Nancy Cantor's departure

[IthacaMatt]

Do any of you feel that her decision to leave may have been precipitated by the whole Bernie Fine affair?

Although she's done a lot of good things for the community, and brought new students from the inner city into the University under that program they have in place with the Syracuse school district, there has been a lot of criticism of that effort, too, because of its impact on the scho0l ranking and how exclusive SU's admissions are.

I'm wondering whether she will retire (she does have a disabled son who is nearing adulthood), or whether she'll look for another gig.

 

[jr4750]

That's an interesting thought. I did read somewhere, perhaps here the other day that the BOT did a lot to shield her from any criticism over the handling of the BF situation. I'm torn myself over her legacy, as I really like the initiatives she has championed in bringing SU into the city of Syracuse, but am not happy with the academic slide. A private institution with a 150 year history and some of the best programs in the country, should not be ranked as low as we've been. I really feel that needs to be A1 for the next chancellor. I wouldn't mind though if NC took an emeritus position within the university to concentrate on external affairs or something similar. I know her husband is a well regarded Maxwell professor and they might opt to stay local...

 

[PhatOrange]

Do any of you feel that her decision to leave may have been precipitated by the whole Bernie Fine affair?

Although she's done a lot of good things for the community, and brought new students from the inner city into the University under that program they have in place with the Syracuse school district, there has been a lot of criticism of that effort, too, because of its impact on the scho0l ranking and how exclusive SU's admissions are.

I'm wondering whether she will retire (she does have a disabled son who is nearing adulthood), or whether she'll look for another gig.

Is it her choice to leave?

 

[Whitey23]

my initial thought was that its Fine related. Whether it's her decision or the school's idk.

 

[omniorange]

Is it her choice to leave?

If it isn't her choice than the Chairman of the BOT is doing one hell of "sell job" to those politicos who might object to her being forced out. And somehow, if Nancy herself wanted to stay and was being pressured to leave, I think she has enough political savvy to try and marshall the support she does have to try and stay.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/syracuse_university_chancellor_4.html

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/central_new_yorkers_react_to_n.html

To me, the fact this doesn't appear to be happening either means she is moving on of her own free will or if being pushed out through backroom dealings, she doesn't mind and is actually assisting the BOT in hiding it.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[omniorange]

Do any of you feel that her decision to leave may have been precipitated by the whole Bernie Fine affair?

Although she's done a lot of good things for the community, and brought new students from the inner city into the University under that program they have in place with the Syracuse school district, there has been a lot of criticism of that effort, too, because of its impact on the scho0l ranking and how exclusive SU's admissions are.

I'm wondering whether she will retire (she does have a disabled son who is nearing adulthood), or whether she'll look for another gig.

There is also a lot of criticism about her being too focused on athletics and not enough on scholarship.

Interestingly, if I'm reading the Capital Campaign information correctly, it looks like the donors gave over $100 million more in all of the Cross-Connections Initiatives than was the goal (which was $300 million) and fell far short in terms of the goal for Faculty Excellence (which was $200 million) which now has the note below annotated to get it to a respectable amount.

“Faculty excellence” amount adjusted to include faculty programs/research and reallocation of prior-year campaign gifts/pledges"​

Cheers,​

Neil​

 

[strumpfasaurus]

Nancy Cantor was too much of an idealist instead of a realist. She has these awesome ideas (Scholarship in action, connective corridor) trying to get kids who wouldn't normally go to college go to college, and trying to unite the area. But did not take into account how much money it costs and the collateral damage of it. (i.e. rankings etc.)

 

[IthacaMatt]

Nancy Cantor was too much of an idealist instead of a realist. She has these awesome ideas (Scholarship in action, connective corridor) trying to get kids who wouldn't normally go to college go to college, and trying to unite the area. But did not take into account how much money it costs and the collateral damage of it. (i.e. rankings etc.)

Yes, some people have used the phrase that "if she wants to turn SU into a glorified community college ..." There was a newspaper article a couple months ago talking about university research in this era of exploding expenses for higher education. A Cornell big-wig was saying something like, "I applaud Syracuse's efforts to engage with their community. Not every college can be an internationally recognized research institution (like Cornell...), and each college has to find their own formula for success." (paraphrasing)

SU is recognized, rightly or wrongly, as being a school with a few elite level colleges, and then a bunch of liberal arts programs filled with B students who couldn't get into other schools whose parents come from the Boston or NYC metro area and have enough money to pay for private school.

The next chancellor probably needs to work on buffing the university's academic reputation. It has suffered under Cantor's community outreach programs. You have to find the right balance between the two. There is a lot to work with, like the University's recent push into entrepreneurship and digital media.

 

[cto]

I never comment in this kind of thread, but the record should be set straight here.

1) It was totally Nancy's decision to leave when her contract expires 21 months from now. Btw, in today's higher education environment, 10 years is a longer-than-average tenure for a university president.

2) The Bernie Fine issue had zero to do with her decision, and it is myopic for anyone here to think otherwise.

I will now crawl back under my rock.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I never comment in this kind of thread, but the record should be set straight here.

1) It was totally Nancy's decision to leave when her contract expires 21 months from now. Btw, in today's higher education environment, 10 years is a longer-than-average tenure for a university president.

2) The Bernie Fine issue had zero to do with her decision, and it is myopic for anyone here to think otherwise.

I will now go back under my rock.

Do you think she'll retire, or look for a new challenge?

 

[MCC]

Do you think she'll retire, or look for a new challenge?

Depends on how heavy that rock is. Once CTO gets back under there it usually takes a final four run or the equivalent for her to don the orange sweater and reappear.

 

[CarolinaCuse]

I never comment in this kind of thread, but the record should be set straight here.

1) It was totally Nancy's decision to leave when her contract expires 21 months from now. Btw, in today's higher education environment, 10 years is a longer-than-average tenure for a university president.

2) The Bernie Fine issue had zero to do with her decision, and it is myopic for anyone here to think otherwise.

I will now go back under my rock.

Seven years is usually the average. It's not that unusual for presidents/chancellors/etc. to move on after capital campaigns are complete.

 

[reedny]

Yes, some people have used the phrase that "if she wants to turn SU into a glorified community college ..." There was a newspaper article a couple months ago talking about university research in this era of exploding expenses for higher education. A Cornell big-wig was saying something like, "I applaud Syracuse's efforts to engage with their community. Not every college can be an internationally recognized research institution (like Cornell...), and each college has to find their own formula for success." (paraphrasing)

SU is recognized, rightly or wrongly, as being a school with a few elite level colleges, and then a bunch of liberal arts programs filled with B students who couldn't get into other schools whose parents come from the Boston or NYC metro area and have enough money to pay for private school.

The next chancellor probably needs to work on buffing the university's academic reputation. It has suffered under Cantor's community outreach programs. You have to find the right balance between the two. There is a lot to work with, like the University's recent push into entrepreneurship and digital media.

As you suggest in the thread and above, I think this has nothing to do with athletics and everything to do with turning the University's academic mission into an open door mission.

 

[tipphill]

If it isn't her choice than the Chairman of the BOT is doing one hell of "sell job" to those politicos who might object to her being forced out. And somehow, if Nancy herself wanted to stay and was being pressured to leave, I think she has enough political savvy to try and marshall the support she does have to try and stay.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/syracuse_university_chancellor_4.html

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/central_new_yorkers_react_to_n.html

To me, the fact this doesn't appear to be happening either means she is moving on of her own free will or if being pushed out through backroom dealings, she doesn't mind and is actually assisting the BOT in hiding it.
Cheers,
Neil

the mere fact that she deferred her answer to the bot chair says a lot to me. if everything was great she would have thanked the bot profusely and blah,blah,blah...