Dear colleague,
The Newark chapter of Rutgers AAUP-AFT stands with the faculty, students, and staff of Rutgers-Newark and the broader Newark community in denouncing the sudden and unjustified ousting of Chancellor Nancy Cantor. The dismissal of Chancellor Cantor reflects a continuing dismissal of issues of racial justice and campus equity that have characterized President Holloway’s administration. It is precisely these problems that Chancellor Cantor and the Rutgers-Newark community remain deeply committed to addressing.
We share Chancellor Cantor’s vision of Rutgers-Newark as a place “where there is an unfailing commitment to transcend traditional boundaries and collaborate to increase social mobility, spur equitable growth, advance racial equity, and leverage publicly engaged scholarship through the collective action of anchor institutions to move the needle on America’s most pressing challenges.”
Chancellor Cantor has embraced publicly engaged scholarship across disciplines, encouraging faculty to work in collaboration directly with local communities. She has undertaken meaningful and effective efforts to make Rutgers more accessible to Black, Latinx, and working-class students, especially those from Newark. In addition, she advanced our union’s push for pay equity by supporting Newark faculty against the objection of the Holloway administration.
The dismissal of Chancellor Cantor comes in a context of persistent pay, resource, and infrastructure inequities across Rutgers campuses. It has become clear that Rutgers-Newark, Rutgers-Camden, and the diverse communities who attend, work, and live in Newark and Camden are simply not a priority for the Holloway administration.
Therefore, we call on President Holloway to begin to address the persistent racial and structural inequities perpetuated by Rutgers administration by taking the following immediate actions:
- Substantively explain his decision to end Nancy Cantor’s tenure as Chancellor of Rutgers-Newark by Monday August 21.
- Absent a satisfactory explanation, reinstate her as Chancellor.
- Approve all Newark and Camden faculty equity pay appeals currently under review
- Address deteriorating student housing and classrooms on the Newark and Camden campuses
- Commit to ensuring equity across all three campuses of Rutgers University to ensure that all faculty, students, and staff are afforded full access to the intellectual and cultural resources of our public university.
In solidarity,
Newark Chapter Leadership, Rutgers AAUP-AFT