Dive Brief:

• Debra Townsley, the president of William Peace University, will retire when her five-year contract is up on June 30.
• Townsley’s stint was marked by significant changes, including changing the former all-women Peace College into the co-ed William Peace University.
• Trustees of the Raleigh, NC, school offered Townsley a contract extension, but she said she planned to stay for only five years when she was hired, the News & Observer reported.

Dive Insight:

Full-time male students were admitted starting in 2012, and alumni and students staged protests of the decision to go co-ed. The student body grew under Townsley’s leadership, but the full-time faculty was downsized substantially and academic departments were cut. Nearly two-thirds of the university’s $33 million endowment was spent on buying a retail center, which some donors questioned, and a majority of the faculty members signed a letter to the trustees earlier this year that amounted to a no-confidence vote in Townsley. The letter complained of an environment of mediocrity, suspicion and fear, and of a failure to provide students with support.