How University Leaders Are Holding On
Running a high-profile university during a war in the Middle East where students, faculty and alumni are at odds has turned into one of the toughest jobs in America to keep.
The presidents at five Ivy League universities have stepped down since the Israel-Gaza war began last fall. Four of those schools have named interim presidents. Leaders elsewhere spent the summer enacting stricter rules to stave off a repeat of the spring, when colleges across the country were beset by protest, encampments and arrests.
Intense pressures remain.
Alumni want protesters to stop diminishing the brand of their alma maters. Faculty want an end to the disruption of classes. Parents want safety for their children. And there is always the potential for Congress to call more school leaders before a committee to ask why their campuses are so chaotic.
Presidents who have held their jobs are quick to acknowledge they have benefited from variables beyond their control. But several presidents, former presidents and advisers point to strategies that have helped leaders navigate recent storms.
Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier described his North Star as an unwillingness to appease one side or the other through intense protests, arrests and student expulsions on his campus.
