Mystery surrounds resignation of provost at San Diego State University

Reporting from San Diego —  The provost of San Diego State University has resigned under mysterious circumstances, temporarily leaving the school without a chief academic officer.

The resignation was announced this week by interim San Diego State President Sally Roush, who would not discuss why Chukuka Enwemeka stepped down.

Enwemeka could not be reached for comment about why he is leaving a position that more than doubled his salary to $292,000 since he took the job four years ago.

In March, Enwemeka received mostly high praise in a performance review. But some faculty were concerned that Enwemeka wrote an email that seemed to wish harm on a professor who had called for an early review of his service as provost.

“All said, if in the course of our time and interactions, I willfully sought to harm or perpetrate evil against you, may my Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I have given my entire life, see your action as well deserved by me ...” Enwemeka says in a Sept. 11, 2017, email to biology professor Douglas Deutschman.

“On the other hand, if all I have ever done was to promote your well-being and progress as previously detailed, and in return you willfully sought to harm or hurt me, may my Lord Jesus Christ ensure that you reap what you sowed. So that instead of blessings, you are showered with unending curse and harmed, hurt and visited by evil a million fold in everything you do throughout the rest of your life.

“Please note that in stating the foregoing, I am not necessarily cursing or wishing you evil. I am simply invoking the natural Law of Karma; the Law of Retributive Justice.”

Deutschman declined to comment for this story. He left San Diego State to become a dean at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada.

Enwemeka, an expert in rehabilitative medicine, was recruited in 2014 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he had been serving as dean of the College of Health Sciences.

Enwemeka’s job performance review, which did not reference his email to Deutschman, said that he quickly made a positive impact in areas such as faculty recruitment and retention, boosting the graduation rate and fundraising. The review also said that he has done well with diversity initiatives, supporting the arts and helping with an honors college.

But the review said that Enwemeka needed to do a better job with such things as communicating with the campus community and responding more quickly to time-sensitive issues.

Roush made reference to his accomplishments in an email to San Diego State faculty and staff, saying, “He has served with dedication, integrity, and commitment to support and enhance excellence, and SDSU’s standing, in research, scholarly activities, and teaching. I am very grateful to him for his years of service.”

Her statement indicated that Enwemeka will return to a faculty position at the university.

Roush said she will appoint an interim provost by June 8. She will step down in late June, making way for San Diego State’s new permanent president, Adela de la Torre.

Robbins writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com