francis ricciardone is the current president of auc. ricciardone assumed office on july 1, 2016. in february 2019, the faculty of the american university overwhelmingly voted that they had "no confidence" in ricciardone's leadership. in a letter to the president, the faculty cited "low morale, complaints about his management style, grievances over contracts and accusations of illegal discrimination" with tensions further increasing when ricciardone invited u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo to give a speech at the university.