Scholars at Risk

Scholars At Risk Global Congress: Presentation of the “Courage to Think” award to Dean Habib Kazdaghli

From April 9-10, 2014, Jonathan attended the Scholars at Risk Network 2014 Global Congress: Courage to Think, Responsibility to Act. The conference convened in Amsterdam and was co-hosted by Scholars at Risk, the Foundation for Refugee Students (UAF), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). For more information on Scholars At Risk, follow them on Twitter (@ScholarsAtRisk) or visit their website at scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu. Below are the remarks Jonathan delivered at the “Courage to Think” Celebration.

 

Courage to Think Celebration

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

 

Thank you and good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, and I am very pleased to be here tonight in my capacity as the Chair of the Board of Scholars at Risk, to announce the recipient of the “2014 Scholars at Risk Network Courage to Think Award.”

Scholars at Risk inaugurated the award in 2011 to recognize individuals, groups or institutions that have demonstrated exemplary courage and commitment to protecting scholars and promoting academic freedom through the impact of their professional work or community service, or by withstanding physical, emotional, professional or other risks.

The inaugural award was presented in 2011 to Aryeh Neier in recognition of his leadership during a career dedicated to promoting intellectual freedom and human rights as the national Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, the founding Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and later President of the Open Society Foundation.

Tonight, we honor an individual in the category of a “defender award,” which is reserved for individuals or organizations which have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the protection of scholars, universities and higher education values, especially academic freedom and institutional autonomy, despite grave professional, personal and physical risks.

Tonight’s honoree exemplifies all of these.

The receipient of the 2014 Scholars at Risk ‘Courage to Think” Defender Award is:

Dean Habib Kazdaghli of the University of Manouba in Tunisia

            As an educator, the Dean has demonstrated respect, patience and tolerance for the views of all students, even when such virtues were not returned to him in the same measure.

As a higher education leader, he did not hide from the responsibility to defend his university, and the values it stands for, including autonomy, academic freedom, tolerance and inclusivity.  As a human being, he continues to demonstrate, extraordinary courage in facing down physical intimidation, risk of imprisonment, and death threats.

Dean Kazdaghli is a historian with a particular interest in contemporary minority rights, including Tunisia’s Jewish minority.  His academic work is deeply rooted in issues of equity and fair access, which are central to the open, merit-based ideal of the modern university.  For this reason, the Dean was already a target for extreme elements in Tunisia, who do not wish to see a Tunisian society that includes diverse communities and perspectives, let alone a university which studies, discusses and even celebrates different backgrounds and views.

So it is not surprising that the Dean’s campus was targeted by those people from outside the university community, who wanted to use the university to make their point. Implicitly their actions showed that they know what we all know– the value and power of the university to shape society.  Indeed, their actions reveal that they feared the university as a free space, and therefore wanted to control it.

In post-revolutionary Tunisia, the people of Tunisia have a chance for the first time in decades to openly debate what kind of a state and society they want to live in, to raise their families in.  The university plays a vital role in that discussion, and these demonstrators from outside the university community know that.  They know that the university represents one vision for society—one that is inclusive; one that respects all members of society; one that respects learning and promotes knowledge as a bridge to a brighter future for the whole society.

So they blocked access to the campus and tried to force the entire university community to adopt their vision of a less open university.  They even tore down the Tunisian flag and replaced it with the jihadist banner—an incident which became famous when a young, female student tried to defend the national flag and the values of the university, only to be physically pushed aside by the mob of demonstrators.  The Dean led his faculty in resisting this threat, a threat not only to the autonomy of the university but to the role of the university in society and to society itself.

It is worth noting that the context—around the same time as the University of Manouba was under pressure, free expression was under wider attack in Tunisia.  Journalists and a television producer were being threatened and prosecuted.  An art exhibit was violently disrupted and an offending painting set on fire.  Instead of prosecuting those resorting to violence, the state prosecuted the curator of the exhibit.

In this context, it would have been understandable had the Dean closed his ears to the demonstrators.  But he did not.  He reached out to the few students among them, who were members of the university community.  He attempted dialogue and appropriate accommodation of their personal views with the overall well-being of the campus community.  He exhibited patience with them, even tolerating the occupation of his office and administration building.  But he did not yield to the outside interference seeking control of the university.

Even when he, his faculty and other members of the campus community were physically threatened by this angry mob at the campus entrance, he did not give in nor did he return their violence.  He stood face to face with the aggressors, without returning their aggression.

Yet when he sought help to protect his campus, little came.  He reached out to the police, but they did not come.   He reached out to the Ministry of Education, but help did not come.   Instead, the Dean found himself charged with a crime.  The students occupying his office, after the university brought a complaint against them for destroying property and papers, filed false charges against the Dean.  Rather than come to his aid, the State elevated the charges.  If convicted he would face years of imprisonment.  Still, he did not quietly relent.  He fought the charges, appearing regularly in court while his accusers repeatedly failed to appear.  Finally, he was vindicated.  The court not only dismissed the charges against him, but convicted the students of filing false charges.

But even that was not the end of the Dean’s ordeal.  He has been asked to bear even more in defense of the values of the university.  Because of his courageous defense of the university, the Dean’s name appeared on an extremist website on a list of those to be killed for obstructing the extremists takeover of society. This would be disturbing to any of us under the best of circumstances, but remember this was a time when violence was in the air, and the State was not responding.   Then a colleague, a prominent political figure in Tunisia’s transformation, was assassinated.  The government has still not solved that case.  Then a second public figure on the same list was also assassinated. Again, the case remains unsolved.

How many of us would keep going, when our name is on a death list?  How many of us would have the courage to speak the truth, as we see it?  I hope none of you ever have to find out.   But we know this—like so many of the courageous scholars we have the honor to work with– Dean Kazdaghli was not silenced.  He continues to speak openly about the importance of the values of the university, to the university itself, and to the emerging society in which education and educated young people will play a critical part.  In fact, he invited the world to come and discuss and share these values with him. In response, Scholars at Risk and our partners held an international conference on the “University and the Nation”, in Tunisia last year.  And he held a follow-up event earlier this year.

Forced to live his life under the protection of bodyguards simply because of the ideas he articulates and the values he represents, he has carried on.  He has traveled and talked about the importance of the university and its values, especially to the Arab Spring countries, at events in the region, in North America, and here in Europe. By his example and his courage, he has become Tunisia’s unofficial ambassador of intellectual freedom.

It is my great pleasure to present the 2014 Scholars at Risk Network Courage to Think Award to Dean Habib Kazdaghli of the University of Manouba, “for his courage and dedication to academic freedom and university autonomy.”

Scholars at Risk

Scholars At Risk Network 2014 Global Congress

From April 9-10, 2014, Jonathan attended the Scholars at Risk Network 2014 Global Congress: Courage to Think, Responsibility to Act. The conference convened in Amsterdam and was co-hosted by Scholars at Risk, the Foundation for Refugee Students (UAF), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). For more information on Scholars At Risk, follow them on Twitter (@ScholarsAtRisk) or visit their website at scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu. Below are the remarks Jonathan delivered at the opening session of the Global Congress.

 

Scholars At Risk Network Congress Opening Session

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

 

Thank you.  My thanks to the Rector and to everyone at VU Amsterdam, our hosts for today; to the University of Amsterdam, who will host us tomorrow; to Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences or co-organizing these event; to all of the co-sponsors; to UAF, SAR’s long-time and valued partner, for taking on so much of the work not only in this event but in building up Scholars at Risk activities in the Netherlands and beyond; to all the members of the UAF-SAR Netherlands Section; to the many other members and partners present here; and to all of you who have traveled, from near or from far to be with us we look forward to a robust discussion of our work and future goals.

Imagine a world where new ideas are not allowed.  Where it is illegal to think about ways to end poverty, build peace or spread opportunity.  Where talking or writing or teaching about how to improve the quality of life for millions could get you arrested, or even killed.

As we all know too well, in some places it’s like that today.

Now imagine a world where ideas are valued.  Where thinking of ways to end poverty, build peace and spread opportunity is encouraged.  Where talking and writing and teaching about how to improve the lives of billions is welcomed, listened to, even honored.

We are here today because we want to build that world together.  We want to protect the courageous women and men who risk their lives to improve the lives of others; the researchers, writers, teachers who are persecuted for thinking about difficult issues and training others to be strong, creative, thoughtful contributors to society.  We want to nurture a culture of respect for university values—academic freedom, autonomy, and social responsibility—and build a world where knowledge and education are set free to solve problems and improve lives.

It was 2 ½ years ago that many of us here today met in New York for the last Scholars at Risk Network Congress.  I am delighted to reconnect with you again and to share our experience with new colleagues here to make common cause with us.

In New York we were celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Network, and I repeated what I said in my opening remarks at the very first meeting in Chicago that launched our network in June 2000:  we are “present at the creation of something very important for the building and sustenance of healthy democratic societies throughout the world.”

I feel that even more today.  Events in every part of the world continue to highlight the essential role that higher education communities play in establishing, maintaining and growing healthy, prosperous, just societies.  In the last few months we see urgent challenges—in Egypt, Ukraine, Venezuela, in the continuing crises in Syria and Iraq and ongoing situations in the Congo, China, Iran and Zimbabwe.  We will have a chance to participate in dialogues with colleagues from some of these and other places, in what will be one of the highlights of our two days together.

At our earlier gatherings I posed a simple question that I ask again today:

 

“Do you know of a free and democratic society that does not respect academic freedom? Put another way, do you know of an authoritarian regime that dares to allow widespread artistic and intellectual freedom?”

The answer of course, is no.  “[A]cademic freedom and democracy go together as indispensable partners.  The abridgement of academic freedom is an early warning sign that democracy is in peril. Courageous intellectuals are often first targets of anti-democratic crackdowns…Some give their lives in defense of free expression, others languish in jail and some escape to work in exile against repressive regimes at home. Their voices are essential to keeping hope alive, rallying world opinion, and mobilizing pressure for change.”

That is why Scholars at Risk exists:  to build a global movement to protect scholars and promote academic freedom and the values of the university.  To protect the space to think, to ask questions, provoke critical discussions, to share ideas, freely and safely.

Together, we are making a difference.  We have arranged over 500 positions of safety for scholars from over 30 countries, and assisted over 500 hundred more in other ways.  They come from all over, including Syria, Iran, China, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Iraq and Sri Lanka.

Many have already gone home, to Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico and Uzbekistan, where they have continued their academic and policy work, often despite on-going pressures.

Others unable to return safely have continued to contribute their ideas and talents, securing short-term and long-term contracts, and even tenure-track positions in their new universities.  Some of these scholars are with us here today from their new homes at VU University Amsterdam,  Leiden University, Utrecht University, University of Amsterdam, and the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, among others.

Still others bridge both worlds, unable to return safely but actively engaged with their colleagues back home. Some supervise students from afar; others are active in movements for social and political change.

All are vital links to the outside world, beacons of hope for change that will push back authoritarian rule, replace repression with freedom and unleash the creative energies of people ready to build open and just societies at peace.  So while our numbers are modest, our network emboldens thousands of other intellectuals in repressive societies, and in our own, to take risks speaking truth to power.  While they may never actually need our help, they have wide impact as they critique government policies, oppose censorship, advocate free elections, and mobilize unions, youth, environmental and human rights groups.

In the end, our objective is to promote free and open societies through protection of academic and artistic freedom, by pushing back on repressive regimes one episode at a time, by defending one idea and one scholar at a time.  The cumulative effect of our work will build a culture of respect for academic and intellectual freedom that knows no boundaries. As our network grows, with more sections in every region of the world, our impact increases exponentially.

So let us use this gathering to rededicate ourselves to our core mission of helping scholars at risk across the globe.  As an organization, as a community, we are at an inflection point, poised to do more: to increase the numbers of scholars assisted directly but also to strengthen our role in advocating for changes in policy and behavior so that scholars never have to flee in the first place. Protection, Prevention, and Promotion are the three pillars of our work.

We know that positive change is possible.  A good example is Tunisia, which in January of this year adopted a new constitution which explicitly protects academic freedom, the first in the Arab world to do so.  Scholars at Risk had reached out two years earlier to partners in Tunisia to see how we might be helpful.  Among the requests taken was to prepare a report on comparative constitutional protection for academic freedom, which we delivered in person to the constitutional drafting committee in Tunis. We later held an international conference on university values at the embattled University of Manouba.

We did not cause the drafters to adopt the academic freedom provision, but we know that providing this comparative international experience and demonstrating international solidarity with local higher education leaders helped those who were arguing for this protection.  And every little bit helps.  We are joined today by the Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Manouba, Habib Kazdaghli, who has been steadfast and courageous in his defense of the university and its autonomy.  We are delighted to have him with us and look forward to hearing from him later this afternoon. The Tunisian example challenges us to look for similar opportunities on every continent where the solidarity and strength in our growing network can secure greater protection for higher education and its values.  And we should seek opportunities to demonstrate that these values are what enable higher education to thrive and develop its fullest capacity, for the good of the state and the whole society.  Great nations need great universities, and great universities need security, autonomy and the freedom to do their work.

The continuing growth of our network, and partner sections, like the vibrant project with UAF here in the Netherlands, and so many key partners in countries like Norway, the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and beyond, promises to bring more universities and individuals into this vital work.

I am delighted to be here with you, and look forward to building this movement together, sharing stories and experiences and hearing your ideas on the strategic choices ahead as we strengthen Scholars at Risk and deepen the culture of academic freedom and autonomous universities as our best hope for a more just, humane and peaceful world with opportunity for all.

Thank you.

Conversations With Interesting People, Video

In Conversation with Elizabeth McCormack

On March 12, 2014, Jonathan sat down with Elizabeth McCormack to discuss her long career as both an academic administrator and as philanthropic adviser to the Rockefeller family. The conversation lasts 55 minutes, followed by a Q&A session with members of the audience. Video of the event can be viewed here.

Elizabeth McCormack

March 12, 2014

Good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special evening.  Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Jeffery Sachs’ To Move the World or to hear world leaders like UNDP head Helen Clark.  And next week we encourage you to attend our conference on “John Lindsay, New York, and the American Dream,” a fresh look at lessons from his time as Mayor.

But tonight is different.  I have long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally.  Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMa President Agnes Gund, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, Judy Collins, and most recently, Joseph Califano.

My guest tonight is my good friend and mentor Elizabeth McCormack.  We first met when she was working for John D. Rockefeller and I for Yale President Kingman Brewster.   As our two bosses talked about establishing a center at Yale for the study of the not-for-profit sector, Elizabeth and I chatted in her office in Room 5600 at 30 Rock.  We clicked immediately; the chemistry was magic.  And years later when I returned to New York as President of the New School, she tutored me on the art of being a college President.

Fast forward 17 years when she was on the search committee for a new President of the MacArthur Foundation.  She was my advocate.  No surprise I was offered the job.  For nearly four decades she has been my most trusted advisor.  I never consider an important move without seeking her advice.  And we continue to make common cause on the Board of the Asian Cultural Council.  Together with my wife Cynthia, and Elizabeth’s late husband Jerry Aron, we have had a wonderful and deep friendship.

She earned her B.A. at Manhattanville College and a Ph.D in philosophy at Fordham.  In her senior year at Manhattanville, Elizabeth joined the Order of the Sacred Heart and soon began teaching at its schools, Kenwood in Albany and later in Greenwich.  In 1962, she became Dean at Manhattanville.  Appointed President in 1966, she led its transformation from an elite Catholic women’s institution into a non-denominational co-ed college.  After Manhattanville, she became Director of the Rockefeller Philanthropy offices and remains a philanthropic advisor to members of the family.

She has had about as active of a civic life as anyone I know.  She chaired the Asian Cultural Council for 20 years; was vice chair of the MacArthur Board; a key member of the Board of the Atlantic Philanthropies; a member of the  boards of Manhattanville, Spellman, Marlboro and Hamilton Colleges, as well as the Juilliard School.  She has also been on the boards of the Population Council, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and recently she started the Partnership for Palliative Care which is her current major interest.

Bill Moyers described her life beautifully when he said, Elizabeth McCormack “reminds us of the things that last, that transcend the tumult of the hour and the news of the day.  Her life is about connections and continuities between past and present, between now and future, between the natural world and the world we make together.”

Those qualities I saw close up at the MacArthur Foundation where she has the surest instinct for philanthropy, a laser insight into people, an ability to visualize a grant strategy in fields like population, conservation and education.

I said this at the conclusion of her term at MacArthur:

“She loves to build institutions, strengthen their governance, clarify their purpose, improve their quality and extend their influence in pursuit of a more just and humane world at peace.  We have benefitted from her deep experience in how things really work.  Her impatience with fuzzy thinking have lifted our standards, saved us from not a few mis-steps and made this a better foundation.”

Elizabeth and I will have a conversation for 40 minutes or so, then open up to your questions and end about 7:15.  Please welcome Elizabeth McCormack.

Conversations With Interesting People

In Conversation with Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

On February 11, 2014, Jonathan sat down with Joseph A. Califano, Jr. to discuss his long career in public service.

Click on this link to view video of the event.

 

Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

February 11, 2014

 

Good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special evening.  Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Ira Katznelson’s Fear Itself, hear world leaders like former Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, or talk presidential politics during our conference entitled Ike Reconsidered: Lessons from the Eisenhower Legacy for the 21st Century.

Tonight is different.  I have long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally.  Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMa President Agnes Gund, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, Harvard Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, and most recently, Judy Collins.

My guest tonight is my good friend, Joseph Califano, who is an active member of our Roosevelt House Board and was the driving force behind our conference on Lyndon Johnson’s domestic record two years ago.  When he was appointed H.E.W. Secretary by Jimmy Carter, he asked two friends, Kingman Brewster, President of Yale and McGeorge Bundy, President of the Ford Foundation to loan him people to assist in recruiting senior H.E.W. staff.  I came from Yale where I had been President Brewster’s Chief of Staff and Peter Bell came from Ford.  I worked on finding candidates for jobs like Director of the Center for Disease Control and the Assistant Secretary for Health.  I learned a lot from Joe in my three month tour and was privileged to watch Joe blend principled policies with practical politics for the benefit of the President and the nation.

We reconnected when I was President of the New School whose remarkable chair, Dorothy Hirshon was the mother of Joe’s wife Hillary.  Hillary and Joe have been our dear friends both here and in Connecticut.

In between my work for Joe at H.E.W. and our reconnection in New York through Hillary, I was teaching 20th Century American History at the University of Chicago.  The very best book on how government works was Joe’s The Triumph as Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson a sympathetic but honest look at The Great Society and the impact of war. My students loved it.

Somehow in his busy life Joe has found time to author a dozen books including a memoir Inside: A Public and Private Life,  A Presidential Nation, America’s Health Care Revolution: Who Lives? Who Dies? Who Pays? Some of my questions tonight will be drawn from these books.

As background for our conversation here is a video describing a remarkable life.  After the video, Joe and I will have a conversation for 40 minutes or so and then open up to your questions and wrap up around 7:15.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt would be pleased that we are having this conversation in their house this evening with a person who understands –and has tried to implement – FDR’s vision for a national health program.  Hear the President’s words first in a letter to the nation on July 1938 and then a message to Congress on The National Health Program in January 1939.

“Nothing is more important to a nation than the health of its people…The economic loss due to sickness is a very serious matter not only for many families with and without incomes but for the nation as a whole…We cannot do all at once everything that we should do. But we can advance more surely if we have before us a comprehensive, long-range program, providing for the most efficient cooperation of Federal, state, and local governments, voluntary agencies, professional groups, media of public information, and individual citizens.”

Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

Robert C. Orr, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning

On January 28, 2014, Roosevelt House welcomed Robert C. Orr, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Public Planning. Jonathan gave introductory remarks and then sat down with Secretary Orr to discuss current efforts to reach global agreement on critical issues including international development, climate change, global health and security and humanitarian crises in the Middle East and Africa. Video of the event can be viewed here.

Robert C. Orr

January 28, 2014

Good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of Roosevelt House, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to an event which exemplifies the mission of Roosevelt House: bringing policy makers together with students, faculty and the general public to explore the most pressing issues of the day.  Our guest, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning, Robert Orr, will preview issues central to the work of the U.N. in the year ahead.  He is one of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s closest advisors, the person charged with shaping the priorities for the U.N. and its leadership.

I came to know Bob Orr when I was President of the MacArthur Foundation and we worked together on issues like reducing dangers from biological and chemical weapons, protecting the environment, advancing human rights and framing the new norm of the Responsibility to Protect.

I came to admire his vision of what the U.N. can be at its best, his commitment to make the U.N. an effective force for advancing humankind’s noblest instincts and aspirations and his ability to get things done.  Widely respected and trusted by people and countries who do not trust each other, he is a human bridge of understanding, able to build coalitions that advance the Secretary-General’s goals.

He combines theory and practice as well as anyone I know.  With a Ph.D. and M.P.A. from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, he has led the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs at Harvard, served as Director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, published extensively on post-conflict situations, including Winning the Peace: an American Strategy for Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Keeping the Peace: Multidimensional U.N. Operations in Cambodia and El Salvador.

On the practice side, he has been the Director of the USUN Washington office and Director of Global and Multilateral Affairs at the National Security Council.  He has been the Secretary-General’s key advisor on counter terrorism strategy, climate change, food security, global health, reducing the dangers of WMD and more.

He has worked closely with Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon to design and strengthen major U.N. institutions including the Peace Building Commission, the Human Rights Council, the U.N. Counter Terrorism Center and the Global Forum on Migration and Development.

He created and managed the Every Woman Every Child Initiative which brought together over 260 government, corporate, philanthropic and civil society partners and raised over $10 billion.  He did the same for Sustainable Energy for All, mobilizing $60 billion for work in sixty countries.

In a recent speech, the Secretary had this to say about the value of these partnerships:

“Harnessing the strength of the private sector, civil society, and philanthropic organizations will help the UN deliver on governments’ priorities and mandates on development, humanitarian action and countries emerging from conflict. It will also ensure the UN system itself remains relevant at a time in which business, philanthropy and civil society are increasingly active and resourceful in providing global public goods.”

It is especially meaningful to have a senior leader of the U.N. in Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s home.  Their leadership in creating the U.N. grew from conversations that occurred between these walls.  Hear FDR’s words to the Bretton Woods conference two months before he died.

“It is my purpose in this message to indicate the importance of… international organizations in our plans for a peaceful and prosperous world.  If we are to measure up to the task of peace with the same stature as we have measured up to the task of war, we must see that the institutions of peace rest firmly on the solid foundations of international political and economic cooperation… for a peace that will endure, we need the partnership of the United Nations.”

FDR would be pleased that we are talking about the role of the UN in fostering effective partnerships in their home this evening.

After his presentation, Secretary Orr will welcome your questions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Robert Orr.

Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

Robert K. Steel, “Perspectives in the City’s Economy: Today and Tomorrow”

On December 3, 2013 the Roosevelt House welcomed New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, Robert K. Steel. Jonathan provided introductory remarks and then sat down with the Deputy Mayor for a discussion about his years of public service and the challenges facing the new Mayor.  Video of the event can be viewed here.

Robert K. Steel

December 3, 2013

I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to tonight’s program with Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Steel.  He will reflect on his three years working with Mayor Bloomberg, accomplishments, disappointments, and challenges that lie ahead for the next Mayor.

I am especially pleased Bob Steel is here tonight because I have been privileged to work with him and Business Services Commissioner Rob Walsh in selecting the winners of the Neighborhood Achievement Awards and the BID Challenge grants.   Bob Steel, like Franklin Roosevelt, understood that local innovation is essential to economic development.

Hear President Roosevelt’s words in a 1933 Fireside Chat. Our program “will succeed if our people understand it—in the big industries, in the little shops, in the great cities and…small villages. There is nothing complicated about it and there is nothing particularly new in the principle. It goes back to the basic idea of society and of the nation itself that people acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about.”

I think Franklin Roosevelt would be very pleased we are gathered in his home to talk about a city he loved.

This has been a good period for economic development in New York. Job growth is steady, tourism continues to rise, and crime rates are at historic lows. An influx of nearly 500 new start-ups between 2009-2012 made New York the second largest center in the US for tech companies. And New York leads the nation with the largest bioscience engineering workforce in the country in 120 bio-tech companies. And the media sector is booming with media companies contributing more than $400 million in annual tax revenues to the city.

No wonder that a recent study found that New York holds a competitive edge on the world’s cities that is not likely to disappear any time soon. And Bob Steel’s portfolio has been at the heart of this success.  It includes the New York City Economic Development Corporation, The Department of Small Business Services, the City Planning Department, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

A few weeks ago Brookings Scholar Bruce Katz spoke here about his new book The Metropolitan Revolution which argues that cities and their larger metropolitan regions are the “engines of economic prosperity and social transformation in the United States.” He devotes a chapter to the New York story in which Bob Steel is a central player.

Bob Steel has done an extraordinary job.  He has led Mayor Bloomberg’s major redevelopment projects in Lower Manhattan, the South Bronx, Hudson Yards, Willets Point among others.  The accomplishment that I most admire is the new Technology Campus that Cornell and Technion are building on Roosevelt Island.  But that’s not all.  Also coming are The NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress in downtown Brooklyn, Columbia’s new Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering, and Carnegie Mellon University’s new Integrative Media Program at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.   Bob Steel has played a key role in the realization of major projects such as the 7 Train extension, the redevelopment of Seward Park, the Big Wheel in Staten Island, a large retail complex and ice rink for the Kingsbridge Armory in Willets Point, and the redevelopment and expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Bob Steel was well prepared for his leadership role in our city.  He was at Goldman Sachs for nearly 30 years, rising to head its U.S. Equities Division.  He was Under Secretary for Domestic Finance in the U.S. Department of the Treasury and later President and CEO of Wachovia.  He has balanced his business career and public service with an active civic life, chairing the Board of his alma mater Duke University, as well as the Aspen Institute, the Hospital for Special Surgery and the After-School Corporation.

New York is fortunate to have a person of such deep and broad experience serve as the intellectual engine shaping our future. And New York higher education is blessed to have a person with his passion for the life of the mind in a key leadership position.

After the Deputy Mayor speaks, he and I will have a conversation for a few minutes, and then invite your questions.  We will end by a little after 7.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Deputy Mayor Robert Steel.

 

Conversations With Interesting People

In Conversation with Judy Collins

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On October 30, 2013, Jonathan sat down with acclaimed recording artist and activist, Judy Collins, to talk about her life and career. She concluded the evening by leading the audience in a rousing rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Below are his introductory remarks. Video of this event will be available shortly.

Judy Collins

October 30, 2013

Good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute and it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special evening.  Many of you have been here before to enjoy book discussions like Bruce Katz’s Metropolitan Revolution, hear world leaders like former Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, or talk presidential politics during our conference entitled Ike Reconsidered, Lessons from the Eisenhower Legacy for the 21st Century. 

Tonight is different.  I have long wanted to have a series of conversations with the most interesting people I know personally.  Ed Koch was my first guest, followed by former MoMA President Agnes Gund, Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Foundation, James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio, and more recently, Harvard Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot.

Tonight is extra special for me.  My guest is Judy Collins, my good friend whose music touches my soul like no other.  I was introduced to her music by my good friends Art and Chris Singer, who bought me Judy’s album Wildflowers as a house warming gift when I was working at Yale in the late 1960’s.  From the very first time I heard her I was captivated and have followed her career ever since, right up to the Carlyle earlier this month.

As I faced my 17th and final commencement as President of the New School in 1999 I was anxious about how I could get through that emotional moment.  I asked myself what would ease the pain of separation, lift my spirits, give me strength to say goodbye to an institution I loved.  The answer: to walk down the aisle of the Riverside Church, where commencement was held, for the last time with Judy Collins singing Amazing Grace behind me.  So I asked her and was amazed with a quick yes.

The trustees then decided to confer upon her an honorary doctorate.  The citation I read said, in part, “Yours is artistry with a clear moral compass and through the alchemy of your art that compass is embedded in our memories – and our aspirations – as an inescapable measure of our progress.”  The occasion was magical and our friendship began that day and expanded to include Cynthia and Louis as we discovered we had weekend houses near each other in Connecticut.  So we have a lot to talk about.

We think of Judy as a talented artist whose music has enriched our lives, raised our sights, fired our determination to build a more just and humane world at peace.  But she is also a gifted writer of several memoirs, a novel entitled Shameless, and a reflection that helps us through challenging times, The Seven T’s: Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy.”  I highly recommend her most recent memoir, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes.

 

It tells the story of her life from her birthplace in Seattle to Denver where she grew up and made her debut as a classical pianist, to her embrace of folk music here in the 1960’s, at Gerdes,  The Village Gate and other places we remember.  Along the way we appreciate the challenges she faced, polio at age 11, T.B. in 1962, battles with alcohol addiction and the loss of her only child, Clark. The honesty with which she has chosen to share her pain and her happiness is a gift to her audience, bringing them closer to the deeper inspirations for her art. Her songs are a living chronicle of the heartache and joy of the human condition, of once being lost and then being found.

And as she faced these challenges her career took off, the first of thirty-eight albums, A Maid of Constant Sorrow in 1961, thirteen singles on the charts from “Both Sides Now” to “Turn Turn Turn”and “Someday Soon.”  Judy was at the epicenter of the people who made the music we grew up with, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin and more. A Grammy in 1968, six academy award nominations for a documentary about her classical music instructor and other awards followed.

At a Carnegie Hall memorial concert for Woody Guthrie in 1968, she shared the stage with Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens and others. Imagine the energy in that room. One of the songs played that night was Woody Guthrie’s “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt.”

…”don’t hang your head and cry;

His mortal clay is laid away, but his good work fills the sky;

This world was lucky to see him born”

 I think Eleanor and Franklin would be pleased that Judy Collins is in their home tonight.

Judy’s music and personal courage inspired our generation to oppose racism, resist the Viet Nam war, press for a ban on landmines and fight for women’s rights and social justice.  She has traveled the world for UNICEF to see firsthand the devastation of the war in Bosnia and Croatia and has advocated for support for Vietnamese children affected by the war.

There is much more to be said but let’s bring that out in our conversation.  We will talk for about thirty minutes and then open up to your questions. And after the program, Judy will be upstairs to autograph CD’s and DVD’s.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Judy Collins.

Remembrances

Eric Hobsbawm Memorial

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On October 25th, 2013, Jonathan gave remarks at a memorial event held for world-renowned historian, Eric Hobsbawm. The afternoon of tributes was staged in the Tishman Auditorium at the New School for Social Research. Other speakers included Ira Katznelson, Eric Foner, and Amartya Sen. Click here to view video of this event.

Eric Hobsbawm

October 25, 2013

I first encountered Eric Hobsbawm as an undergraduate at Yale when I read The Age of Revolution. It captured my imagination as no other work had and played a role in my decision to become a historian.

I first met Eric at my inauguration as President of the New School in fall 1982.  I wanted the occasion to celebrate the rich mosaic of the New School and asked each division to recommend a person for an honorary degree who represented its values, traditions, and aspirations.  The Graduate Faculty selected Eric Hobsbawm.

As I conferred the degree on November 16, 1982, the year he became an Emeritus Professor at Birkbeck College of the University of London, I read the following citation:

Historian, teacher, England’s chronicler of our collective dreams and achievements.  You inspire scholars everywhere with your uncompromising attention to truth and fidelity to the human condition.  Your monumental work reflects a mastery of the social sciences. You elucidate the shape of modern capitalism and the meaning of class and culture.  Your knowledge spans Western Europe’s centers and peripheries, as well as the dynamisms of peasantries throughout the world.  You combine deep understanding of the aspirations and limitation of social movements with acute perception of the reasons and consequences of protest.  We celebrate these extraordinary contributions by conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Human Letters, honoris causa.

Some months later Dean Ira Katznelson proposed we appoint Eric as a university professor.

The Graduate Faculty was having hard times having lost its authority to grant PhD’s in Political Science, Sociology and Philosophy.  Its very future was in question. We had begun to recruit a cohort of new faculty, including Ary and Vera Zolberg, Charles and Louise Tilly, appointments which signaled our commitment to rebuild.  And when Eric agreed to come, that was a powerful reaffirmation of the Graduate Faculty’s ties to Europe and a tradition of placing the social sciences in historical perspective.

Eric played a major role in founding the Committee on Historical Studies which gave shape to the intellectual character of the next chapter of the University in Exile.

Eric became a full member of our community interested in the whole university.  When the New School was considering the creation of a Jazz and Contemporary Music program, I turned to Eric for advice as I did on other challenges the university faced.

In all matters, he always gave me his best judgment and honest opinion, directly, sometimes tartly.  I listened to his private and public critiques with great regard because I knew they were always motivated by care for this university.  I appreciated his desire to make it better, admired his intellectual integrity, and trusted his sense of fairness.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to make common cause with Eric Hobsbawm as he searched for a more just, humane, and peaceful world.

Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

David Dinkins, “A Mayor’s Life: Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic”

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On October 21, 2013, Jonathan provided introductory remarks for former New York City Mayor David Dinkins who spoke about his life and his new autobiography.  The two then sat down for a discussion about the book and about the future of New York City politics. Video of the event can be viewed here.

David Dinkins

October 21, 2013

Good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.  It is my pleasure to welcome you to an evening with Mayor David Dinkins, who will talk about his just- published memoir, A Mayor’s Life:  Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic.  We are grateful to Peter Osnos, a member of our Board and publisher of A Mayor’s Life for making this evening possible.

Roosevelt House is sponsoring a series of programs on New York City as we prepare to elect a new Mayor.  This Wednesday, Brookings Scholar Bruce Katz will talk about his new book The Metropolitan Revolution which features New York City as an example of how cities will lead economic growth. And in December, we will hear from Bob Steel, New York City’s deputy mayor for economic development, about the state of the city’s economy and its fiscal future.

Tonight is a special pleasure for me because I have known David Dinkins for thirty years through The New School, where in the 1980s he taught courses such as “Black Leadership in New York City” and “The City Politic: An Inside View.”  He now teaches at Columbia School of Public Affairs, Chairs the Earth Institute New York City Sustainable Development Initiative and hosts the annual Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum.

After service in The Marine Corps he earned his B.S. in Math from Howard University and his law degree from Brooklyn Law School.  He practiced law for twenty years as he entered political life in 1966 as a member of the New York State Assembly, he then served as President of New York City’s Board of Elections and was City Clerk for a decade before his election as President of the Borough of Manhattan in 1985 and Mayor in 1989.  Somehow he finds time to serve on non-profit boards like The Association to Benefit Children, The Children’s Health Fund, and the Coalition for the Homeless, to name just a few.

A Mayor’s Life is a memoir that chronicles the journey of an extraordinary life from modest beginnings to national leadership that has opened opportunity by example and good works for people of all backgrounds.  It is one of the best memoirs I have read:  honest, humane, humble, but forceful and inspiring.  David Dinkins brilliantly analyzes the complex reality a leader faces, describes the larger context of historical forces, challenges and opportunities that shape our destiny, and draws us into the story with a deeply personal narrative that includes New York personalities we all grew up with.

Enough time has passed so we can put David Dinkins’ enormous contribution to our city in perspective. We became a more just and humane place with his leadership, with better social services for the poor, attention to the challenges faced by the disabled and people with AIDS, more affordable housing opportunities, more programs for children and safer streets. I saw these improvements first-hand in the Union Square neighborhood when I was President of the New School and co-chair of the Union Square Local Development Corporation. A Mayor’s Life is a must read for the next Mayor, indeed for anyone aspiring to leadership of our city.

It is appropriate that we gather in the home of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and Franklin’s mother Sara.  Both Sara and Eleanor were champions of racial justice and opportunity.

When you walk around after the program, go into the second floor parlor and look at the photo on the mantel of Sara with Mary McLeod(McCLOUD) Bethune(BethOON). A frequent visitor to this house, Mary Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt became close friends when Franklin appointed her to serve as director of the National Youth Administration. Eleanor counted Mary among her closest friends and said she was “proud that our country could produce a Mrs. Bethune,” that her work for social justice and civil rights was “a tribute to our nation.”

FDR would have approved of the phrase “gorgeous mosaic” to describe the people of New York City.  Listen to the similarities, first, David Dinkins:

“New York is not a melting pot, but a gorgeous mosaic.  We have almost as many separate ethnic identities in the city as the United Nations has member nations.   Our religious and cultural institutions are multitudinous.  I did not feel the need to scrub the unique qualities from each.  I celebrated the beautiful work of economic, political, and social art, created by the millions of daily interactions that came to define the look, feel, taste, and sense of the city.”

And now hear FDR describe the nation in 1940:

“Men and women of courage,” he said, “of enterprise, of vision… form a new human reservoir, and into it has poured the blood, the culture, the traditions of all the races of peoples of the earth. [Here] they came—the “masses yearning to be free”—…cherishing common aspirations, not for economic betterment alone, but for the personal freedoms and liberties which had been denied to them[.]”

Eleanor and Franklin and Sara would be proud to host David Dinkins in their home.   And they would be proud of the life he has led.

After Mayor Dinkins speaks, he and I will converse for a few minutes and then open to your questions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Mayor David Dinkins.

Philanthropy, Roosevelt House Introductions, Video

In Conversation with Judith Rodin

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On October 9, 2013, Jonathan sat down with Rockefeller Foundation President and former President of Penn University, Judith Rodin, to talk about her life and career. Judith began by speaking at length on the Rockefeller Foundation’s current “100 Resilient Cities” initiative. The video can be viewed here.

Judith Rodin

October 9, 2013

Good evening.  I am Jonathan Fanton, Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.  It is my special pleasure to welcome you to a conversation with Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin.

I say ‘special pleasure’ because Judy Rodin and I have known each other for forty years.  When I was running an experimental summer term at Yale I recruited the best faculty to teach and Judy was my choice from psychology.  With a psychology degree from Penn and a Ph.D. from Columbia, she was one of Yale’s most popular teachers and productive scholars.   After serving as Dean of the Graduate School and Provost she then became President of the University of Pennsylvania where she did an extraordinary job, lifting Penn from 16th to 4th in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, doubling the research funding, tripling the endowment, making Penn a leader in adopting new technology in teaching and research, transforming the physical campus and whole sections of West Philadelphia.

And then on to the Rockefeller Foundation which brought us back together as colleagues when I was President of the MacArthur Foundation.  Judy had chaired one of MacArthur’s major international research networks looking at health-promoting and health-damaging behavior and also contributed to MacArthur’s work on healthy aging.

She is one of the very best foundation presidents I know leading Rockefeller’s in innovative solutions to critical problems with a special focus on secure food, water, housing, global health, sustainable growth and climate change resilience.  I am particularly interested in Rockefeller’s attention to the challenge of fast-growing cities and its concern for Africa.

Judy Rodin has phenomenal energy.  She has authored more than 200 academic articles, written or co-written twelve books, speaks around the world at leadership fora, serves on several corporate boards as well as boards like Carnegie Hall.  And she was a member of President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology.

For all her fame and accomplishment, Judith Rodin has her feet on the ground, is approachable, cares deeply about people, and is a steadfast and loyal friend.

So we have a lot to talk about tonight.  President Rodin will start with opening remarks, then she and I will have a conversation, and then open the floor to your questions.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Judith Rodin.