Statement regarding AITF Co-Chair Nancy Cantor
Dear AITF Members:
We felt it important to respond to the extraordinarily troubling announcement that AITF’s Advisory Council Co-Chair, Nancy Cantor’s contract as Chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark will not be renewed at the end of June 2024. Nancy has been at the very heart of change and optimism at Rutgers Newark, the community, and Newark. She has spearheaded and co-chaired the Newark Anchor Collaborative, the most effective cross-sector anchor collaborative in the country. The Newark Anchor Collaborative has not only powerfully impacted the city and its communities, it has motivated universities, medical institutions, performing arts centers, and other anchor institutions across the country to work together with communities and local governments to form similar cross-sector partnerships.
Her work, which illustrates the mutual benefits, indeed mutual transformation, that occurs through democratic university-community partnerships, has made Rutgers Newark a national and global model of the engaged democratic university. Rutgers University-Newark and the City of Newark, as well as higher education and anchor institutions in general will suffer a profound loss as a result of the failure to renew Nancy Cantor’s contract as Chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark.
We look forward to Nancy’s continued leadership in AITF. Nancy has made contributions to the anchor field in recent years that have helped shape AITF’s current work. She has been a leading voice in viewing communities as entire ecosystems of organizations representing various fields and sectors, leading to what she calls “Anchor 3.0” – a greater emphasis on multi-institutional anchor partnerships. She also has been a leading voice on elevating our commitment to racial equity in anchor work and on how to appreciate and include the wisdom of local residents within, to use a phrase Nancy coined, a “community of experts” in anchor institution-community partnerships. There are so many conceptual and practical contributions that she has made to this field. AITF will greatly benefit from the ongoing leadership and deep engagement of our exceptional Co-Chair, Nancy Cantor.
Ira Harkavy, Founding Chair
David Perlstein, Co-Chair
David Maurrasse, Director
