Suffolk University President Margaret McKenna will be replaced no later than the 2017-2018 academic year. (Courtesy of Suffolk University)

Suffolk University president Margaret McKenna is speaking out publicly about her short tenure and growing distrust between her and the university’s board which tried to oust her earlier this year.

“For two weeks, I was waking up at three in the morning. It was incredibly painful,” McKenna told WGBH News on Thursday.

Some board members had characterized the first woman to lead Suffolk as “abrasive” and questioned some of her spending decisions. McKenna is Suffolk’s fifth president in five years, and she says initially she refused to step down after seeing the support of students, alumni and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. 

“I’ve never seen that with this kind of enthusiasm in an institution and a college and university before,” said McKenna.

McKenna and the board, though, have since reached a compromise. She’ll stay on until the fall of 2017, the board chair will step down at the end of his term May this year, and the board will reform how the university is governed. 

Listen to the full interview with President McKenna on WGBH's Boston Public Radio: