Mayor Ras J. Baraka today wrote a letter to Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway opposing the removal of Nancy Cantor from her post as Chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark. Leading Newark and statewide dignitaries and educators joined as signatories.
The Mayor wrote that Ms. Cantor’s leadership strengthened the college-going culture in Newark with scholarships, free counseling to Newark youth on the college application process, increasing Newark resident enrollment by 60 percent, and research on housing affordability.
“To discard Chancellor Cantor is taking two steps backwards,” Mayor Baraka wrote. “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.”
Mayor Baraka was joined by the following dignitaries in signing the letter:
- Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz
- Assemblywoman Shanique Speight
- Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin
- New Jersey Performing Arts Center President and CEO John Schreiber
- Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger Léon
- The Newark Museum of Art Director and CEO Linda Harrison
- Newark Opportunity Youth Network Founder and CEO Robert Clark
- Public Policy Consultant Richard Roper
- Victoria Foundation Executive Officer Craig Drinkard
- BBC Associates LLC.com Founder Barbara Bell Coleman
- Newark Community Development Network Chairperson Richard Cammarieri
- The Newark Museum of Art Director Emeritus Mary Sue Price
- University of Michigan James V. Campbell Professor of Law Elise Boddie
To read the letter, click here.