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Rutgers University president set to resign after contending with pandemic, anti-Israel protests

Jonathan Holloway, 57, who became the first Black president of Rutgers when he took office in the summer of 2020, said he will leave office when the current academic year ends. He said he plans to take a yearlong sabbatical before returning to the university as a full-time professor.

Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway makes a speech during a House of Representatives committee session on May 23 in Washington, D.C., following student protests in support of Gaza that took place on university campuses across the country last spring. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Holloway's tenure as the university's president was plagued with conflict — with the president contending with the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the Israel-Hamas war and anti-Israel protests on campus.

Rutgers University students set up a Gaza solidarity encampment on campus in Newark, N.J. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

One student previously shared with Fox News Digital that campus leadership left "behind the Jewish/pro-Israel students to deal with an unruly and obviously antisemitic crowd, whose attention turned to the Jews after the administration left."

They said that police were forced to step in and shield Jewish students from the protesters.

A pro-Palestinian encampment at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., May 21. (Getty Images)

"If he resigned today, President Holloway’s legacy would be one of empowering antisemites and terrorist sympathizers," Foxx wrote in a statement. "He must use his final year at Rutgers doing everything in his power to change that, starting by closing the antisemitic, pro-terror Center for Security, Race, and Rights; enforcing the rules; and enacting policies to protect Jewish students and faculty."

The university has not announced who will take the helm of Rutgers following Holloway's departure.

"I remain steadfast in my belief that Rutgers is on the rise and is earning the respect it has long deserved," he said. "I look forward to seeing it flourish in the years ahead."

Fox News Digital has reached out to Rutgers for comment.

Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson contributed to this report.