SUNY-Binghamton President Will Retire After Year of Controversy

Lois B. DeFleur announced today that she would step down as president of Binghamton University in July, after 20 years in office. Ms. DeFleur cited personal reasons for her retirement, including her coming marriage and her mother’s fragile health. But in the last year, Ms. DeFleur’s presidency and Binghamton have been plagued with controversy. A female fund raiser sued the university last summer, alleging that senior officials in the athletics department had tried to use her as a sexual “plaything” to help solicit contributions from donors. Last fall the university terminated an adjunct who complained she had been pressured to pass basketball players who skipped classes. The university later reinstated her. But at the same time the university dismissed six basketball players, including one who had been arrested for selling crack cocaine, and it reassigned its athletics director. Nancy L. Zimpher, the State University of New York system’s chancellor, also announced that an outside auditor would examine the basketball program.