Lester Lefton, the Kent State University president who is retiring in six months, will be forming a consulting firm after he does. This was reported in the university newspaper, and will apparently be a consulting firm for higher education. The Daily Kent Stater reported that Lefton will start the LeftonGroup, and other educators are already on the roster. Jerry Sue Thorton, who is the former Cuyahoga Community College president, among them. Lefton is listed as the registered owner of the website according to a search of the domain information, which is not information protected by the Who Is feature apparently.
“The website was activated as a trial run for an opportunity that he sees after he retires and leaves the university,” Mansfield said in a statement to the univesity campuf. “It’s not unusual for many companies to test a website and have other people look at it and work on it for the future.” There are fourteen consultants that will be helping Lefton with the company, including some prior faculty at Kent State. Lefton was provost at Tulane and GWU as well, serving as the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. The website detailed the services that the LeftonGroup will provide, giving both public and private universities tools like building teams and forming a strategy and vision as well as advising on legal issues and social issues like diversity.
Katie Koestner is one of the consultants for the LeftonGroup. Koestner was approached by Lefton in November after she was date raped and spoke out about it, in an incident that happened in 1990. Meanwhile, she has been instrumental in helping to create campus policies about rape and rape victims. Lefton has told Koestner that he would need her on an as-needed basis. She will be helping universities identify sexual misconduct policies and advise them on those policies as well as help to prevent rape from happening.