Resignation of UT President Petersen; Changes in County Boards and Committees

For several weeks, Gene Patterson and 6 News have been asking questions regarding the tenure of UT President John Petersen. Our sources were telling us that despite an on-going independent performance review, Dr. Petersen's time at UT was coming to an end.

On Thursday, it became official. A joint announcement from Dr. Petersen and board Vice Chair Jim Murphy that the president was stepping down effective June 30.

Petersen will present his budget to UT's Board of Trustees next week, then take a leave of absence. He will depart from the office for good at the end of June.

In his place will be Jan Simek, who most recently served as interim chancellor at UT-Knoxville before returning to the classroom. Simek will be acting or interim president for no longer than two years, as the search for the next president takes place.

Joining Gene to talk about the past week's events and what we can look forward to in the weeks and months to come is the head of the Faculty Senate, Dr. John Nolt.

Then, Knox County Law Director Bill Lockett talks about his recent interpretation of state law that shook up the committee system in Knox County government.

And for the Final Word, 6 political analyst George Korda, Kelvin Moxley, and political columnist Frank Cagle discuss issues in the week's news.