In an all-campus e-mail sent Monday, May 4, President Russell K. Osgood announced his intention to step down from the position of College President, effective July 31, 2010.

Osgood, who became president of the college Aug 1, 1998, has maintained that he believes a college president should step down after ten years. However, Osgood will be staying on with the college for 12 years, due to unfinished projects during his administration.

“At the 10 year point we had just started the strategic plan and we had one major facility left to do that we planned to do and that was the athletic center so it didn’t seem that that was exactly the right moment [to resign],” Osgood said. “So now if I go at 12 years which is my plan, we will finish it and will be almost totally done with the strategic plan. So it’s a logical step.”

Osgood will distance himself in the search process for a new President, as he said that his input could potentially inhibit conversation during interviews with potential candidates. “People should be able to say, ‘Gee, what I want is someone not like former guy,’ you know?” Osgood said. “So I think I will play no role and I probably won’t comment on it at all. It is something for the trustees to organize and I’m sure they’ll want to organize faculty and students staff but it’s up to them and they haven’t organized it yet.”

This organization of the search committee will take place at the Trustee retreat this summer. “We make the decision about how the search committee is constituted and we’ll nail down specifics on our calendar cultivating and finding candidates over the course of the summer,” David White ’90, Chair of the Grinnell College Board of Trustees said.

In the all-campus e-mail sent Thursday, SGA President-elect Harry Krejsa ’10 further elucidated the search process, and announced that the board intends to include students on the search committee. “While the Board of Trustees ultimately has final say on the selection of the next president, they will be forming a presidential search committee to render a recommendation to the Board,” Krejsa said. “In fact, they have asked for 1-2 students to sit on this search committee in equal standing with the administration and faculty.” If students would like to be considered for or would like to recommend a peer student to the search committee, contact Krejsa at
krejsaja@grinnell.edu.

Osgood, though committed to the next year at the college, has shown signs that he is ready to step down. According to SGA Vice President of Student Affairs John Burrows ’10, on Tuesday, May 5, Osgood leaned out his window in Nollen House and shouted to the passing-by SGA Cabinet members, “I’m free!”

When asked to comment, Osgood confirmed Burrows’ story. “That is a fair statement,” Osgood said.