Ken Hush, who became Emporia State University president in 2021 and is retiring this month, announced a roughly $1.4 million gift to the university—the equivalent of his last four years of salary. Hush’s tenure included a controversial workforce-management move that led to the firing of 23 tenured faculty, an AAUP censure, litigation by displaced professors, and an enrollment dip. Emporia officials say the university has since eliminated a $19 million budget deficit and posted a 6% enrollment gain since fall 2024. The nonendowed donation will be disbursed over three years to support scholarships, recruitment, and operations. The board has selected Matthew Baker as the next president, slated to begin in March. The gift and leadership transition underscore ongoing tensions between fiscal restructuring, faculty governance, and recruitment in financially stressed regional public universities.