Benno C. Schmidt Jr.

Benno C. Schmidt Jr.
20th President of Yale University
In office
1986–1992
Preceded byA. Bartlett Giamatti
Succeeded byHoward R. Lamar
Personal details
Born
Benno Charles Schmidt Jr.

(1942-03-20)March 20, 1942
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 9, 2023(2023-07-09) (aged 81)
Millbrook, New York, U.S.
Alma mater

Benno Charles Schmidt Jr. (March 20, 1942 – July 9, 2023) was an American academic and education executive. From 1986 to 1992, he was 20th president of Yale University. Prior, Schmidt was Dean of the Columbia Law School, Harlan Fiske Stone, professor of constitutional law, and chairman of Edison Schools (now EdisonLearning). He lastly served as the chairman of Avenues: The World School,[1] a for-profit, private K-12 school, and as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York (CUNY) from 2003 to 2016.[2]

A noted scholar of the First Amendment, the history of the United States Supreme Court, and the history of race relations in American law, Schmidt clerked for Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.[3][4] In 1998, Schmidt was appointed chair of a task force established by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to evaluate systemic issues at CUNY by executive order.[5] After longterm service to CUNY's board of trustees, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo replaced Schmidt in June 2016, then-chair, with a new chair, Bill Thompson, after an interim report issued, in an ongoing state investigation, issued by the Office of the New York State Inspector General identified a number of systemic problems, largely attributable to CUNY's lack of oversight which led to financial waste and abuse within the CUNY system.[6]

  1. ^ "Avenues site". Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
  2. ^ Chen, David W. (November 24, 2016). "Cuomo Seizes On City College Scandal to Revive Push to Revamp CUNY". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  3. ^ Press release, Benno Schmidt Elected a Director of Argosy's John Marshall Law School/Atlanta, Business Wire, September 28, 2000
  4. ^ Benno C. Schmidt Jr. Trustee Biography Archived May 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation website
  5. ^ Badillo, Herman (December 28, 2006). One Nation, One Standard: An Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Can Succeed Just Like Other Immigrant Groups. New York: Sentinel. ISBN 1-59523-019-X.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)