Sangamon State University President Durward Long will continue as university president in spite of a sexual harassment charge filed against him and the Board of Regents Tuesday by seven SSU professors.

NIU Student Regent Nick Valadez said, “It appears the board has done what it’s going to do.” The Regents have “simply accepted Long’s apology” and allowed him to continue as president, Valadez said.

Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves would not comment on the charges until he meets with his lawyer, the SSU News reported.

Groves said he thought the filing of the charge on Tuesday was “a little more than a coincidence.” The charge was filed Tuesday morning before a previously scheduled speech by Long in which the president apologized to the university for the publicity it had been receiving over his drinking problem and allegations of sexual misconduct.

In response to the allegations of sexual harassment, Long said Tuesday that his actions were “family-like gestures of friendship.”

Pat Langley, one of the SSU professors who filed the charge, said she and a student gave Carol Fines, the Regents’ lawyer, an account of some of the incidents involving Long that occurred on campus when Fines conducted an investigation earlier this year. Fines reported this to the Regents, but the board failed to act on it, Langley said. The failure to act was the reason the charges also were filed against the Board of Regents, according to the SSU News.

An SSU faculty ad hoc committee also conducted an investigation regarding the allegations against Long, but no date has been set for the presentation of their findings.