EASTON, Pa. — Lafayette College's board of trustees has unanimously approved a contract extension for college President Nicole Hurd, who faced criticism from faculty this year.
Trustees in a statement Monday, Aug. 11, confirmed the vote to extend Hurd's contract to June 2030.
Hurd was chief executive officer of the College Advising Corps, which she founded two decades ago, before becoming Lafayette’s 18th president in July 2021.
"I am so honored to be part of this community and and so enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve this community," Hurd said on Tuesday afternoon.
"My first priority is to be a service, and when I think about our students, our faculty, our staff and our community here in Easton and the Lehigh Valley, the opportunity to serve for another five years brings me so much joy and anticipation of all the great things ahead of us all right now."
Hurd is “leadership that can enact change where needed” in a world where “higher education faces pressures that challenge the status quo and require us to move beyond past accomplishments.”Lafayette College board of trustees statement
In January, the school’s faculty passed a vote of no confidence against Hurd, with a 12-page motion citing concerns that she prioritized athletics over academics, excluded teaching staff from decision-making, and issues of “steadily declining condition at the College, the ongoing crisis of leadership, and threats to the role of the faculty and to shared governance.”
However, not long after, the trustees issued a resolution endorsing “complete confidence” in Hurd, describing her as “leadership that can enact change where needed” in a world where “higher education faces pressures that challenge the status quo and require us to move beyond past accomplishments.”
Hurd said that even in light of the faculty’s no-confidence vote, she will continue to focus on service, including support of the faculty.
“I think about serving our incredible faculty, lifting up their research, their scholarship, their teaching,” Hurd said.
“I'm so incredibly honored about how impactful this college is in terms of the way we bring light into the world, whether that's our faculty creating knowledge, whether it's our students learning not just the content in classrooms, but the real, critical and complex framework that our faculty expose them to in a world where we need to be able to bridge and heal and bring people together.”
In light of the federal government’s current scrutiny of higher education, Hurd said that she has never been involved in anything important in life which has not had difficult elements.
“And I do think one of the things that unites all of us on Lafayette's campus is the belief that this college is an engine of opportunity. It's the belief that this college is an engine of democracy, and it's a belief that higher education is what makes our country a place where we can innovate and heal and learn and bring people together,” Hurd said, adding she hopes to promote a college education as a way for people to “access their best lives an also to serve communities in ways that lift people up.”
'Fortunate to have ... a visionary'
In the trustees’ statement Monday regarding the contract extension, Chairman Robert E. Sell again referenced the shifting landscape of higher education and the need to “demonstrate the distinctive value of a Lafayette education.”
“Our ability to seize this moment will be pivotal for the institution as we embark upon our third century of service to the community, the nation, and the globe," the statement reads.
"We are fortunate to have an extraordinary college community and a visionary like President Hurd at the helm of Lafayette."
According to Sell, under Hurd’s leadership, applications to the college increased 28% from fall 2021 to a record 10,528 for fall 2025 — the largest admissions applicant pool in the institution’s history.
She also opted to make Lafayette the first liberal arts college to waive a complex financial aid form for students from high-poverty high schools and to increase to $200,000 the maximum family-income level for a no-loan policy.
Sell’s letter also lists Hurd’s “notable philanthropic advances in her work with faulty and staff,” including procuring a $5 million gift that led to 1,000 opportunities for internships, study abroad programs, and faculty-based research across five years.
Also, she recently launched fundraising for Becoming Lafayette, the school’s strategic plan, which saw over $10 million in gifts for endowed professorships, academic and co-curricular programming across three initiatives — Democracy and its Technologies; From the Lehigh Valley to the Globe; and Interdisciplinarity, Engineering and the Liberal Arts.
'Joyous capacity'
This past year, the college also saw the most successful “Bring the Roar” fundraising effort in Lafayette’s history under Hurd’s leadership, according to Sell's letter.
Sell also pointed to the college’s financial strength under Hurd’s leadership, citing credit-rating services Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, giving the college A+/A- and Aa3 bond ratings, respectively.
Sell also mentioned major renovations to buildings, classrooms, and residence halls.
"We are grateful for President Hurd’s leadership, for her dedication to providing our students a truly life-advancing educational experience, for her commitment to promoting faculty research and scholarship."Lafayette College board of trustees Chairman Robert E. Sell
“This is an extraordinary time to be part of Lafayette, and there is much to look forward to as we launch our Bicentennial celebration, advance our ambitious strategic plan, and implement a campus master plan," Sell's letter says.
"We are grateful for President Hurd’s leadership, for her dedication to providing our students a truly life-advancing educational experience, for her commitment to promoting faculty research and scholarship.
"And for her joyous capacity to welcome alumni home. Together we look forward to seeing Lafayette continue its upward trajectory as we move into the next century."
'We deserve excellent leadership'
During the faculty's no-confidence vote in January, a crowd of students had gathered in support of Hurd outside Marquis Hall.
And while 102 faculty members voted in favor of the measure, 86 opposed and six abstained, with some supporting the measure and others speaking in favor of Hurd.
Sociology professor Caroline Lee, who presented the motion, said “the college is still in a leadership crisis” after the no-confidence vote.
"It doesn’t feel like a win when it’s something so serious for the college," Lee said in a statement then. "Lafayette is an outstanding and really special institution.
"It’s a tremendous privilege to teach the talented students here, and the faculty and students are excellent. We deserve excellent leadership."
While she admits there is plenty of work to be done, including increasing student presence in Easton's neighborhoods, Hurd said she looks forward to the challenge.
"I'm just so so excited, so honored, and so enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve this community that we all love so much," Hurd said.
