Mount St. Mary's President Resigns After Controversial Comments

EMMITSBURG, Md. (WJZ) -- Stepping down! The embattled president of a Maryland Catholic university was under fire for weeks after making controversial comments and has resigned. The decision comes after he promised he wouldn't leave.

Ava-joye Burnett has more on his surprising exit and the campus controversy.

The announcement comes after weeks of turmoil at the school. The president of Mount St. Mary's was in a unique position: the majority of the students supported him...but that was about it. Monday night he gave in to public pressure.

"I am not going to stop," said Simon Newman two weeks ago.

Then, President Simon Newman was basking in the support from students. On Monday, however, he resigned after his controversial remarks.

This all started when the student-run paper at Mount St. Mary's reported on Newman's plan to weed out struggling students. Three faculty members who rejected the idea were demoted or fired. The student-run paper reported that Newman justified his plan by telling those who opposed him that "this is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies but you can't. You just have to drown the bunnies, put a Glock to their heads."

Newman's resignation is effective immediately. In a statement, he says, "I care deeply about the school and the recent publicity relating to my leadership has become too great of a distraction to our mission of educating students. It was a difficult decision but I believe it is the right course of action for the Mount at this time."

For the normally quiet Catholic university, tucked away in the mountains of Frederick County, the last few weeks have been filled with unwanted national attention. Now the hope is things will go back to normal.

"It was kind of weird to see news cameras and have a lot of spotlight on the campus for such a negative reason," said freshman Celia Thomas.

WJZ has just received a statement from the faculty. It reads, "We, the deans and department chairs of Mount St. Mary's University, express our thanks to Simon Newman for his work on our behalf and wish him well in his future endeavors. We also express our gratitude to the Board of Trustees for their leadership. We look forward to working closely with Acting President Karl Einolf in the coming months."

The acting president is one of the school's deans.