By Ilvea Lezama
After months of uncertainty, York students and staff members received an email in late November announcing York had a new interim president. The new interim President will be Dr. Claudia V. Schrader, who served as the president of Kingsborough Community College since September 2018. She made history as the first African American in college history to hold that position in a community college in Brooklyn. She has worked more than 20 years in the CUNY system.
President Berenecea Johnson Eanes will be stepping down from her position as permanent president in less than a week. Eanes has been serving the college for the past 4 years, she also started as an interim president in the fall of 2019.
According to the email sent to the York Community, Dr. Schrader will be officially appointed on Jan. 8, 2024, but it is pending approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees. A national search for York’s next permanent president has been underway since Eanes announced her departure, according to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.
English Major, Irene La Spisa said, “Honestly, in my case, I think it’s weird because I arrived at York with Dr. Eanes and now I am going into my last semester with a different president. however, since she comes from a CUNY college, I hope that she is going to do a lot for York and make it a better college that gives a lot of opportunities to the students that attend it.”
Dr. Schrader will be walking into a college full of disrepair, no cafeteria on site and other unresolved issues waiting to be addressed.
