The Rise of the Interim College President

A slew of college president jobs are held by temporary leaders this fall. It is partly by design.  The leaders of Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania and more than three dozen other schools around the country currently have the “interim” qualifier attached to their titles. It is a sign of the tumultuous state of American higher education, where student protests, donor discontent, political scrutiny and distrust from the general public have left presidents with a thankless—and very insecure—job. These interim presidents are being tasked with calming stormy campuses and priming the school to attract top-notch candidates for the official role down the line.