School's President Apologizes, Stays; Provost Resigns

EMMITSBURG, Md. (AP) -- Mount St. Mary's University says its president has apologized and its provost has resigned after some embarrassing publicity about a plan to boost the schools' student-retention rate.

President Simon Newman said in a campus-wide email Friday that he had requested and received Provost David Rehm's resignation.

The Mountain Echo student newspaper reported last month that Rehm had criticized Newman's plan to identify, through a freshman survey, those who might not succeed and help them withdraw and obtain tuition refunds.

Faculty member Greg Murry told the Echo that Newman had likened freshman to "bunnies" who had to be drowned, or have a gun put to their heads.

The Frederick News-Post reported Sunday that an investigation by the Board of Trustees noted that Simon had apologized for using an inappropriate metaphor.