A former Yale president and a top state official have emerged as the two top contenders in the race for a new City University chancellor.
“I will be looking for a strong personality to be the chancellor because I believe in strong personalities, that’s the only way you get things done,” said Herman Badillo, named this week to head the CUNY board.
Among those being mentioned for the chancellor’s job are former Yale University President Benno Schmidt Jr., who was appointed by Mayor Giuliani last year to lead a task force charged with investigating City University.
Schmidt’s task force, which includes Badillo, will release its findings next week.
Another leading contender for the post is Peter Salins, a provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the State University of New York and a former department chairman at Hunter College.
Schmidt was returning from England yesterday and couldn’t be reached.
Salins, through a spokesman, declined comment.
Badillo said he has no list of candidates. But he told The Post Schmidt and Salins have “a great deal of potential.”
“We’ll be searching for somebody who knows the City University, especially, and who knows what to do,” said Badillo, when asked to describe the next chancellor’s qualifications.
Two other names that have surfaced in the chancellor search are former Baruch College President Matthew Goldstein, who was appointed Adelphi University president last year, and interim CUNY chancellor Christopher Kimmich.
Badillo said he has a “very high opinion” of Goldstein, but ruled him out as a likely candidate because of his commitment at Adelphi.
Kimmich has been serving as interim chancellor since Ann Reynolds’ resignation in late 1997. He’s popular with faculty and is familiar with CUNY. But Badillo said board policy bars an interim chancellor from becoming a candidate for the job.
Badillo said the incoming chancellor would most likely be a professional educator.
After a press conference to announce the formation of a new organization called 100 Hispanic Men, Badillo described the chancellor search as his first priority as chairman of the 17-member CUNY Board of Trustees.
Gov. Pataki, who appoints 10 members of the CUNY board, picked Badillo, a close adviser to Giuliani, as chairman late last week.