Politics

After Malatras’ ouster, who will be the next chancellor of SUNY?

A new leader will need to respond to calls for transformative change at the public university system – including making it free.

SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley is taking over as interim leader on Jan. 15.

SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley is taking over as interim leader on Jan. 15. Felix Lipov

The upcoming semester will feature big changes at the State University of New York. SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley is taking over as interim leader on Jan. 15 once Chancellor Jim Malatras officially steps down after he was linked to efforts to publicly discredit Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to accuse former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment. The Board of Trustees will conduct a “global search” in the months ahead for a permanent leader of the university system, which educates about 400,000 undergraduate and graduate students across its 64 campuses. Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to detail ”bold plans” in her Jan. 5 State of the State address on remaking the 64-campus university.

Cuomo loomed large over the university during his decade as governor. His power over the budget and board appointments gave him enormous influence over its finances. The three-term governor leaned on SUNY for signature initiatives on financial aid and upstate economic development projects – for better or worse. A top Cuomo ally, Larry Schwartz, spent time pushing trustees in a successful effort to get Malatras hired as chancellor in 2020 after forgoing a search for other candidates. This era is ending with the Malatras’ resignation.

“This is a critical moment for SUNY, and it needs a dynamite leader to take us forward,” said Frederick Kowal, president of United University Professions, which represents faculty and staff across the SUNY system. “(Cuomo) wanted to totally control SUNY like everything else. Hochul changes everything.”

Students, faculty, staff and legislators are offering their own visions for the future of the university, and whoever ends up succeeding Stanley (who announced her retirement in May) as chancellor could be the person with the largest influence over the university moving forward. CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez has been floated as a possible contender, though his spokesperson said he already has his “dream job.” 

University leaders tend to be longtime academics who rise to senior administrative ranks or prominent government positions. Former SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson is a trained engineer and former official at the U.S. Department of Energy. But she reportedly struggled in her relationship with Cuomo, which supposedly contributed to her decision to leave New York and become president of Ohio State University in 2020. The new governor has repeatedly emphasized how her management style differs from her predecessor. Her initial reluctance to directly get involved in pushing for Malatras’ resignation is one example of her hands-off approach to SUNY compared to Cuomo. That could make the chancellor job more appealing to potential candidates.

The search for a new chancellor will likely continue for a good chunk of 2022. That means that Stanley will be in charge of pushing for the billions in new state funding over the next few years that the university is requesting through the state budget expected to pass in early April. “They could not have picked a better person,” Assembly Higher Education Committee Chair Deborah Glick said in an interview of the board’s selection of Stanley as interim chancellor. State lawmakers like Glick are aiming to build on the increased funding they secured in the budget that passed months ago to address the so-called “Tap Gap” between the costs of educating a student – as measured by full tuition – and what individual campuses can charge certain students. 

Legislators, students and union leaders alike are pushing for the elimination of the tuition increases implemented at SUNY in recent years. Some elected officials have had their own ideas of how best to fund financial aid programs. Cuomo unveiled his “Excelsior Scholarship” programs several years ago to mixed success. Hochul will detail her own approach in her upcoming State of the State address and a budget proposal expected to be released later in January. “Do I think that if we redirected economic development money, we could get closer to a free tuition situation? Yes, but I'm not sure that we could, within one year, make that a reality,” Glick said in an interview. 

Students are not giving up so easily on reinventing SUNY to their liking sooner rather than later. Their efforts are focused right now on the nascent efforts to find a new chancellor. Many of them are struggling to pay for a college education and living expenses while focusing on their studies. “We're so focused on the finances and it distracts us from the overall goal, which is to get an education,” said Ocean Karim, a 20-year-old undergraduate at Stony Brook University who represents thousands of students as a member of his student government. Karim, the son of Bangladeshi immigrants, added that many students are hopeful that a new leader for the university system, which also includes teaching hospitals and an array of research programs, might better reflect the ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic diversity that have helped make public universities like SUNY an engine of the state economy. Like legislators, union leaders and others though, Karim says a chancellor who really listens is a good place to start. “We as students definitely want to have a chancellor that is very open,” Karim said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.