Another Big Ten president is on the move.
Less than two weeks after Michigan State University offered President Kevin Guskiewicz a $1 million raise, doubling his compensation to $2 million a year, to fend off headhunters, he is leaving to take the top job at Clemson University.
When MSU trustees proposed the raise, they said that Guskiewicz was being aggressively recruited by other institutions and noted his frustrations with the board. While trustees did not specify the nature of those frustrations, Michigan State’s board has been mired in drama in recent years, accused of retaliating against faculty members and micromanaging prior presidents.
Now, after just two years, Guskiewicz is heading to Clemson. In making the jump he will take a pay cut, reportedly earning an annual base salary of $1.2 million on a five-year deal. (Additional incentives, such as deferred compensation and bonuses, will push that number higher.) Guskiewicz will take the helm of a major research university for the third time, following stops at MSU and four years as the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“I’ve known for many years how special Clemson University is, and I’m honored by the opportunity to build on the extraordinary tradition of excellence and to help lead the University into the future,” Guskiewicz said in the hiring announcement. “I look forward to engaging with students, faculty, staff, alumni and the many South Carolinians whose passion and support have shaped Clemson into one of the nation’s leading global public research universities.”
On his way out, Guskiewicz also noted serious governance concerns at Michigan State, though he did not elaborate on specific incidents.
In a statement to the MSU community, he wrote that “effective university leadership requires a shared commitment to collaboration, trust and a forward-looking vision,” but that some board members spent too much energy “revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements.”
He also accused MSU board members of pursuing personal agendas.
“While I firmly believe we are all better when there is a diversity of viewpoints informing decisions, our ability to make meaningful progress is hampered when disagreements move from offering alternative perspectives into publicly undermining decisions and putting personal interests above the best interests of the university and our faculty, staff and students,” Guskiewicz wrote in his statement. “What is perhaps most troubling is the actions of some to abuse their access to privileged and confidential information to mispresent [sic] facts, manipulate situations and selectively use and leak that information to promote personal agendas.”
Despite the board dysfunction, Guskiewicz praised the five members who voted earlier this month to approve a new code of ethics, which he said was in alignment with best practices but has been rejected by some trustees as a gag order. (Two trustees—Mike Balow and Rema Vassar—have already faced sanctions from the university for refusing to sign the agreement.)
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, also chastised the board.
“This is disappointing, but also nobody should be surprised by this outcome given some of the antics we’ve seen from a handful of board members,” Whitmer said at an event covered by The Detroit News. She added that “the way we’ve selected board members needs to change” and nodded to a current proposal in the State Legislature to appoint trustees, which, she said, “would help ensure institutions have the leadership and expertise to get things back on track.”
Under the current system, trustees are elected to staggered eight-year terms.
In response to emailed questions from Inside Higher Ed about trustee behavior and leadership turnover, a Michigan State spokesperson shared a statement from board chair Brianna Scott.
“We greatly value these past two-plus years under President Guskiewicz,” Scott wrote in the statement. “His leadership has set the university on a positive trajectory and one that we can continue during this transition. Michigan State University has demonstrated resilience throughout its history, and the institution’s strength has never depended on any one individual. The university’s mission, talent and momentum continue just as they have for nearly 175 years.”
Trustee Tensions
Guskiewicz’s departure underscores leadership instability at both Big Ten institutions and MSU. More than half the leaders of Big Ten member institutions have left their roles since early 2025.
Leadership turnover at Michigan State has also been high since long-serving president Lou Anna K. Simon resigned amid a sexual abuse scandal in 2018. Since then, MSU has had a revolving door of interim leaders, with two permanent presidents lasting a combined five years.
Outside observers noted that Guskiewicz’s departure amounts to more than just another presidential transition; it signals deeper issues with governance at Michigan State.
Robert Kelchen, a professor of education at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, told Inside Higher Ed that Guskiewicz’s early exit “shows that Michigan State is one of the toughest leadership jobs in the country.” Beyond the challenges of running a major research enterprise with big-time athletics, he said, presidents must navigate an elected yet divided board.
With Clemson—led by a board largely appointed by state officials in a state long dominated by Republicans—Kelchen argued that Guskiewicz is getting a greater sense of certainty. He added that while Clemson is a step down “from a prestige standpoint,” it provides more day-to-day stability.
Kelchen noted, too, that Guskiewicz’s parting message was “extraordinarily rare” for a president in underscoring his strained relationship with the board as the impetus for his exit.
Now, as Michigan State begins its next presidential search, it will do so with a reputation for persistent board dysfunction that will likely complicate the search and drive up salary demands.
“They’re going to have to pay the next president a lot of money,” Kelchen said.
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