Mount St. Mary’s Board Apologizes for ‘Breakdown’ and Says It Will Conduct Review

The Board of Trustees at Mount St. Mary’s University of Maryland says it will conduct a review of how controversy over the president’s student-retention plan ballooned into a nationwide furor over fired professors. The Associated Press reports the board said in a statement on Tuesday that it was sorry for “a breakdown in compassionate communication.”

The uproar began last month, when the Roman Catholic university’s student newspaper published details of Simon P. Newman’s student-retention plan — including a blunt comparison of unprepared students to bunnies that need to be drowned. Mr. Newman apologized for the remarks, but then fired two professors who had criticized his administration. On Friday he reinstated the professors, who have agreed to resume teaching. The same day, the university’s faculty voted overwhelmingly to demand that Mr. Newman resign. He has rejected that demand.

The board has supported Mr. Newman, as have a majority of students surveyed by the student government.