Political Junky
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- May 27, 2009
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Dinesh D
Amid scandal over his engagement to a much younger woman and dissatisfaction with his tenure as president, the conservative author and filmmaker is leaving his position at The Kings College.
After a marathon meeting to decide his fate, the board of trustees of The Kings College, a small evangelical school based in Manhattan, announced Thursday that conservative author Dinesh DSouza had resigned as president. Former president and current chairman Andy Mills, who made the announcement to faculty and staff, will return as interim president for a third time.
"God has a mighty future for Dinesh, but there are some things he has to go through first," Mills said after breaking the news to King's students Thursday afternoon. "I have to admit, I got a bit over-enamored with him." Mills assured students that most of the college's funding and scholarships come from board members, not from D'Souza's connections.
DSouza came under fire Tuesday when World magazine revealed that he was engaged to a 29-year-old woman while still married to his wife of 20 years. DSouza and Denise Odie Joseph allegedly shared a hotel room at a Christian conference in September, and DSouza introduced her as his fiancee.
It was not immediately clear whether the boards decision was driven by the allegations of the affair, or by dissatisfaction with DSouzas leadership that had been building at the college for months. At the meeting Thursday, Mills did not give details of the board's conversation about DSouza or give reasons for his departure. Representatives for the college did not respond to requests for comment.
According to several sources at the college, members of the Kings faculty and board alike had grown unhappy with DSouzas presidency over what they saw as a failure to earn his salary. DSouza has spent much of the past few months promoting his documentary, 2016: Obamas America, and his high profile in the media was seen as rarely benefitting the college. It may even have been seen as a detriment: According to a former staffer familiar with the colleges public relations, Kings employees have been explicitly tasked with disentangling DSouzas extracurricular activities from the colleges reputation. DSouza became a non-presence on the colleges official Facebook page throughout 2012, which staffers say was no coincidence.
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Amid scandal over his engagement to a much younger woman and dissatisfaction with his tenure as president, the conservative author and filmmaker is leaving his position at The Kings College.
After a marathon meeting to decide his fate, the board of trustees of The Kings College, a small evangelical school based in Manhattan, announced Thursday that conservative author Dinesh DSouza had resigned as president. Former president and current chairman Andy Mills, who made the announcement to faculty and staff, will return as interim president for a third time.
"God has a mighty future for Dinesh, but there are some things he has to go through first," Mills said after breaking the news to King's students Thursday afternoon. "I have to admit, I got a bit over-enamored with him." Mills assured students that most of the college's funding and scholarships come from board members, not from D'Souza's connections.
DSouza came under fire Tuesday when World magazine revealed that he was engaged to a 29-year-old woman while still married to his wife of 20 years. DSouza and Denise Odie Joseph allegedly shared a hotel room at a Christian conference in September, and DSouza introduced her as his fiancee.
It was not immediately clear whether the boards decision was driven by the allegations of the affair, or by dissatisfaction with DSouzas leadership that had been building at the college for months. At the meeting Thursday, Mills did not give details of the board's conversation about DSouza or give reasons for his departure. Representatives for the college did not respond to requests for comment.
According to several sources at the college, members of the Kings faculty and board alike had grown unhappy with DSouzas presidency over what they saw as a failure to earn his salary. DSouza has spent much of the past few months promoting his documentary, 2016: Obamas America, and his high profile in the media was seen as rarely benefitting the college. It may even have been seen as a detriment: According to a former staffer familiar with the colleges public relations, Kings employees have been explicitly tasked with disentangling DSouzas extracurricular activities from the colleges reputation. DSouza became a non-presence on the colleges official Facebook page throughout 2012, which staffers say was no coincidence.
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