Nancy Cantor
Outgoing chancellor
Rutgers University – Newark
There are many ways to define the impact one has as the leader of a college — here’s one that cannot be denied: Your ouster leads to nearly universal condemnation and outrage from those at your school as well as business leaders and elected officials in the community you serve.
It’s still unclear why Cantor’s contract as chancellor at Rutgers-Newark was not renewed (she’ll assume the presidency at Hunter College later this summer). Her supporters were clear in their disgust.
In a letter to Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway signed by many in the Newark community, Mayor Ras Baraka summed it up this way:
“To discard Chancellor Cantor is taking two steps backwards. It disrupts a long and hard-fought progress that Newark is journeying on. It flies in the face of the collective work that we have been doing many times with Chancellor Cantor’s insistence, her commitment and sheer will. Therefore, I, along with the following group of leaders dedicated to improving our city, implore the university to reconsider its decision to replace Chancellor Cantor. It would be a grave error.”
Cantor leaves after leading Rutgers-Newark into the Top 100 in the prestigious U.S. News rankings for the first time — and with a legacy of educational-support programs (Braven) and business initiatives (Fiserv) that are elevating the school and its students, many of which are first-generation enrollees.
Cantor may be going, but her legacy remains.
