$1 million isn’t enough to keep MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz from leaving for Clemson University job

Michigan State University has had six presidents since 2018

MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz is stepping down to take up the presidency at  Clemson University, 

Guskiewicz has been frustrated by Michigan State University’s board, several board members said 10 days ago, when the board approved a in-hindsight hail-mary $1 million raise and other incentives for the president, effectively doubling his pay in a hastily-called board meeting.

It wasn’t enough.

“Today, President Kevin M. Guskiewicz shared that he will be leaving MSU to become the next president of Clemson University,” according to a Facebook post from MSU.

In a letter to the MSU community this morning, Guskiewicz cited concerns with board members.

“It has become increasingly clear that there are differing perspectives within the Board of Trustees regarding how best to move MSU forward. At times, too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements reahter than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us. While I firmly believe we are all better when there is a diversity of viewpoints informing decisions, our ability to make meaningful progress is hampered when disagreements move from offering alternative perspectives into publicly undermining decisions and putting personal interests above the best interests of the university and our faculty, staff and students. What is perhaps most troubling is the actions of some to abuse their access to privledged and confidential information to misrepresent facts, manulipate situations and selectively use and leak that information to promote personal agendas.”

Guskiewicz said he is “appreciative of the five trustees who recently voted to strenthen their code of ethics and conduct.” 

Five board members voted to adopt several provisions apparently aimed at reducing the infighting on the board in a May vote.

The changes included language saying board members “shall not divulge to an unauthorized person, confidential information acquired in the course of trustee service in advance of the time prescribed for its authorized release to the public.”

The amendment also bars trustees from representing their personal opinions as that of the university, and states that trustees will not undermine decisions made by the majority, according to a Michigan Advance report.

Clemson University’s longtime president Jim Clements left at the end of 2025. The South Carolina-based university has scheduled a Saturday board meeting to hire its 16th president.

Clemson’s board approved the hiring of Guskiewicz on Wednesday, with a starting timeline to be determined. His Clemson salary is reported to be around $1.2 million, significantly less than the roughly $2 million package from the recent upgrade he was offered 10 days ago but higher than the roughly $1 million he had been receiving.

Guskiewicz is  familiar with Upstate South Carolin having been the 12th chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a neuroscientist, academic leader and concussion researcher in addition to his administrative work.

Guskiewicz has been at MSU for a little more than two years, he began in March 2024.

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon resigned in January 2018 amid the fallout of the Larry Nassar scandal. An acting president, Bill Beekman, served for about a week until former Michigan Gov. John Engler took over as interim president for just under a year. Acting President Satish Udpa served for about six months until premanent President Samuel Stanley held the job for a contemporary record of a little more than three years, from August 2019 until November 2022. Interim President Teresa Woodruff ran the university until March 2024, when Guskiewicz was hired.