Five trustees and the president of the Cooper Union resigned this week following years of turmoil at the elite New York college that trains artists, architects and engineers.

President Jamshed Bharucha resigned Wedsnesday, a day after the trustees. The exodus follows backlash from students, alumni groups, and the New York State attorney general over recent board decisions and an opaque leadership.

The board's announcement last year that the college would charge tuition after a traidtion of free education since the mid- 1800s was a point of contention, among oher issues. Bharucha said tuition was needed to keep the quality of education high. The college has annual operating deficits of more than $15 million.