Nassau Community College trustees voted to authorize litigation after the State University of New York’s board disapproved their nominee, Maria Conzatti, who has served as interim president for nearly four years. The move marks a rare and contentious split between a community college board and the SUNY system trustees. The dispute sits against a backdrop of faculty unrest, department consolidations and weak student‑outcome metrics. Legal action would test institutional appointment powers, regional governance norms and the state system’s oversight authority, with potential ramifications for presidential searches across multicampus systems.