Tokyo's Nihon University plans to appoint award-winning author Mariko Hayashi to head its board in an effort to revamp its leadership after a series of scandals involving a former board chairman, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
If approval is granted at a board meeting Friday, Hayashi, 68, a graduate of the school who is scheduled to take up the post July 1, would be the first female chair of the board at the university, one of Japan's largest.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Hayashi said, "I've always felt that I wanted to do something for my school. I think I'll be able to speak officially tomorrow."
Hayashi, a popular author, won Japan's prestigious Naoki Prize for fiction in 1986, and in 2018 was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon given by the government to individuals who have made significant contributions in the academic and artistic fields. She is currently head of the Japan Writers' Association.
Other candidates for the post included former bureaucrats and politicians who are also school alumni, but some within the university insisted that having a first female chair would strengthen the impact of its leadership reform, the sources said.
A committee to select candidates for the post agreed Wednesday to back Hayashi, they said.
The move came after the university's former chair Hidetoshi Tanaka was found guilty of evading some 52 million yen ($400,000) in income tax and given a suspended one-year prison sentence at the Tokyo District Court late March, along with a 13 million yen fine.
Tanaka, 75, resigned from the post on Dec. 1, 2021, following his arrest, after assuming the position in September 2008.
As a measure to prevent similar incidents in the future, Nihon University announced it would appoint a new board chair and president and limit them to two terms or a total of eight years.
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