KSU Campus Protests Sam Olens Interviewing For President Job

“Initially, I was planning to conduct a national search to find the next president of Kennesaw State. Yet through sincere and earnest conversations with Mr. Olens, I now believe he should be considered at this time,” Georgia Board of Regents Chancellor Hank Huckaby said in an email to KSU students and staff. He said the board will interview Sam Olens, who “is being seriously considered for the role of president.”

Many of the protesters worried the job is a political reward.

KSU professor Susan Raines said she’s concerned about the board’s decision to forgo a national search in order to interview Olens.

“The second concern would be his support, in his role of attorney general doing what the governor bid him to do, which was to fight against gay rights and gay marriage and other things in Georgia,” Raines said.

Andrew Connard, a gay journalism student at KSU, said he believed an Olens presidency would change the college’s inclusive campus culture.

“It took me a year being in college to come out and I realized that Kennesaw State University is my safe place,” Connard said.

As Georgia’s attorney general, Olens has filed federal suits challenging marriage equality and bathroom access for transgender students.

Many LGBTQ students spoke out against Olens anonymously, stressing that KSU is the first and only environment in which they’re comfortable being open about their sexuality.

Olens would replace interim president Houston Davis. Davis took over the position this summer after serving as executive vice chancellor of the University System of Georgia since 2012.

Neither Olens nor the Board of Regents responded to requests for comment. The board called a special meeting to discuss KSU’s leadership Wednesday.

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