to present the university as a unified front based off of his "one team" philosophy. 

However, despite his attempts to maintain unity, the board's pledge was not kept. Guskiewicz placed the blame on current board divisions for fueling his motivations for leaving MSU in a campus wide email sent Wednesday. 

"While many across this university community have embraced that spirit, it has become increasingly clear that there are differing perspectives within the Board of Trustees regarding how best to move MSU forward," Guskiewicz wrote. "At times, too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements rather than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us."

The dissension among the board has created an "unsustainable situation," Guskiewicz wrote.