Minister's Nomination to Head SUNY Campus Stirs Controversy

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 19, 1999

NEW YORK -- The Rev. Calvin O. Butts, pastor of one of New York City's largest and most influential churches has been formally nominated to be president of the Old Westbury campus of the State University of New York (SUNY). If his nomination is approved, Rev. Butts will remain as pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church.

According to The New York Times, Old Westbury's College Council, an advisory board, issued its recommendation earlier this month to the chancellor of SUNY. The chancellor, John W. Ryan, said he would probably approve it and send it to the board of trustees for approval. The board was to take up the nomination later this month so that Butts could assume the post by the start of the fall semester.

But the nomination has stirred controversy on campus because it came just eight days after the search committee held its first meeting. The faculty senate has charged that the search was rushed and has political overtones because of Rev. Butts' ties to New York Gov. George E. Pataki. The governor appointed Butts as an unpaid member of the board of the Empire State Development Corporation, a state-financed economic development agency.

The faculty senate sent a letter' to Pataki criticizing the college council for violating SUNY's guidelines for selecting presidents. Those guidelines call for a national search and the development of a list of 20 candidates. Gretchen Johnson, president of Old Westbury's senate also questioned the timing of the nomination, as it comes just as the state legislature passed a law allowing nearly 200 acres of the 600-acre campus to be transferred to the university's foundation for leasing to private sources.