Steven L. Hoch, the former provost of Washington State University’s flagship who stepped down after an altercation with another administrator, is returning as a history professor, as planned, but not to the main campus at Pullman, The Seattle Times reported. Instead, Mr. Hoch will teach at the university’s Tri-Cities campus, 150 miles away in Richland.
James Tinney, a spokesman for Washington State at Pullman, said growth at the Tri-Cities campus had prompted the decision to send Mr. Hoch there. The regional campus has just over 1,200 students, compared with about 17,500 at the Pullman campus, according to figures on the university’s Web site.
Mr. Hoch came to Washington State as provost on August 1 and took leave for undisclosed reasons in mid-September. It was later revealed that tensions between him and other senior officials had erupted into an argument and a shoving incident. He and the university agreed that he should not remain as provost but would continue as a faculty member with a salary of $245,000, determined by a formula based on his $300,000 salary as provost. —Charles Huckabee
