With Cantor’s early exit, university should look ahead to Syverud’s arrival

I respect Nancy Cantor. I respect her efforts to diversify the role of universities in their respective cities. I respect her work advocating for racial and gender equality at colleges across the country. She is an accomplished woman and leader, which is why she should hold herself to the strictest standard of educators.

To hear that Chancellor Cantor was leaving six months before her contract expires was slightly disconcerting, but not altogether detrimental. After all, Chancellor-Designate Syverud seems to embody everything SU could ever want or need.

But now Chancellor Cantor announced she’s leaving even earlier — next Monday, to be exact. Sure, she’ll be involved, but she won’t be running things. She won’t be doing the work we pay her to do and expect her to do.

I sincerely hope — not out of spite, but out of a sense of fairness — that Chancellor Cantor’s salary is decreased or withheld, and she’s asked to leave the University-funded chancellor’s mansion where she comfortably lives.

It’s the Chancellor’s prerogative to get her affairs in order before she leaves, but I resent being treated like a fool, offered only the rationale of “ensur[ing] a smooth transition.” We are intelligent students at this university. Please don’t pull the wool over our eyes.

I eagerly await Chancellor-Designate Syverud’s arrival on campus. Syracuse deserves a leader like him.

Gregory Locke
Third-Year Law Student