University of Michigan's President-Elect Declines the Job

The man set to be the next president at the University of Michigan said Wednesday he can't take the job because of brain cancer. Kent Syverud, chancellor at Syracuse University, said he received the diagnosis after not feeling well last week, reports the AP. "I am currently undergoing treatment at the University of Michigan. ... I am aware that I am one of many, many people who face a diagnosis like this—people who show up each day with courage," Syverud said. "I take inspiration from all of them." "I am approaching this with optimism, with determination, and with full confidence in the people who are caring for me," Syverud said, per MLive. "I believe in the road ahead, and I intend to walk it with everything I have."

Syverud was hired in January and was set to become president in May. The University of Michigan's interim president, Domenico Grasso, will stay in the job while the school's governing board searches for another leader. Instead of becoming president, Syverud will be a professor at Michigan's law school and serve as an adviser to the Board of Regents, the board said. "We have no doubt that outstanding candidates will seek an opportunity to lead our great university," the board said in a statement.