By Aaron Sanderford | Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Embattled University of Nebraska Regent Elizabeth O’Connor, who increasingly faced likely impeachment proceedings, announced Tuesday that she is resigning her post.
O’Connor, 35, faces a felony charge of drunken driving causing bodily injury from a Douglas County crash that police say totaled two vehicles and broke the back and pelvis of a passenger.
Authorities allege the Omaha-area regent and former student regent tested with a blood alcohol content of 0.321% after the May 21 crash in the Benson area, in her eastern Douglas County district. That’s four times the legal limit.
The father of three young children injured in the crash had lobbied the NU regent to resign and called on lawmakers and other politicians to ramp up the pressure on O’Connor to resign.
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, a Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, had pledged to pursue impeachment if O’Connor, a Democrat, didn’t resign. Impeaching her would require at least 25 votes and the approval of her removal by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The Nebraska Legislature last impeached a state official in 2006, then-NU Regent C. David Hergert.
O’Connor, who has served as an elected member of the NU board since 2019, said in a statement that she did not want to “become a distraction to the Board’s important work.”
“I am choosing to resign now because I want to do the right thing for our great university,” she said in a statement.
“The University of Nebraska is facing many important opportunities and challenges, and District Four must have a representative that can serve effectively on the Board.”
Kauth, a Republican, said O’Connor should have resigned immediately as she still had seven months’ worth of decisions at the university, including managing a $3.6 billion budget.
“Clearly, she does not make great decisions, so I question why she stayed in so long,” Kauth said Tuesday.
Kauth’s push to consider O’Connor’s possible removal appeared to have significant bipartisan support, based on a recent survey of lawmakers by the Nebraska Examiner, which had been preparing a story on the topic. The Legislature currently consists of 33 Republicans, 15 Democrats and one nonpartisan progressive.
Any Democratic support for impeachment would likely imperil her ability to continue to serve. Three Democrats had said by mid-December that they would vote to impeach, and a fourth signaled leaning toward supporting impeachment.
State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, chair of the Legislature’s Education Committee and a Republican, said he was “definitely” in favor of impeaching O’Connor and that she should have resigned “a long time ago.” He noted public video evidence of the alleged crash.
“Regents, like it or not, should be a model for student behavior, and with that serious of a felony allegation and the overwhelming evidence of what happened, she should do the right thing and resign,” Murman said Dec. 18. “If she doesn’t, I think she should be impeached.
State Sens. Merv Riepe of Ralston, a Republican, and Jane Raybould of Lincoln, a Democrat, questioned why the regents had not weighed in first on O’Connor’s fate. Under the Nebraska Constitution, only the Legislature can impeach a constitutional officer.
Gov. Jim Pillen, who had served with O’Connor for four years on the regents, also had weighed in early September, suggesting that she should resign if the allegations were true. His office had no immediate comment Tuesday on the resignation announcement.
The governor, a Republican from Columbus, would appoint her replacement, which would likely add a conservative member from one of the state’s most Democratic-leaning districts until a special election in November 2026 to serve the remainder of O’Connor’s term through the end of 2030. She was reelected in 2024 with 67% of the vote.
In O’Connor’s statement, the first to address her elected position since the charges were brought in July, she credited the work of her fellow board members and NU faculty and staff. Her resignation is effective at 11:59 p.m. Jan. 9, she and NU officials separately confirmed.
“The University of Nebraska is a very special place, and it represents the unique culture and leadership that is evident in the daily lives of Nebraskans in every community across our great state,” she said.
NU President Dr. Jeffrey Gold, in a statement of his own Tuesday afternoon, thanked O’Connor for her service and said he and NU “look forward to working with her successor to further advance and strengthen our university.”
Kauth said O’Connor should have recognized sooner that her continued service would be a “distraction,” not a week before the 2026 legislative session begins. Kauth reiterated she would have formally begun impeachment on Day One. She had briefed a legislative committee on the process in October. Half of the committee told the Examiner they supported impeachment.
“Had we not had articles of impeachment drawn up and ready to go, would she have even thought to resign?” Kauth asked.
Charges against O’Connor were brought July 30, two months after the crash. The delay came as prosecutors awaited O’Connor’s blood test from the lab, and because the Douglas County Attorney’s Office transferred the case to the Omaha City Prosecutor’s Office to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Until early August, O’Connor served as a deputy county attorney.
Part of the 2026 legislative session will include plugging a projected $471 million budget deficit for the state through mid-2027. NU campus leaders have already taken steps to cut more than $40 million from NU’s systemwide budget this fall, and some lawmakers noted O’Connor’s service wouldn’t help the university system, one of the state’s largest line items in the budget.
“If the university is not living up to the standards that we think the university should, and that includes the regents, it doesn’t help,” Murman said.
Kauth said she had the 24 other votes necessary to impeach.
“No matter when that elected official chooses to misbehave and do something that deserves impeachment, we have to address it,” Kauth said. “The fact that she finally resigned means we are able to look at other issues, and we’re going to have a lot this session.”
O’Connor is next scheduled in Douglas County District Court Jan. 22. Her case appears headed to trial as her defense is subpoenaing medical records and conducting depositions.