May 18, 2001

NYU Professors Hail Pick for President but Criticize Search; New Towson U. Chief Leaves Controversy Behind at U. of Wisconsin

By SCOTT SMALLWOOD and JENNIFER JACOBSON

STEPPING UP: It wasn't the ends -- they like the guy -- but the means that ruffled professors at New York University when the trustees picked a new president last week. Maybe John E. Sexton, the law-school dean who will take the helm in Greenwich Village next spring, would have emerged victorious in an open, national search. But nobody will know, professors say, because there wasn't one.

Mr. Sexton will replace L. Jay Oliva, who announced in March that he would step down after leading