NYU announced on Wednesday that Andrew Hamilton will succeed John Sexton as the new university president. After an exhaustive eight-month search with over 200 candidates for the position, the search committee finally settled on Hamilton, who will take over presidential duties in January 2016.

Hamilton has served as the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford since 2009, and was previously the Provost of Yale University. Now, as the 16th president of NYU, Hamilton said he will focus on providing affordable education for students and maintaining a high level of academic standards.

Members of the NYU community shared their thoughts on the new president and his plans for the university.

“I am curious to see how Andrew Hamilton will respond to the high expectations that are held for him. It is imperative for Hamilton to reconcile with the faculty that had previously felt voiceless and disenfranchised under John Sexton and to address the criticisms that have surfaced regarding NYU’s local expansion plans.” -Daniel Lynne, LS sophomore

“I think his hands-on leadership approach seen through his continued interest in teaching and being generally involved on campus is really admirable as it shows he’s ready to learn about us before he pushes for improvement. I’m sure the presidential transition will be a challenging one, but we can also look forward to it being equally exciting.” -Aayush Gupta,
Stern sophomore

“Given Sexton’s reputation for a lack of transparency when it comes to how the previous administration handled affairs, I hope Hamilton will make efforts to communicate with both the students and the
village community more openly. For example, few students even know about the 2031 plan despite all the opposition it has garnered from both NYU faculty and our neighbors.” -Harrison Louie, CAS freshman

“I think a lot of people are upset by this decision because they think there is either bias against candidates of color or that we just need a change of races for the leadership. I think at an institution like NYU there is very little bias against candidates of color, and as for the second point, I think changing the races of leadership simply for the sake of changing the races of the leadership, without any regard to actual qualifications, is very inadvisable, regressive and illiberal given our commitment to equal opportunity and inclusiveness.” -Louis Bartholomew, CAS freshman

“It’s hard not to feel encouraged by his strong words in support of improving the dire financial aid situation at NYU. This is the kind of spirit I would have expected from our administration when I came here.” -Devin Woods, LS sophomore

A version of this article was published in the Monday, March 23 print edition. Email Alex Bazeley at [email protected].