A former US Coast Guard captain has resigned as president of Nichols College after investigations uncovered long-known but apparently suppressed complaints of sexual misconduct involving several students at a previous institution.
Glenn Sulmasy, the Nichols president since 2021, was put on leave last month from the 1,000-student four-year private business-focused institution in south-central Massachusetts after the allegations were first reported by CNN.
Mr Sulmasy previously served as deputy university counsel and head of the humanities department at the US Coast Guard Academy, and the reported details included him allegedly exchanging more than 1,600 personally explicit texts with a cadet there.
He also was reported – based on reported Coast Guard records – to have suggested academic favouritism with that student, to have used his government email to send and receive “sexually graphic and inappropriate” photos, to have made sexist and inappropriate comments to subordinates, to have told a female academy graduate by email that he would write her a law school recommendation letter only if she sent him photographs of herself, and to have advised a female cadet against pursuing rape allegations against a male classmate.
Mr Sulmasy came to Nichols from Bryant University, another business-oriented private institution, where he served as provost, and he was placed on probation there after the Coast Guard notified Bryant that it was revoking its recommendation of him.
Coast Guard attorneys in 2016 called for Mr Sulmasy – despite having already retired from the military – to be prosecuted in a military court for conduct unbecoming an officer and wilful dereliction of duty, according to the CNN findings.
Amid persistent nationwide concerns about the commitment of US higher education to fighting sexual abuse, the case of Mr Sulmasy leaves it unclear whether the Coast Guard or Bryant – about 25 miles to the south-east in Rhode Island – shared details of their concerns with Nichols.
The Nichols board of trustees said it accepted Mr Sulmasy’s resignation, effective immediately, after conducting its own investigation of the CNN reports. Nichols said it planned to keep confidential its investigation of Mr Sulmasy.
“In light of these reports and facts uncovered to date during the college’s ongoing investigation, and their impact on President Sulmasy’s ability to lead Nichols College, the board strongly believes the institution’s best interest is to pursue new leadership,” it said.
The college’s vice-president for advancement, Bill Pieczynski, will serve as acting president while the 208-year-old Nichols begins a search for a permanent successor, the board said.
CNN said it began the investigation that led to the revelations about Mr Sulmasy as part of a broader inquiry into a series of rapes and sexual assaults at the Coast Guard Academy.
Mr Sulmasy was barred by the Coast Guard Academy from entering its campus, and Nichols forbade him from having any contact with anyone at the college during its investigation.
