Yale elects a new president, who is it?

Yale University has named its next president after an extensive search process. Maurie McInnis, who currently leads Stony Brook University, will take over the role effective July 1.

After a four-year tenure at Stony Brook University, McInnis will return to where she graduated to become the 24th president of the Ivy League institution.

The university explained that it had decided after 128 leaders from higher education and other sectors had been nominated, and the opinions of more than 2,000 Yale students, faculty, and members of the New Haven community had been considered.

“Since her graduation from Yale, she has lived up to the mission of our university. Not only has she led with an unshakeable commitment to education and research for the common good, but she has also contributed significantly to her field as a cultural historian," the institution said in a statement published this Wednesday.

More details about Maurie McInnis

McInnis is an academic who earned her bachelor's degree in Art History in 1988 from the University of Virginia. Later, she continued her studies at Yale University, earning a master's degree in 1990 and a doctorate in Art History in 1996.

For nearly two decades, McInnis served in various roles at the University of Virginia. She was vice provost for academic affairs, associate dean for Undergraduate Education Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, and director of American Studies. In her academic role, she stood out as a professor of Art History, focusing on the cultural and political history of American art in the colonial and antebellum South.

Following her extensive career at Virginia, McInnis assumed the position of chancellor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she served from 2016 to 2020 when she was named president of Stony Brook.

In addition to her academic work, McInnis has authored and edited numerous books and articles on the politics of art and slavery in the 19th-century American South, receiving awards and recognition for her contributions.

McInnis ignores the Supreme Court ruling and moves forward with diversity agenda

Yale's newly appointed president announced that one of her goals in the new position will be to keep the campus diverse despite the Supreme Court ruling that ended race-sensitive admissions programs at universities across the country.

"My deep commitment to advancing opportunities for students and for our prospective students is steadfast (...) and none of that changes with the court ruling," she said.

Her position on antisemitic protests

While many universities allowed anti-Israel vandals to occupy their campuses without significant consequences, McInnis, as president of Stony Brook University, took a more assertive stance by calling the police to deal with and arrest protesters.

Authorities ended up arresting 29 protesters and seizing the mobile phones of 17 of them, according to reports.