St. John’s College consolidated its separate campus presidencies into a single collegewide role after the governing board voted to streamline leadership across Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. J. Walter Sterling—who has led the Santa Fe campus since July 2024—will have the consolidated responsibility as the board prepares a search for a permanent president. The consolidation is being framed as a cost-saving response to ongoing budgetary pressure and anticipated enrollment declines. Bard College also moved into an interim leadership phase after naming Jonathan Becker as acting president, following the end of Leon Botstein’s 51-year presidency and months of turmoil tied to the DOJ’s filings about Jeffrey Epstein. For campus governance teams, these moves underscore how budget and reputational risk are reshaping presidential succession planning and accelerating administrative changes ahead of enrollment-sensitive years.