{"id":4705,"date":"2023-03-06T10:12:06","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T15:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=4705"},"modified":"2023-03-12T14:55:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T18:55:28","slug":"the-confusion-that-followed-president-raabs-sudden-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2023\/03\/the-confusion-that-followed-president-raabs-sudden-departure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Confusion that Followed President Raab’s Sudden Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

On December 5, 2022, President Jennifer Raab announced that she will be stepping down from her role as Hunter College\u2019s President at the end of the spring semester in June 2023. The news, which seemed to be overshadowed by last semester\u2019s finals season, left students unsure of Hunter\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Students studying on Hunter\u2019s new fifth-floor library, one of President Raab\u2019s successful renovations of Hunter\u2019s infrastructure and amenities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really aware of the president\u2019s resignation due to being distracted by finals, I didn\u2019t find out until my friends told me a couple of weeks after,\u201d said Cassey Pantazi, a senior studying biochemistry.<\/p>\n

With what seemed to be a subtle announcement, Raab\u2019s decision to resign was sent out to all student and faculty Outlook inboxes at the same time, with her official statement quietly posted on the Hunter website<\/a>. The statement celebrates students\u2019 successes as her own, with strong promises to \u201cexpress her appreciation to each student personally.\u201d These promises were left vague, with no concrete initiatives mentioned.<\/p>\n

Despite her boasts about the successes she had in elevating Hunter to its \u201cCrown Jewel of CUNY\u201d status, her sudden resignation leaves many students confused and worried about the college\u2019s future, and even more unaware of her departure \u2013 a common stance held towards major events at Hunter due to the commuter culture.<\/p>\n

Students weren\u2019t the only ones unaware of her departure; a higher-up faculty member, who wishes to be unnamed, confirmed that they were only informed of Raab\u2019s resignation via the outlook announcement sent out on December 5th.<\/p>\n

To truly grasp the unusualness of her departure, a better understanding of President Jennifer Raab\u2019s time here at Hunter is required. Raab was appointed President of Hunter College by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani in June 2001<\/a>, amidst controversy from the CUNY board due to their worries over her credibility. A common trend that would follow her throughout her CUNY career. Carrying out Giuliani\u2019s mission to move CUNY away from a remedial institution, Raab served as a large contributor to Hunter\u2019s transition from an open admissions university to one of the city\u2019s most highly selective public colleges.<\/p>\n

Since then, Raab has dedicated her energy to bringing in millions of dollars in fundraising for Hunter College \u2013 no matter the means \u2013 with the most recent example being seen through the renovation of the 5th floor in the Leon & Toby Cooperman Library. Speaking with students on the fifth floor, many echoed the confusion Pantazi shared, while also expressing their concern for the future of Hunter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am mainly worried about the future of Hunter, and hope the new president can foster a community where people bond over liking Hunter and not just hating it,\u201d said Avi Mikhaylov, a junior studying anthropology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, even with all the confusion, one thing remains certain: President Raab\u2019s long, successful rap sheet cannot cover up Hunter\u2019s fragility post her unforeseen resignation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Described as one of Hunter\u2019s <\/span>most successful presidents<\/span><\/a>, Raab\u2019s administration has strengthened the institution due to her successes in both student and infrastructure growth. But, her term will not come to an end without stains that have reached national media \u2014despite the administration not addressing them with the general student body.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some speculate that her most recent scandal contributed to President Raab\u2019s sudden stepping down. Around the same time that President Raab resigned, Hunter had been slammed with a $200k fine, due to the <\/span>federal court case against Jeffrey T. Parsons-Hietikko<\/span><\/a>, a former psychology professor at Hunter who had been accused of misusing grant money to find his personal travel. President Raab had signed off on his illegal use of the funds, seemingly as a reward for his ability to bring in consistent funding due to his HIV\/AIDs research. No news of the large fine Hunter received was made aware to students or shared on the Hunter College <\/span>Spotlight<\/span><\/a> or \u2018<\/span>In the Headlines<\/span><\/a>\u2019 page.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The President\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment on Raab\u2019s sudden departure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to the overwhelming student confusion, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) put out a survey, which asked club leaders to share what they want the presidential search committee to focus on in potential candidates. The survey, which was also sent out by the CUNY Chancellor, gave students the chance to share with the search committee the qualities they are looking for in Hunter\u2019s next president.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the college\u2019s future undetermined, Hunter students can only hope that they won\u2019t be left behind in the college\u2019s transition into new leadership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On December 5, 2022, President Jennifer Raab announced that she will be stepping down from her role as Hunter College\u2019s President at the end of the spring semester in June 2023. The news, which seemed to be overshadowed by last semester\u2019s finals season, left students unsure of Hunter\u2019s future. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":4706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[355,61,14,116,505,44],"class_list":["post-4705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hunternews","tag-college","tag-hunter-college","tag-hunter-news","tag-president","tag-usg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4705"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4750,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4705\/revisions\/4750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}