Former University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel wrote a letter of apology to the Board of Regents after being removed from his term as University President in January 2022, according to a Detroit News report published on Thursday. The letter of apology was one of the stipulations of the settlement agreement reached by the University and Schlissel.
The letter, obtained by the Detroit News through a public records request, was written on April 9 and is addressed to the Board of Regents.
“I apologize to the Regents and the University for the poor judgment I exercised by engaging in a close personal relationship with a university employee,” Schlissel wrote in the letter. “I am also sorry for any disruption this has caused to the conduct of U-M’s important mission.”
Schlissel was fired after an internal investigation revealed Schlissel’s inappropriate behavior with a subordinate at the University, according to a Jan. 15 press release from the Board of Regents.
The firing came after an anonymous complaint submitted on Dec. 8 revealed that Schlissel had been in an inappropriate relationship with a U-M employee. The subsequent investigation found that Schlissel had used his U-M email account to inappropriately communicate with said employee.
The letter provides new insight into the nature of the relationship between Schlissel and his subordinate.
“The relationship was entirely consensual, was never physical, and did not involve the inappropriate spending of university resources,” Schlissel wrote.
Despite being terminated from the presidency by the Board of Regents, Schlissel is entitled to his faculty tenure position under his initial contract with the University. It is still unknown whether or not Schlissel has accepted this agreement.
Summer Daily News Editor Navya Gupta can be reached at itznavya@umich.edu.