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Nancy Ellen Cantor (born February 4, 1952) is an American academic administrator who has been serving as the 14th president of Hunter College in New York City since August 2024.
She previously served as the 2nd chancellor of Rutgers University–Newark from 2014 to 2024, as the 11th chancellor at Syracuse University from 2003 to 2014, and as the 11th chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2001 to 2004.
Cantor headed a major fundraising campaign at Syracuse and was responsible for the development of the university’s Scholarship in Action initiative, which emphasized the role of the university as a public good. It was noted that Scholarship in Action was both popular and divisive at the same time. The Connective Corridor was the physical part of Scholarship in Action that aimed to bridge gaps between a wealthy university and a surrounding struggling city.
In 2006, following segments of racially discriminatory content that aired at the student-run TV station HillTV, Cantor halted production so that a university panel could review the content in keeping with the university's conduct code. “With free expression comes responsibilities for being a part of a campus community,” Cantor said in an interview. "We have codes of conduct. I don’t think it is beyond question to ask people who are in a diverse campus community to abide by those codes." Certain university faculty expressed concern that a divide had been created between free speech advocates and the chancellor supporters. ”There’s a tension,” said journalism professor Charlotte Grimes. ”I think people are increasingly cautious about what they say publicly, particularly if they don’t have tenure. There is a sense that if you speak out you might very well get a phone call from the powers that be.” Over 60 professors and staff signed an open letter protesting the move and Cantor's decision. Ultimately, a university panel allowed the station to re-open.
The University received criticism for withdrawing from the Association of American Universities membership in 2011 for "not meeting AAU criteria for producing research".
Upon her departure from Syracuse, Board of Trustees Chairman Richard L. Thompson said of Cantor, "The Rutgers-Newark campus and community are gaining one of the nation’s outstanding academic leaders and the Rutgers board is gaining a deeply thoughtful, energetic and committed partner. Nancy has been a superlative leader, seeing our University to wonderful success and helping us to build on our distinctive greatness and achieve new heights." Cantor's premature resignation 2 years prior to the ending of her contract raised questions from those at the university as to whether or not she was "pressured" to leave.
On March 4, 2019, Cantor was recorded confronting campus police during a minor traffic accident investigation involving her driver's car and a Rutgers University campus police car. Excerpts of Cantor shouting "I’m the chancellor!" went viral online. Cantor issued an apology for her behavior, after an open records request brought the video to light three months later.
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