University of Oklahoma law dean named interim president

OKLAHOMA CITY – A law school dean will serve as University of Oklahoma’s interim president following the sudden resignation of the school’s current leader, who’d served less than a year in his role.

The University of Oklahoma Board of Regents says OU Law School Dean Joseph Harroz Jr. will serve as interim president for at least 15 months. The board announced its decision shortly after 2 a.m. Friday following a nearly six-hour executive session.

Harroz takes over immediately for Jim Gallogly, whose short tenure at the state’s flagship university included a sexual misconduct probe of its longtime former president, David Boren, and bitter student reaction to a racist incident on campus.

Harroz served as Boren’s legislative director and legal counsel when Boren was a U.S. senator. He also served as OU’s general counsel.