This news story is breaking and will be updated.

The Shoureshi era is over at Portland State University.

After six days of intense negotiating, Rahmat Shoureshi, PSU’s president for just 21 months, has agreed to quit. Most of the university’s trustees had lost faith in his ability to lead the university, which offered Shoureshi a big severance package to convince him to go, according to current and former university staff.

Shoureshi’s severance agreement includes seven months of paid administrative leave as his resignation isn’t effective until Dec. 14. The deal provides total compensation and benefits of about $880,000 through 2020, according to university officials. His contract, covered by general funds and university foundation money, had already been set aside in the 2019-20 budget, officials said.

Shoureshi’s original contract had contained a severance deal that would have paid him more than $800,000 if he were to be fired “without cause.”

In a written announcement late Friday afternoon, the university’s Board of Trustees said it expects to name PSU’s College of Urban and Public Affairs Dean Stephen Percy as acting president until an interim president is appointed. The board wrote that it will seek input from the faculty and campus community in the coming weeks as it works to select an interim president.

“We understand that a leadership change of this magnitude is deeply felt across our campus,” the board statement said. "As the governing board, we remain committed to the success of our students, to the research and scholarship of our faculty and to the urban mission of Portland State.

“We are grateful for Dr. Shoureshi’s service to PSU the past 21 months,” Board of Trustees Chair Gale Castillo said. “We wish him the best and look forward to continuing the work that he started.”

In a statement issued Friday, Shoureshi wrote that he was proud of “our exemplary achievements.”

“I will cherish my service here,” his statement continued, “but the time has come for me to focus on my family first.”

He continued, “PSU is a great university, and has an exciting future ahead of it. I wish you all well and thank you for the exceptional opportunity you provided me. I also would like to express my gratitude to all members of the PSU campus community, and those in the Portland area who have extended their support and encouragement to me and my family.”

Shoureshi came to PSU in August 2017 after working for several years as provost of the New York Institute of Technology. At Portland State he moved quickly to make his mark establishing new “centers for excellence" specializing in homelessness and “smart” cities that use technology to improve their management.

He also started up a “co-op” program in which the university would partner with private companies to train PSU students in paid internships.

By 2018, Shoureshi had won over much of the faculty and student body.

Board Vice Chair Greg Hinckley said Shoureshi’s initiatives will continue, such as new research centers of excellence studying solutions to homelessness and how digital technology can create smarter and more livable cities. In addition, he said, the board supports expanding co-op partnerships with area businesses that enable students to work in their career fields while attending PSU.

“The board is committed to supporting ongoing initiatives to enhance student support and faculty research as part of our priorities for PSU,” Hinckley said.

But Shoureshi also was difficult to work with, particularly for his fellow administrators and his executive staff. Shoureshi fired several high level employees. Others quit to get away from him. By last fall, trustees had heard enough complaints to convince them Shoureshi needed a wake-up call.

Castillo and two other trustees, Pete Nickerson and Hinkley, met with him last November and put him on notice that they weren’t happy with his performance as president.

In a follow-up letter dated Nov. 13, Castillo listed the reasons why:

"Putting your financial self-interest ahead of the university’s.

"Treating staff unprofessionally.

"Not giving sufficient consideration to the views of your executive leaders.

"Engaging in conduct that could seriously adversely affect the university’s reputation and standing among critical stakeholders and,

“Misleading the board.”

In the letter, Castillo detailed one of Shoureshi’s attempts to deceive his own board. Between his salary, a housing stipend and a transportation stipend, the university was paying him about $750,000 a year. But after a year in the job, Shoureshi wanted more. He asked for a 4 percent pay hike, the same as the faculty got, he explained.

The board granted the raise only to later learn that the faculty did not get a 4 percent raise. They got 2.3 percent increases.

One of Castillo’s demands in the November 2018 letter was that Shoureshi request his raise be lowered to 2.3 percent.

“We gave you an opportunity to resign,” Castillo said in the letter. “But you have chosen to accept our demands for improved performance.” Castillo and her fellow trustees demanded that Shoureshi go through an executive coaching program. They also told him his raise would be rolled back to match the faculty’s.

An uneasy truce held until March, when The Oregonian/OregonLive published a story detailing the laundry list of Shoureshi’s transgressions. In response, the board hired two investigators to delve deeper into Shoureshi’s management style.

The investigators presented trustees with a three-inch thick binder detailing their findings, which the university has not released to the public. The university also has not disclosed the cost of the investigations.

The board held a series of executive sessions in recent weeks to try to figure out whether to fire or retain Shoureshi. The trustees had been expected to vote on the matter at their regularly scheduled meeting on May 13.