EDINBORO — The embattled president of a small northwestern Pennsylvania college is resigning following an uproar over his comments on problems at the financially struggling institution.

A spokesman for Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education said Tuesday evening that H. Fred Walker would resign as Edinboro University president effective Friday. University provost Michael Hannan will serve as acting president.

Walker has been under fire since a profile in the Chronicle of Higher Education described a strategy of selling faculty members on program cuts and possible layoffs at the struggling institution. He was quoted as saying he would “never be able to reason with the faculty.”

Faculty members called for new leadership, saying Walker’s words — as well as his ideas, his opinions of others, and his intentions and tactics — were “indefensible.”