Dear Commons Community,
Vincent G. Boudreau, the dean of the Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at City College, was named as interim president of City College after Lisa S. Coico resigned as president last month. As reported in the New York Times:
“Hoping to restore some stability to the City College of New York after the unexpected resignation of its president, the City University of New York announced on Wednesday that it had selected an interim leader…
The appointment of Vincent G. Boudreau comes after Lisa S. Coico stepped down as president amid a widening federal investigation into whether college funds had been used to improperly pay her personal expenses.
Ms. Coico insisted for months before resigning that she had done nothing wrong — a position she continues to maintain, according to her lawyers. Nonetheless, she relinquished her post without warning on Oct. 7, a day after The New York Times presented evidence to the college that a 2011 memo concerning reimbursements had been fabricated, possibly to mislead prosecutors. The Times also questioned whether Ms. Coico had repaid a $20,000 security deposit for a rental home, or had kept the money for herself.
Her departure stunned City College, which was once known as “the poor man’s Harvard.” And it came at an inauspicious time, as the college struggles to cope with deep budget cuts, and its engineering school works to ensure that the renewal of its accreditation is not undermined by what national experts said were “poor” and unsafe lab conditions.
Dr. Boudreau, a political scientist with a Ph.D. from Cornell whose research focuses on social movements, especially in Southeast Asia, will serve as interim president through the end of the current academic year, James B. Milliken, CUNY’s chancellor, told university trustees on Wednesday. Dr. Boudreau will name an interim dean of the Powell school to serve in his place during that time.
CUNY will soon embark on a search for a permanent president who it hopes will be in place by next fall, Mr. Milliken said. The search committee will be led by the board of trustees’ new vice chairman, Barry F. Schwartz, an executive vice chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Inc., an investment firm.”
We wish CCNY well in its search for a new president!
Tony
