In recent years university presidents have been facing growing political pressures, student and faculty pushback and an increasingly demanding job.

University of Texas President Jay Hartzell is leaving UT to become the next president of Southern Methodist University, the private university announced Tuesday.

Jay Hartzell didn’t set out to leave the University of Texas’ flagship campus for a smaller private college near downtown Dallas. But after SMU board members began aggressively recruiting him for their soon-to-be-vacant president job,