Herman Saatkamp, President of Stockton University - formerly Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, has resigned over the aborted purchase of an Atlantic City casino. Looking to expand beyond its main campus in Galloway Township, NJ, Saatkamp engineered the purchase of the bankrupt Showboat casino, expecting to convert it into a satellite “Island Campus” to house Stockton’s tourism and hospitality program, as well as its dance, music and theater programs.

Stockton paid only $18 million for the bankrupt casino, a bargain price, but Saatkamp made a critical mistake. He ignored a legal agreement between the casino’s previous owner and the casino next door (a Donald Trump property) stipulating that the structure could only be used as a casino/hotel. Rather than engage in a protracted legal battle, Saatkamp announced that Stockton would sell the building and within a few days found a potential buyer in Glenn Straub, a Florida real estate developer, who agreed to pay $24 million for the property. But Straub and Stockton have yet to consummate the deal due to problems with Straub’s purchase of another casino. Straub also outraged the Stockton community with his racist remarks expressing interest in hiring Stockton hospitality majors for his hotel as night clerks provided they were “free, white and over 21.” Meanwhile Stockton is losing $400,000 per month in maintenance and utility bills.

The Stockton faculty senate and Stockton Federation of Teachers weighed in, expressing outrage that the faculty were kept in the dark about the legal stipulation that negated the purchase. On April 27, they announced the results of a vote expressing no-confidence in President Saatkamp. To ensure that such a situation never arises again, the Senate and SFT have demanded two seats of the Stockton Board of Trustees.

Meanwhile, the Senate Budget Committee chaired by Senator Paul Sarlo invited President Saatkamp to a committee hearing, scheduled for April 30 to grill him on the snafu. Saatkamp declined to appear. Saatkamp initially submitted his resignation on April 21, to be effective September 1, 2015, but to no one’s surprise, he moved up the date to April 28, claiming medical reasons.

The good news is that Saatkamp’s departure may have inaugurated a new era of collegiality at Stockton. Acting President Harvey Kesselman will establish three task forces at Stockton University to address the following issues: Atlantic City Initiatives, Shared Governance and Search of an Interim President. (Kesselman is leaving on July 1 to take another job.) These task forces will include a …faculty leader, staff leader, SFT representative and student leader. In a memo to the Stockton community, Kesselman stressed the importance of maintaining “a commitment to thoughtful collaboration and institutional transparency.” The underscoring is his.

Anne Pomeroy, President of the Stockton Federation of teachers, agrees that Stockton should sell the boardwalk property as soon as possible. Apart from the legal complications, Stockton would do better to expand its existing operations in Atlantic City, currently based in the Carnegie Library Center, or to find another manageable AC location away from the glitz and closer to the areas of the city in need of development. She is pleased that the union and senate, acting in concert, have helped bring about a change in leadership and is encouraged by Acting President Kesselman’s commitment to collaborative decision making.

But Stockton is not out of the woods yet. Even if it quickly sells the property, Senator Sarlo has accused the University of breaking the law that requires the State Comptroller’s office to review and approve the purchases of over $12 million by any public entity.