SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (AP) — The former mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and critic of former President Donald Trump’s hurricane relief to the island, Carmen Yulín Cruz, will take a one-year post at Mount Holyoke College.
Cruz, who has had a relationship with the college established by prior speaking engagements, will hold a fellowship at the college’s Weissman Center for Leadership, the Hampshire Daily Gazette reported on Monday.
She will design “leadership programming at the Weissman Center — inviting truly exciting special guests to speak through virtual and on-campus visits, working with local community organizations and mentoring and supporting students in myriad ways,” Amy E. Martin, the center’s director and a professor of English, said in a statement.
“Speaking truth to power comes with its challenges, but when it is done out of sheer conviction and profound respect for the lives of others, we understand that raising our voices in times of need is not a heroic act,” Cruz said in a statement about the fellowship at the private women’s college.
She served as mayor of San Juan from 2013 through 2020, was a co-chair for Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and was a nominee for TIME Magazine’s 2017 Person of the Year. She clashed with Trump over the federal government’s response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Most recently, Cruz ran as a candidate in the election for Puerto Rico’s governor and lost.
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