Cuomo aide picked to run SUNY draws both criticism and optimism

ALBANY — When James Malatras becomes the 14th chancellor of the State University of New York on Monday, he will be only the second leader over 71 years to come from a governor’s inner circle, and that concerns some faculty, students and legislators.

“When a chancellor is essentially a gubernatorial appointment, that individual inevitably will face pressure to support the governor’s agenda, rather than argue strongly and publicly for SUNY’s needs,” said Peter L.K. Knuepfer, associate professor at the state University at Binghamton and a past president of the SUNY University Faculty Senate.

“Malatras’ appointment does appear much more political than academic,” said Knuepfer, who has served on a past national search committee for a chancellor. “This is an important position not only for SUNY but for SUNY's national reputation … which will be damaged by this appointment.”

But others say that although Malatras is an unconventional choice, he is a smart choice in hard fiscal times.

Malatras, 42, is widely respected as a thoughtful, collegial and hardworking problem-solver even by critics of the SUNY Board of Trustees decision. He has some recent academic experience as a SUNY administrator and teaches a class on federalism.

The Ulster County native also is the first chancellor to be a product of the SUNY system, having earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in political science at the state University at Albany.

Since 2007, Malatras has held policymaking positions under Cuomo dating to Cuomo’s term as attorney general. This year, Malatras has headed Cuomo’s panel of most-trusted past and present advisers to help contend with the COVID-19 virus.

Previous positions include director of state operations, a top post in which Malatras ran the daily operation of the state while also advising Cuomo on policy. Malatras has held other top policymaking positions for Cuomo since he became governor in 2011.

Malatras' appointment also may be reflecting — rather than bucking — a trend in academic leaders who increasingly need to be skilled in politics as well as academics, education experts said. Even critics of the board of trustees’ decision said the appointment may best serve SUNY under Cuomo as he faces multibillion-dollar deficits and warns of deep cuts to all state spending.

Former SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, who was steeped in academic background when she arrived in Albany, knows the diverse talents needed for the job.

“I had to build my skill set on government relations and politics and fundraising,” said Zimpher, who was SUNY’s chancellor from 2009 to 2017. “You have to know the inside before you can do the outside.”

Whatever the view of Malatras’ hire, SUNY, with 415,051 students on 64 campuses, faces a transformative moment.

Malatras was hired Aug. 21 at a $510,000-a-year salary and housing allowance. Members of the board of trustees that hired him were all appointed by Cuomo with the consent of the Senate and includes Cuomo’s former lieutenant governor, Robert Duffy. The board was led by SUNY’s Senior Vice Chancellor Robert Megna, Cuomo’s former budget director.

The SUNY board rejected calls for the traditional national search. And although SUNY has selected interim chancellors six times before, Malatras wasn’t considered for an interim role.

Malatras’ appointment was proposed by board Chairwoman Merryl Tisch, who said a chancellor must have the “skill, experience and academic credentials to lead SUNY.”

“Dr. Jim Malatras …. possesses those necessary attributes to lead SUNY as its chancellor in these uncertain times and bring it to new greatness,” said Tisch, a former vice chancellor on the Board of Regents.

The board said the COVID-19 virus required a fast replacement for Kristina M. Johnson, who resigned in June after less than three years in the job to become president of Ohio State University. Before joining SUNY, Johnson worked at Duke and Johns Hopkins universities; had been undersecretary for energy under President Barack Obama; has published more than 150 academic papers; and holds more than 100 patents. Johnson didn’t return a request for comment.

The lone vote against the resolution appointing Malatras was by Cary Staller, president of the Staller Associates commercial real estate firm in Hauppauge. He said in an interview that his vote was not against Malatras but against the process that failed to search for “a diverse pool of candidates” evaluated by faculty, administrators, students, unions and industry leaders.

The University Faculty Senate, the Faculty Council of Community Colleges and the Student Assembly issued a vote of “no confidence” in the board’s selection process. The groups said it contradicts "all good rules of shared governance, or good governance, in academic institutions.”

“Absent an honest search, James Malatras’ tenure will be tainted by an aura of illegitimacy and the suspicion that he is at the governor’s bidding,” said Candace deRussy, who served 12 years as an outspoken SUNY board member independent of Gov. George Pataki, who appointed her, and an academic who has written extensively on higher education. She said the appointment could discourage talented academics and administrators from joining SUNY.

After the vote, Malatras told reporters his relationship with Cuomo won’t hurt his leadership of SUNY.

“I understand people’s concerns about having a more robust search process, but we are in unprecedented times,” Malatras said. “My fiduciary responsibility is to the state university system, particularly the students.”

Malatras and Cuomo didn’t return requests for comment.

Malatras joins the realm of national academic leaders who have held the job. They included Alvin C. Eurich, who had been president of Stanford University before joining SUNY in 1949; Ernest L. Boyer, who worked for three major colleges before he joined SUNY in 1970 and was an adviser to three presidents; and Clifton R. Wharton Jr., who served as president of Michigan State University before he came to SUNY in 1978.    

Choosing Malatras, however, drew comparisons to Robert King. He was Pataki’s budget director and a former Assembly member and lawyer when Pataki pushed King to become chancellor in 2000. In a tumultuous five years, King was criticized for his lack of academic experience and his willingness to limit SUNY funding and to implement annual tuition increases that avoided the politically thorny decisions by the governor.

“Clearly, Dr. Malatras has more of an academic background than Bob King did,” said Assembly Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan). “But the issue is whether the state university is treated as a university or as another state agency.”

Glick said when SUNY is underfunded, opportunities are lost for students who are dissuaded from exploring new fields because of a limit on financial aid, and society loses by missing out on potential innovators and leaders.

“We undermine the inquiring mind so that people lack critical thinking skills,” Glick said.

She said another concern is that Malatras could bring an "accountability movement" that has roiled primary and secondary education. Critics say it has required public schools to be more rigid in what is taught and limits the creativity of teachers to teach it.

“There certainly has been an ‘accountability’ movement upward from K-12 into higher education over the last two decades,” said Paul Thomas, a professor at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, who researches education trends. “Many in higher ed haven’t anticipated this move and are also somewhat unaware of its consequences.”

One of the strongest arguments for Malatras is Malatras himself.

“He is enormously talented, credentialed, experienced within the state government at the highest levels and also within the university and therefore the right person to lead SUNY in this very difficult time,” said Gerald Benjamin, distinguished professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz. “Chancellors who do not have the governor’s confidence have done less well in leading the university. It is the real world.”

United University Professions union President Frederick Kowal sees an upside after what he said were three years of neglecting SUNY’s needs.

“Now it’s a totally different situation because of Malatras’ close relationship with the governor,” Kowal said.

For now, some critics of the decision are banking on Malatras’ skill to lead SUNY, rather than follow Cuomo.

“Maybe there will be an opportunity for Dr. Malatras to actually convince the governor that additional support is not just good for the institutions, but good for the state,” Glick said. “On the flip side, the new chancellor could be given more specific tasks to do more with less, and that would be a shame.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.