Yeshiva Says Nick Muzin Not a Candidate for School President

Image by © Matthew X. Kiernan/New York Big Apple Images

By Ben Sales July 27, 2016

— A senior adviser to Sen. 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, JTA reported that Nick Muzin had been considered for the post, now held by Richard Joel. Muzin met multiple times during the search with Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, head of the search committee, as well as with members of the Y.U. faculty, JTA learned.

But in a terse statement issued Wednesday, the chairman of Y.U.’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 Y.U.

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