St. Louis University President Father Lawrence Biondi Announces Plan to Step Down

"I know it is now time for the next transformation to begin," St. Louis University President Fr. Lawrence Biondi has said, according to a university press release. According to the Post-Dispatch, St. Louis University President Fr. Lawrence Biondi announced tonight his intention to step down from the post he's held for 25 years. The announcement came at a gala celebrating his quarter century of service. Biondi has recently come under accelerating criticism for his handling of academic affairs at the university. This past August, nextSTL was first report the resignation of SLU Law School Dean Annette Clark. She didn't go quietly, making public her grievences in a letter that pulled no punches. Faculty and students have held no-confidence votes in Biondi's leadership in recent months. According to St. Louis Public Radio, a recent campus survey found near 70 percent of faculty wanted Biondi to step down.

Biondi has also drawn the ire of an increasing number of preservationists in St. Louis with his push to demolish numerous buildings without plans to replace them. The most public example has been the Pevely Dairy complex. This site first reported that SLU would pass on the Pevely site for its claimed ambulatory care center. In order to receive city approval for demolition, Biondi had testified that the school was ready to break ground and financing was in place. Seventeenth Ward Alderman later stated that he was led to believe that development was imminent more than a year ago.