Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn survived a vote by the school's board of trustees to place him administrative leave.
Numerous professors and employees of SIU's Edwardsville campus voiced their support of Dunn during Thursday's meeting.
Dunn was criticized in recent weeks over his handling of a proposal to shift $5.1 million in state appropriations funding from the Carbondale campus to Edwardsville. He also faced calls for his resignation after an internal email in which he used a slur to refer to critics of the reallocation became public.
Board members spent more than three hours in a private session to discuss Dunn's future.
Edwardsville campus professor Charles Berger told the board Dunn was doing his job by advocating for a fair allocation of money.
Dunn declined to comment after the vote was announced.