Grambling State University president Dr. Raymond A. Hicks is leaving his job after losing the confidence of the Louisiana Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities while ongoing financial and administrative problems continue to plague the northern Louisiana school.

Hicks confirmed his decision to leave in a hastily arranged press conference earlier this month, declaring that to "continue to fight for the opportunity to complete the plan of this presidency could destroy me personally and professionally, as well as destroy this great institution."

Hicks said he was forced to resign after being told by Carl Shetler, the new chairman of the Louisiana's board of trustees, that a voting majority of the state board had coalesced "to end this presidency today, after only two years."

Hicks's sudden departure leaves Grambling reeling. Dawn Wilson, a spokesperson for the board, said there is currently no "immediate candidate to replace Dr. Hicks," although on recent occasions Grambling Provost Leonard Hayes has served as acting president in Hicks's absence.

"A committee of three has been appointed by the board of trustees to discuss and make recommendations for an interim president," Wilson added. "And we are obviously hoping that person will be named as soon as possible."

Brandy Evans, campus editor for the Gramblinite, the school paper, said Hicks's exit leaves many unanswered questions.

"All the students know for sure is that he resigned and that he was obviously forced to do so. But none of us know the reasons why," she said.

In fact, the only thing that nearly everyone at Grambling is certain of is that Hicks's tenure as president was stormy. He was named acting president in July 1994 after the former Grambling president, Harold Lundy, was fired by the board in the wake of a state audit which unearthed two dozen instances of rules violations and mismanagement.

Hicks was named president one year later. Since then he has been at the center of an endless swirl of controversies that include: the exodus of the university's bursar, comptroller, and general accounting manager after a state audit reported missing deposits totalling $20,000; a grading scandal that included a total of nearly 1,400 grade changes, mostly for athletes whose low scores threatened their eligibility as players; and a state report released earlier this year showing that Grambling is burdened by a continuing uncollectible debt load of just over $1 million.