On May 9, 2021, Father O’Brien notified the Board of Trustees that he was resigning as President of Santa Clara University. The Board of Trustees accepted his resignation on May 10, 2021.

As I communicated to you in my letter on March 18, 2021, Father O’Brien was placed on leave by the USA West Province and an independent investigation was conducted on behalf of the Province. The Province has advised the Board of Trustees that it has concluded its investigation which found Father O’Brien engaged in behaviors, consisting primarily of conversations, during a series of informal dinners with Jesuit graduate students that were inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries. The Province also advised the Board that alcohol was involved and that no inappropriate behavior was found in any settings outside of these dinners.

The Board of Trustees takes this situation very seriously and fully supports those who came forward to provide their accounts.

In light of the findings, the Province directed Father O'Brien to remain on leave and to enroll in a four- to six-month therapeutic outpatient program, which he has now begun, to address related personal issues, including alcohol and stress counseling.

The Board of Trustees will immediately establish a process to conduct a search for the University’s next President. We will keep you updated as the search process progresses.

In the interim, we are grateful that Lisa Kloppenberg will continue to serve as Acting President of Santa Clara University. The Board of Trustees has utmost confidence in Lisa and the rest of the well-established SCU leadership team. We are very grateful for the role they play keeping our University operating seamlessly and we are confident in their ability to continue doing so until our next President is named.

The Board of Trustees recognizes that this has been a challenging year on many fronts. We thank our entire campus community for your ongoing support and dedication to the University and each other during this time.