UVM leader steps down sooner than he planned

“Suffice it to say that I care greatly about my wife and our marriage, and it has become increasingly clear to me that, in the face of difficult challenges, I cannot serve the university to the best of my ability while obeying the imperative need I feel today to devote significant time and my very best energies to taking care of her and myself and, collaterally, to preparing to resume my work as a teacher and scholar, right here at UVM,’’ he wrote.

In May, it was revealed that Rachel Kahn-Fogel sent steamy letters and e-mails to university vice president Michael Schultz as part of a relationship with him that Fogel called “profoundly disturbing.’’ After media reports of the relationship, Fogel said his wife was struggling with serious mental health issues.

In a Feb. 23 Chittenden Family Court hearing in the divorce case between Schultz and his wife, Pauline Manning of Essex, Manning said she’d found letters to her husband from Kahn-Fogel.

“It was very explicit,’’ Manning said. “It was, ‘Take me in your arms. Taste me. I taste you. Let me feel your long, muscley arms on my body.’ ’’

E-mails provided by UVM in response to public records requests also contained expressions of Kahn-Fogel’s love for Schultz. In her testimony, Manning quoted Schultz as saying he didn’t have a sexual relationship with Kahn-Fogel.

After the relationship came to light, UVM removed her from her volunteer role in planning UVM fund-raising events.

The university is currently investigating whether the relationship violated any university rules. The results of the probe are expected to be complete by mid-August.

“We don’t believe that any laws were broken or any university policies were broken,’’ said Robert Cioffi, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees. “But, importantly, I think the results of the review are going to show that there are some policy and procedure changes that we’re going to need to implement at the university in order to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.’’

In nearly 10 years as president, Fogel is credited with improving UVM’s reputation and the school’s campus. During his tenure, undergraduate enrollment grew by about 2,000 students, the school added more than a million square feet of academic and residential space, and he created an undergraduate honors college.

Cioffi said he didn’t believe the circumstances of Fogel’s departure would tarnish his legacy at UVM.

“I think Dan’s legacy is one of just great accomplishment, and not the least of which is the upward trajectory that he has put us on in the last nine years,’’ Cioffi said.