St. Mary's President to Step Down by 2010

O'Brien's presidency has not been without controversy. In 1998, five gunmen took over a bus carrying 16 St. Mary's students and teachers on a college-sponsored trip in Guatemala. The men robbed the passengers and raped five women during a two-hour ordeal.

Overnight, the quiet campus was deluged with television cameras and reporters. At the time, O'Brien said that the college had carefully reviewed consular reports before the trip and that organizers had done all they could to protect the students. In 2002, the college paid three of the victims a total of $195,000 to settle a lawsuit.

Terry Hartle, an official of the American Council on Education, said O'Brien handled the crisis "with grace and enormous leadership. It was obviously a tragic incident in the college's history, but it didn't define the institution."

Beginning in 2007, neighbors of the college protested the construction of two buildings on the banks of the St. Mary's River and asked why they were not included in the planning process. A few people accused the college of being elitist and operating above the law.

O'Brien said she plans to step down by June 2010 or when a successor is picked, whichever comes first. She will continue to work with the college's Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Oxford, England, while raising money for St. Mary's and teaching at the college.

"It will be an extension of what I have done already," O'Brien said. "We've been talking about it for a while . . . and I am very excited about it."

In the coming weeks, the board of trustees plans to begin the search for a successor, which O'Brien estimates will take about eight months.