Brandeis University

Brandeis University   (University)
Motto	אמת ("Emet", Hebrew; "Truth even unto its innermost parts")
Formation	1948
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Type	Private
Sponsored by	Hewlett Foundation
Other name	Judges
Strong liberal arts focus, closely connected to the Jewish community

Brandeis University is a private research university located in the Boston suburb of Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jewish community, Brandeis was established on the site of the former Middlesex University. The university is named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2018, it had a total enrollment of 5,800 students on its suburban campus spanning 235 acres (95 hectares). The institution offers more than 43 majors and 46 minors, and two-thirds of undergraduate classes have 20 students or fewer. It is a member of Association of American Universities since 1985 and of the Boston Consortium, which allows students to cross-register to attend courses at other institutions including Boston College, Boston University and Tufts University.

The university has a strong liberal arts focus and attracts a geographically and economically diverse student body, with 72% of its non-international undergraduates being from out of state, 50% of full-time undergraduates receiving need-based financial aid and 13.5% being recipients of the federal Pell Grant. It has the eighth-largest international student population of any university in the United States. Alumni and affiliates of the university include former first lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt, Nobel Prize laureate Roderick MacKinnon and Fields Medalist Edward Witten, as well as foreign heads of state, congressmen, governors, diplomats, and recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, Emmy Award, and MacArthur Fellowship.

History

Founding

Seal of the former Middlesex University

Usen Castle, a building on campus

Middlesex University was a medical school located in Waltham, Massachusetts, that was at the time the only medical school in the United States that did not impose a quota on Jews. The founder, Dr. John Hall Smith, died in 1944. Smith's will stipulated that the school should go to any group willing to use it to establish a non-sectarian university. Within two years, Middlesex University was on the brink of financial collapse. The school had not been able to secure accreditation by the American Medical Association, which Smith partially attributed to institutional antisemitism in the American Medical Association, and, as a result, Massachusetts had all but shut it down.

Dr. Smith's son, C. Ruggles Smith, was desperate for a way to save something of Middlesex University. He learned of a New York committee headed by Dr. Israel Goldstein that was seeking a campus to establish a Jewish-sponsored secular university. Smith approached Goldstein with a proposal to give the Middlesex campus and charter to Goldstein's committee, in the hope that his committee might "possess the apparent ability to reestablish the School of Medicine on an approved basis." While Goldstein was concerned about being saddled with a failing medical school, he was excited about the opportunity to secure a 100-acre (40-hectare) "campus not far from New York, the premier Jewish community in the world, and only 9 miles (14 km) from Boston, one of the important Jewish population centers." Goldstein agreed to accept Smith's offer, proceeding to recruit George Alpert, a Boston lawyer with fundraising experience as national vice president of the United Jewish Appeal.

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Brandeis University sign

Alpert had worked his way through Boston University School of Law and co-founded the firm of Alpert and Alpert. Alpert's firm had a long association with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, of which he was to become president from 1956 to 1961. He is best known today as the father of Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass). He was influential in Boston's Jewish community. His Judaism "tended to be social rather than spiritual." He was involved in assisting children displaced from Germany. Alpert was to be chairman of Brandeis from 1946 to 1954, and a trustee from 1946 until his death. By February 5, 1946, Goldstein had recruited Albert Einstein, whose involvement drew national attention to the nascent university. Einstein believed the university would attract the best young people in all fields, satisfying a real need.

In March 1946, Goldstein said the foundation had raised ten million dollars that it would use to open the school by the following year. The foundation purchased Middlesex University's land and buildings for two million dollars. The charter of this operation was transferred to the Foundation along with the campus. The founding organization was announced in August and named The Albert Einstein Foundation for Higher Learning, Inc. The new school would be a Jewish-sponsored secular university open to students and faculty of all races and religions.

Rabb Graduate Center (1965, Benjamin Thompson)

The trustees offered to name the university after Einstein in the summer of 1946, but Einstein declined, and on July 16, 1946, the board decided the university would be named after Louis Brandeis. Einstein objected to what he thought was excessively expansive promotion, and to Goldstein's sounding out Abram L. Sachar as a possible president without consulting Einstein. Einstein took great offense at Goldstein's having invited Cardinal Francis Spellman to participate in a fundraising event. Einstein also became alarmed by press announcements that exaggerated the school's success at fundraising.

Einstein threatened to sever ties with the foundation on September 2, 1946. Believing the venture could not succeed without Einstein, Goldstein quickly agreed to resign himself, and Einstein recanted. Einstein's near-departure was publicly denied. Goldstein said that, despite his resignation, he would continue to solicit donations for the foundation. On November 1, 1946, the foundation announced that the new university would be named Brandeis University, after Louis D. Brandeis, justice of the United States Supreme Court. By the end of 1946, the foundation said it had raised over five hundred thousand dollars, and two months later it said it had doubled that amount.

Brandeis felt it was in no position to make the investment in the medical school that would enable it to receive accreditation, and closed it in 1947. Einstein wanted Middlesex University's veterinary school's standards to be improved before expanding to the school, while others in the foundation wanted to simply close the veterinary school, which, by the winter of 1947, had an enrollment of just about 100 students. A professional study of the veterinary school recommended dismissing certain instructors and requiring end-of-year examinations for the students, but the foundation declined to enact any of the recommendations, to the dismay of Einstein and a couple of the foundation's trustees.

In early June 1947, Einstein made a final break with the foundation. The veterinary school was closed, despite students' protests and demonstrations. According to George Alpert, a lawyer responsible for much of the organizational effort, Einstein had wanted to offer the presidency of the school to left-wing scholar Harold Laski, someone that Alpert had characterized as "a man utterly alien to American principles of democracy, tarred with the Communist brush." He said, "I can compromise on any subject but one: that one is Americanism." Two of the foundation's trustees, S. Ralph Lazrus and Dr. Otto Nathan, quit the foundation at the same time as Einstein. In response, Alpert said that Lazrus and Nathan had tried to give Brandeis University a "radical, political orientation." Alpert also criticized Lazrus' lack of fundraising success and Nathan's failure to organize an educational advisory committee. Einstein said he, Lazrus, and Nathan "have always been and have always acted in complete harmony."

Opening

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Brandeis's admissions building at night

On April 26, 1948, Brandeis University announced that Abram L. Sachar, chairman of the National Hillel Commission, had been chosen as Brandeis' first president. Sachar promised that Brandeis University would follow Louis Brandeis' principles of academic integrity and service. He also promised that students and faculty would never be chosen based on quotas of "genetic or ethnic or economic distribution" because choices based on quotas "are based on the assumption that there are standard population strains, on the belief that the ideal American must look and act like an eighteenth-century Puritan, that the melting pot of America must mold all who all who live here into such a pattern." Students who applied to the school were not asked their race, religion, or ancestry.

Brandeis decided its undergraduate instruction would not be organized with traditional departments or divisions, and instead it would have four schools, namely the School of General Studies, the School of Social Studies, the School of Humanities, and the School of Science. Brandeis University received its first freshman class of 107 students. They were taught by thirteen instructors in eight buildings on a 100-acre (40-hectare) campus. Students came from 28 states and six foreign countries. The library was formerly a barn, students slept in the former medical school building and two army barracks, and the cafeteria was where the medical school had stored cadavers. Historians Elinor and Robert Slater later called the opening of Brandeis one of the great moments in Jewish history.

Early years

Eleanor Roosevelt joined the board of trustees in 1949. Joseph M. Proskauer joined the board in 1950. Construction of on-campus dormitories began in March 1950 with the goal of ninety percent of students living on campus.

The state legislature of Massachusetts authorized Brandeis to award master's degrees, doctorate degrees, and honorary degrees in 1951. Brandeis' first graduating class of 101 students received degrees on June 16, 1952. Leonard Bernstein, director of Brandeis' Center of Creative Arts, planned a four-day ceremony to commemorate the occasion. Held in the newly opened amphitheater, the ceremony included the world premier of Bernstein's opera Trouble in Tahiti. Eleanor Roosevelt and Massachusetts Governor Paul A. Dever spoke at the commencement ceremony.

In 1953, Einstein declined the offer of an honorary degree from Brandeis, writing to Brandeis president Abram L. Sachar that "what happened in the stage of preparation of Brandeis University was not at all caused by a misunderstanding and cannot be made good any more." Instead, at the graduation ceremony for Brandeis' second graduating class of 108 students, individuals given Brandeis' first honorary degrees included Illinois Senator Paul H. Douglas, Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, and Alpert. 1953 also saw the creation of the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, one of the first academic programs in Jewish Studies at an American university. Among the founders were distinguished emigre scholars Alexander Altmann, Nathan Glatzer and Simon Rawidowicz. Brandeis inaugurated its graduate program, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, in 1954. In the same year, Brandeis became fully accredited, joining the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. As of 1954, Brandeis had 22 buildings and a 192-acre (78-hectare) campus.

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Chapels Pond

In 1954, Brandeis began construction on an interfaith center consisting of separate Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish chapels. Designed by the architectural firm of Harrison & Abramovitz, the three chapels surrounded a natural pond. Brandeis announced that no official chaplains would be named, and attendance at chapel services would not be required. The Roman Catholic chapel was named Bethlehem, meaning house of bread, and it was dedicated on September 9, 1955. Dedicated on September 11, 1955, the Jewish chapel was named in memory of Mendel and Leah Berlin, parents of Boston surgeon Dr. David D. Berlin. Named in memory of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, the Protestant chapel was dedicated on October 30, 1955.

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Farber Library at left (1984, Abramovitz, Harris, & Kingsland); Goldfarb Library at right (1959, Harrison & Abramovitz)

In 1956 Brandeis received a one-million-dollar donation from New York industrialist Jack A. Goldfarb to build a library. The building, named the Bertha and Jacob Goldfarb Library in his honor, was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz, a firm which designed many campus buildings in the 1950s. Built of brick and glass, the library was designed to hold 750,000 volumes.

After Brandeis University awarded an honorary doctorate to Israeli Premier David Ben-Gurion in 1960, Jordan boycotted Brandeis University, announcing that it would not issue currency permits to Jordanian students at Brandeis.

Beginning in fall 1959, singer Eddie Fisher established two scholarships at the University, one for classical and one for popular music, in the name of Eddie Cantor.

Student takeover of Ford Hall

On January 8, 1969, about 70 black students entered then-student-center, Ford Hall, ejected everyone else from the building, and refused to leave. The students' demands included the hiring of more black faculty members, increasing black student enrollment from four percent to ten percent of the student body, establishing an independent department on African American studies, and an increase in scholarships for black students. The student protesters renamed the school Malcolm X University for the duration of the siege, distributing buttons with the new name and logo, and issued a list of fourteen demands for better minority representation on campus. The students refused to allow telephone calls go through the telephone switchboard.Over 200 white students staged a sit-in in the lobby of the administration building. Classes continued on campus during the protest. Other campuses that had protests at the same time included San Francisco State College, the University of Minnesota, Swarthmore College, Cheyney State College, Queens College, and San Jose State College.

President Morris B. Abram said that, although he recognized "the deep frustration and anger which black students here and all over the country—and often is—the indifference and duplicity of white men in relation to blacks", the students' actions were an affront to the university, Abram said that "nothing less than academic freedom itself is under assault." The faculty condemned the students' actions as well. On the third day of the protest, Abram proposed creating three committees to "spell out in detail those points which still divide us."

On the fourth day of the protest, the Middlesex Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order, requiring the students to leave Ford Hall. While Abram said he would not allow the order to be enforced by forcibly removing the students from Ford Hall, he did say that 65 students had been suspended for their actions. On January 18, the black students exited Ford Hall, ending the eleven-day occupation of the building. Brandeis and students still were not in agreement on one of the demands, namely the establishment of an autonomous department on African American studies. Brandeis insisted that such a department be subject to the same rules as any other department. There had been no violence or destruction of property during the occupation, and Brandeis gave the students amnesty from their actions.< Ronald Walters became the first chair of Afro-American studies at Brandeis later the same year. Ford Hall was demolished in August 2000 to make way for the Shapiro Campus Center, which was opened and dedicated October 3, 2002.

21st century

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The Volen Center for Complex Systems (1994, CannonDesign)

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Landsman Research Facility (completed 2005, dedicated 2008), home to a superconducting magnet.

In 2014, Brandeis announced it would offer an honorary doctorate to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, "a staunch supporter of women's rights", and an outspoken campaigner against female genital mutilation, honor killing and Islamic extremism in general. After complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and internal consultation with faculty and students, Brandeis publicly withdrew the offer, citing that Ali's statements condemning Islam were "inconsistent with the University's core values". 87 out of 511 faculty members at Brandeis signed a letter to the university president.

The university announced that the decision to withdraw the invitation was made after a discussion between Ayaan Ali and President Frederick Lawrence, stating that "She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women's rights ... but we cannot overlook certain of her past statements". According to Brandeis, Ali was never invited to speak at commencement, she was only invited to receive an honorary degree. Ali said that Brandeis' decision surprised her because Brandeis said they did not know what she had said in the past even though her speeches were publicly available on the internet, calling it a "feeble excuse". Ali stated that the university's decision was motivated in part by fear of offending Muslims. She argued that the "spirit of free expression" referred to in the Brandeis statement has been betrayed and stifled.

While some commentators such as Abdullah Antepli, the Muslim chaplain and adjunct faculty of Islamic Studies at Duke University, applauded the decision and warned against "making renegades into heroes", other academic commentators such as the University of Chicago's Jerry Coyne and the George Mason University Foundation Professor David Bernstein criticized the decision as an attack on academic values such as freedom of inquiry and intellectual independence from religious pressure groups.

Notable alumni

Business

• Leonard Asper: Chief Operating Officer, CanWest
• Mitch Caplan: Former president and CEO, E*Trade Financial Corporation
• Michael Gliedman: Chief Technology Officer, Ranpak, former Chief Information Officer for the National Basketball Association
• Christie Hefner: Former Chairman & CEO, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., daughter of Hugh Hefner
• Brian Hirsch: venture capitalist
• Myra Hiatt Kraft: Philanthropist and late wife of Bob Kraft, owner of New England Patriots NFL football team
• Suk-Won Kim: Chair of Ssangyong Business Group, one of the largest companies in the Republic of Korea
• Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson: Executive Vice President of Time Warner, former CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, responsible for the introduction of PlayStation
• Bobby Sager: Philanthropist, photographer, former president of Gordon Brothers Group
• Robert F.X. Sillerman: Media entrepreneur; CEO of CKX, Inc. (owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises and American Idol)
• Louise Sunshine: Real estate professional and founder of the Sunshine Group
• Ellis Verdi: Advertising executive and co-founder of the DeVito/Verdi advertising agency

Government, law, politics and non-profits

• Jack Abramoff: Republican activist; founder, International Freedom Foundation, former lobbyist (convicted of mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion)
• Donna Arzt: Human rights attorney, law professor
• Françoise Blime-Dutertre: French philosopher
• Sidney Blumenthal: Adviser to President Bill Clinton and journalist
• Naomi Reice Buchwald: United States District Court Judge, Southern District of New York
• Jennifer Casolo: Peace activist
• Bernard Coard: Grenadian politician who led the coup that ousted Maurice Bishop
• Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech: Member of the House of Lords, UK
• Gustavo Gelpi: United States District Court Judge, District of Puerto Rico
• Geir Haarde: Prime Minister of Iceland
• Wakako Hironaka: Member of the Diet of Japan, State Minister, Director-General of the Environment Agency (1993–94)
• Abbie Hoffman: Social and political activist; co-founder of the Youth International Party ("Yippies")
• Michael E. Horowitz: Inspector General for the United States Department of Justice
• Otis Johnson: Mayor of Savannah, Georgia
• Joette Katz: Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
• Lisa Kubiske: United States Ambassador to Honduras
• Edgar Romano: managing senior partner at the New York City law firm Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP
• Robert Lasnik: United States District Court Judge, Western District of Washington
• Osman Faruk Loğoğlu: Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Turkey
• Roslynn Mauskopf: United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of New York
• Vineeta Rai: Indian Administrative Service officer; former Revenue Secretary, Government of India; voted one of 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in India
• Michael Ratner: President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit human rights litigation organization
• Lois Galgay Reckitt: Executive director, Family Crisis Services of Portland, Maine
• Lauren Rikleen: Author, lawyer, workplace expert
• Stanley Roth: Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 1997–2001
• Dimitrij Rupel: Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
• George Saitoti: Vice President of the Republic of Kenya
• Ari Schwartz: Chief operating officer, Center for Democracy and Technology
• Eli J. Segal: Assistant to the President of the United States 1993–1996
• Daniel B. Shapiro: Current United States Ambassador to Israel
• Daniel Sokatch: CEO of the New Israel Fund
• Stephen J. Solarz: Former U.S. Representative from Brooklyn, New York
• Beth Teper: Director of COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere)
• Shen Tong: Student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
• Micah Zenko: Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Gerald Zerkin: Attorney for Zacarias Moussaoui
• Rakesh Rajani: Tanzanian Civil Society Leader

Science

• Larry Abbott: Senior Fellow at Janelia Farms (HHMI); co-director, Columbia Center for Theoretical Neuroscience; member of the National Academy of Sciences
• V. Balakrishnan: Indian theoretical physicist
• Eric R. Braverman (born 1957): physician
• Adam Cheyer: AI and CS scientist, co-founder of Siri, the company behind Apple's personal assistant on iOS
• Judith Rich Harris: Psychologist
• Arthur G. Hunt: Plant and soils scientist
• Leslie Lamport: Computer scientist and inventor of LaTeX document preparation system
• Beatrice B. "BeBe" Magee: Chemist
• Janet Akyüz Mattei: Astronomer, former director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers
• Siddhartha Roy: Structural biologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar laureate
• Philip Rubin: Cognitive scientist, CEO Emeritus, Haskins Laboratories; White House science advisor in Obama administration
• Robert H. Singer: Senior Fellow at Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chair of Anatomy and Structural Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Ron Sun: Professor of Cognitive Sciences and Computer Science, RPI
• Patrick Tufts: Computer scientist and inventor
• Rachel Zimmerman: Space scientist and inventor, inventor of the Blissymbol Printer, which simplifies communication for users with physical disabilities

Crime, political crimes, and terrorism

• Naomi Jaffe: Social and political activist, member of the Weather Underground organization
• Katherine Ann Power: Anti-war activist and former fugitive from justice
• Susan Edith Saxe: Anti-war activist and former fugitive from justice
• Aafia Siddiqui: Neuroscientist (alleged al-Qaeda operative), convicted of assaulting and attempting to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents
• Laura Whitehorn: Member of the Weather Underground organization, participated in the Battle of Boston during the Boston busing crisis

Notable faculty and staff, past and present

• John B. Anderson: United States Congressman, third party candidate for President of the United States in 1980
• Stuart Altman: Healthcare policy economist, member of the Institute of Medicine
• Alexander Altmann: Professor of Jewish Philosophy and History of Ideas
• Teresa Amabile: Social and organizational psychologist
• Robert J. Art: International politics
• Kathleen Barry: Feminist and sociologist
• Leonard Bernstein: Composer and conductor
• Frank Bidart: Poet, awarded Bollingen Prize
• Egon Bittner: Sociologist and police science scholar
• Michael Brenner: Professor for Jewish history and culture
• Bernadette Brooten: Professor of Christian studies, member of the MacArthur Fellows Program
• Olga Broumas: Poet
• David Buchsbaum (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Mary Baine Campbell: Poet and critic
• Carolyn Cohen: Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Saul Cohen (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Frank Conroy: Memoirist, fiction writer, and director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop
• Lewis A. Coser: Sociologist, one of the founders of Dissent magazine
• J.V. Cunningham: Poet and literary critic
• Pamela Dellal: Mezzo-soprano
• Stanley Deser (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Mark Feeney: Pulitzer Prize-winning arts critic for The Boston Globe
• Irving Fine: Composer
• David Hackett Fischer: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
• Benny Friedman: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback; Brandeis Athletic Director and last football coach
• Lawrence "Larry" Fuchs: Founder of the American Studies Department at Brandeis and immigration policy expert
• Paul Georges: Member of National Academy Museum
• Ray Ginger: Historian noted for his biography of Eugene V. Debs
• Arthur Green: Jewish spirituality and thought
• Allen Grossman: Poet, awarded Bollingen Prize and MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant
• Jeff Hall (emeritus): member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Timothy J Hickey: Computer scientist
• Anita Hill: Lawyer and social policy expert
• Heisuke Hironaka: Mathematician, Fields Medal winner
• Michelle Hoover: Writer-in-residence, author
• Irving Howe: Political theorist, editor and founder of Dissent
• Hugh Huxley (emeritus): Member of the National Academy of Science
• Ray Jackendoff (emeritus): Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Paul Jankowski: Historian
• Gish Jen: Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• William Jencks: Biochemist
• William E. Kapelle: Medieval historian
• Dorothee Kern: Biochemist, former basketball player for the East German national team
• Jytte Klausen: European politics, author of The Cartoons that Shook the World
• Walter Laqueur: Historian and political commentator
• Max Lerner: Author, syndicated columnist, and editor
• Alvin Lucier: Composer of experimental music
• Alasdair MacIntyre: Philosopher
• Kanan Makiya: Iraqi dissident, advocate of the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Herbert Marcuse: Social theorist and member of the Frankfurt School
• Eve Marder: Neuroscientist
• Abraham Maslow: Psychologist noted for humanistic approach
• Eileen McNamara: Pulitzer Prize- winning columnist for the Boston Globe
• Pauli Murray: Feminist, civil rights advocate, lawyer, and ordained priest
• Ulric Neisser: Pioneer in development of cognitive psychology
• Irene Pepperberg: Psychologist noted for research on cognition in animals, particularly for her work with Alex, a grey parrot
• Gregory Petsko: Biochemist
• James Pustejovsky: Linguist, proposer of Generative Lexicon theory
• Philip Rahv: Literary and social critic, editor and founder of Partisan Review
• David Rakowski: Music, runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for Music (1999, 2002)
• Robert Reich: United States Secretary of Labor, 1993–1997
• Margret Rey: Author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Curious George series
• Adrienne Rich: Poet, essayist and feminist
• Philip Rieff: Sociologist and cultural critic
• Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the United States
• Michael Rosbash: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Dennis Ross: Special envoy/ambassador to Middle East under President Bill Clinton
• Jonathan Sarna: Historian of American Judaism
• Nahum Sarna: Biblical scholar, father of Jonathan Sarna
• Morrie Schwartz: Sociologist; subject of Mitch Albom's bestselling novel, Tuesdays with Morrie
• Arnold S. Shapiro: Mathematician
• Thomas M. Shapiro: Sociologist, author
• Mitchell Siporin: Artist
• Thomas Sowell: Economist, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution
• Marie Syrkin: Poet and author
• Andreas Teuber: Philosophy professor, actor
• Samuel O. Thier: President of both Massachusetts General Hospital and Brandeis University
• Gina G. Turrigiano: Neuroscientist, winner of the MacArthur "Genius" Award
• Claude Vigée: Poet
• Kurt Heinrich Wolff: Sociologist
• Franz Wright: Poet, awarded Pulitzer Prize
• Yehudi Wyner: Composer, awarded Pulitzer Prize
• Leslie Zebrowitz: Social psychologist

Academia

• Eve Adler: Classicist, professor at Middlebury College
• Amnon Albeck: Chemist, professor and University's Vice-Rector at Bar-Ilan University
• Arjun Appadurai: Anthropologist and editor of Public Culture
• Elliot Aronson: Social psychologist known for research on the theory of cognitive dissonance
• Seyla Benhabib: Professor of political science and philosophy at Yale University
• Bonnie Berger: Professor of applied mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ilan Berman: Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council
• David Bernstein: Law professor and blogger
• Deborah Bial: Education strategist, founder and President of Posse Foundation, MacArthur Fellow
• Richard Burgin: Professor, fiction writer, critic, founder and editor of Boulevard literary magazine
• Nancy Chodorow: Feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst
• Arthur L.Caplan: Professor of Bioethics
• Angela Davis: Political activist, academic and author
• Donna Robinson Divine: Professor at Smith College
• Jean Bethke Elshtain: Professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, feminist, political philosopher
• Daniel A. Foss: Sociologist
• Perry A. Frey: Professor of biochemistry at University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Robert Gallucci: President of the MacArthur Foundation
• Sherwood Gorbach: Emeritus Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine
• Herbert Gross: Professor of Mathematics, Bunker Hill Community College, Corning Community College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• John Hopps: Physicist, politician
• Evelyn Fox Keller: Historian and philosopher of science, MacArthur Fellow 1992
• David Kertzer: Anthropologist at Brown University; Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Pope and Mussolini
• Deborah Lipstadt: History professor, Emory University
• George Loewenstein: Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University
• Roderick MacKinnon: Professor at Rockefeller University, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Fatema Mernissi: Moroccan sociologist
• Joseph S. Murphy (1933-1998): President of Queens College, President of Bennington College, and Chancellor of the City University of New York
• Elisa New: Professor, Harvard University, wife of Lawrence Summers, former President of Harvard University
• David Oshinsky: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, professor
• Alicia Ostriker: Poet, professor at Rutgers University
• Lawrence Rosen: Anthropologist and law professor
• Philip Rubin: Cognitive scientist, CEO Emeritus, Haskins Laboratories
• Paul Sally: Professor of mathematics, University of Chicago
• Michael Sandel: Professor of political philosophy, Harvard University and former member of The President's Council on Bioethics
• Lawrence Schiffman: Historian of ancient Judaism and Vice-Provost at Yeshiva University
• Joan Wallach Scott: Historian of France and pioneer in the field of gender history
• Judith Shapiro: Former President, Barnard College
• Elaine Showalter: Literary critic
• Lawrence Solan: Professor of law at Brooklyn Law School
• Hortense Spillers: Literary critic, Black feminist scholar and the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor at Vanderbilt University
• Maurice R. Stein: Author of Blueprint for Counter Education (1970), founding dean of the School of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts, and a professor of sociology at Brandeis University
• Alan Taylor: Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian, professor at UC Davis
• Fernando Torres-Gil: Associate Dean and professor of public policy, UCLA School of Public Affairs
• Paul Townsend: Physicist, notable for work on String Theory
• Karen Uhlenbeck: Mathematics professor, MacArthur Fellow, awarded Leroy P. Steele Prize for research, first woman to win the Abel Prize.
• Judith G. Voet: Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Swarthmore College, author of biochemistry textbooks
• Theo Wallimann: Professor, Biochemist/Cell Biologist at ETH Zurich
• Michael Walzer: Professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study
• Edward Witten: Physicist, awarded Fields Medal in 1990
• Rich Yampell: Grammarian, Klingon Language Institute
• David B. Yoffie: Professor of International Business Administration at Harvard Business School
• Robert J. Zimmer: President, University of Chicago

Arts and media

• Kathy Acker: Novelist
• Mitch Albom: Sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, author of Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven
• Paula Apsell: Executive Producer of Nova, the longest-running science documentary series and winner of eight Emmy Awards
• Stanley Bing (aka Gil Schwartz): Author, columnist for Fortune and Esquire; Executive Vice President of CBS Corporation
• Dan Blum: Novelist
• Elizabeth Breunig: writer and opinion columnist for The Washington Post
• David Brudnoy: Talk radio host in Boston
• Samrat Chakrabarti: British-American actor
• Peter Child: Composer
• Joe Conason: Political columnist for The New York Observer
• David Crane: Co-creator, writer, and executive producer of television series Friends
• Steven Culp: Actor
• Tyne Daly: Actress,< co-starred in TV series Cagney & Lacey
• Stuart Damon (Stuart Michael Zonis): Actor, played Dr. Alan Quartermaine for thirty years on the TV soap opera General Hospital
• Loretta Devine: Actress in TV series Boston Public and Grey's Anatomy, and films, including Crash
• Josh Dibb (aka Deakin): Musician, member of Animal Collective
• Alan Ehrenhalt: Senior editor of Governing, contributing writer to The New York Times
• Thomas Friedman: Foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times; winner of the National Book Award and three Pulitzer Prizes
• Lindsay Gardner: Media executive
• Gary David Goldberg: Television writer and producer
• Tony Goldwyn: Actor and director
• Karen Lynn Gorney: Actress
• Alexander Gould: Actor known for roles in Finding Nemo and Weeds
• Debra Granik: Film director and screenwriter
• Mark Halliday: Poet
• Marshall Herskovitz: TV and film producer, director and screenwriter
• Dan Hirschhorn: Time.com
• Kay Hymowitz: Conservative commentator, Manhattan Institute scholar
• Chuck Israels: Jazz musician, bassist
• Margo Jefferson: The New York Times theater critic, winner of Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
• Ha Jin: Novelist, winner of the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award
• Michael Kaiser: President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
• Myq Kaplan: Comedian
• Marta Kauffman: Executive Producer and co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning television series Friends
• Jesse Kellerman: Novelist and playwright, son of novelists Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman
• Amanda Kelly: Miss Massachusetts 2009
• Jon Landau: Music critic, manager and record producer
• Susan B. Landau: Film and television producer (Cool Runnings, Mary and Rhoda)
• Louise Lasser: Actress, ex-wife of Woody Allen
• Abby Leigh: Artist
• Mark Leyner: Postmodern novelist
• Peter Lieberson: Composer
• Charlene Liu: Artist
• Steven Mackey: Composer
• Michael McDowell: Novelist and script writer
• Gates McFadden: Actress, best known as Dr. Beverly Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Walter Mossberg: Wall Street Journal technology columnist
• Josh Mostel: Actor, son of actor Zero Mostel
• Susana Naidich: Argentine singer
• Barry Newman: Actor
• Anand Patwardhan: Documentary filmmaker
• Martin Peretz: Editor-in-chief of The New Republic
• Letty Cottin Pogrebin: Author, journalist, social activist, a founding editor of Ms. magazine
• Patrik-Ian Polk: Writer-producer of Noah's Arc
• Deborah Porter: Critic, non-profit director, founder of the Boston Book Festival
• Tom Rapp: Singer/songwriter, previously of Pearls Before Swine
• Guy Raz: Host of National Public Radio's All Things Considered
• Theresa Rebeck: Playwright and novelist
• Nancy Richler: Novelist
• Jeff Rubens: Bridge player, writer and editor
• Richard Rubin: Actor, television personality, and reality star of Beauty and the Geek
• David Ian Salter: Film editor of Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo
• Bill Schneider: CNN's senior political analyst
• Bob Simon: CBS television correspondent for 60 Minutes
• Arunoday Singh: Bollywood actor; grandson of Indian politician Arjun Singh
• Sunny Singh: Writer
• Daniel Smith: Writer
• Laura J. Snyder: Historian, philosopher, and author
• Paul Solman: Journalist for PBS
• Christina Hoff Sommers: Author, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
• Karen Sosnoski: Author and filmmaker
• Michael Sugar: Film and TV producer/Oscar winner for Spotlight
• Jonathan Vankin: Senior Editor, Vertigo Comics
• Robin Weigert: Actress, played Calamity Jane in Deadwood on HBO
• Adam D. Weinberg: Director of Whitney Museum of American Art
• Eliza Wyatt: Playwright, author, and sculptor

 

Sponsor

Event	Description
Hewlett Foundation	Huge foundation setting the agenda by funding lots of deep state projects.

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Nationality	Summary	Description
Jack Abramoff	28 February 1958		Lobbyist Businessperson	Convicted lobbyist and founder of the International Freedom Foundation
Sidney Blumenthal	6 November 1948	US
Jordana Cutler		Israel US	Diplomat Propagandist	Went from senior Israeli propagandist to leading Facebook's censorship of Israel-critics.
Thomas Friedman	20 July 1953	US	Author Journalist	CFR, TLC, two Bilderbergs
Robert Gallucci	11 February 1946	US	Diplomat Academic	Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
Daniel Marcus	5 January 1941	US	Lawyer	Lawyer who was General Counsel of the 9-11 Commission.
Daniel Shapiro	1 August 1969	US Israeli	Diplomat	US ambassador to Israel, but flew from Tel Aviv to New York on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's own aircraft
Aafia Siddiqui	2 March 1972	Pakistan	Scientist	American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist, tortured and raped for years by US forces, now serving a life sentence after a trial of a highly questionable nature.

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