NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - After serving as the interim president of the University of Oklahoma for the past year, Joseph Harroz Jr. has been named to the post permanently.
The university said its Board of Regents on Saturday voted unanimously to give the job to Harroz, effective immediately.
Harroz was dean of the OU College of Law before becoming interim president. He was named to the interim spot in May 2019 following the sudden resignation of Jim Gallogly, who’d served less than a year in the role.
Gallogly’s short tenure at the university included a sexual misconduct probe of its longtime former president, David Boren, and bitter student reaction to a racist incident on campus.
Earlier this year, Harroz led negotiations with students who were holding a sit-in outside the university’s administrative offices following two instances in which professors used racial slurs in their classrooms.
Regent Eric Stevenson praised Harroz’s connection with the student body, telling the Oklahoman: “One thing I’ve seen over and over and over again is that the students respect, admire and like Joe.”
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