Ted Cruz aide not a candidate for Yeshiva U president, school says
University board of directors puts rumors to rest that Republican political strategist is being considered for the post
A senior adviser to Senator Ted Cruz who met with a committee in search of Yeshiva University’s next president is not a candidate for the position, according to a statement from the school.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Nick Muzin had been considered for the post, now held by Richard Joel. During the search for a new president, Muzin met multiple times during with Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, head of the search committee, as well as with members of the YU faculty.
But in a terse statement issued Wednesday, the chairman of YU’s board of directors said Muzin was not being considered.
“Nick Muzin is not a candidate for the position of President of Yeshiva University,” said the statement from Moshael Straus.
Joel, who will be stepping down by 2018, has held the position since 2003.
In recent years the university has experienced financial difficulties due in part to losing money in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Yeshiva’s bond rating as a result of the troubles.
Muzin, who served as deputy chief of staff to Cruz’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Yale Law School, as well as YU.
Before joining the Cruz team in 2014, Muzin served as director of coalitions for the House Republican Conference. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, and works as a lawyer in private practice. He has no previous professional experience in the Jewish world or higher education.
Other candidates considered for the job are more traditional choices.
David Schizer, who served as dean of Columbia Law School, reportedly was considered, as was Rabbi Leonard Matanky of Chicago, the former president of the Rabbinical Council of America and dean of the Ida Crown Jewish Academy. Rabbi Meir Soleveitchik, a prominent modern Orthodox writer who serves as director of YU’s Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, also appeared on externally composed lists of potential candidates.