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Lee Bollinger
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Lee C. Bollinger is an American lawyer and educator who is currently serving as the 19th president of Columbia University. Formerly the president of the University of Michigan, he is a noted legal scholar of the First Amendment and freedom of speech. He was at the center of two notable United States Supreme Court cases regarding the use of affirmative action in admissions processes.
in Santa Rosa, California to a Jewish family, Bollinger was raised there and in Baker City, Oregon.
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Lee C. Bollinger is an American lawyer and educator who is currently serving as the 19th president of Columbia University. Formerly the president of the University of Michigan, he is a noted legal scholar of the First Amendment and freedom of speech. He was at the center of two notable United States Supreme Court cases regarding the use of affirmative action in admissions processes.
Biography
Born in Santa Rosa, California to a Jewish family, Bollinger was raised there and in Baker City, Oregon. As a student, Bollinger spent a year (1963) as an exchange student in Brazil with AFS Intercultural Programs. He received his bachelors degree from the University of Oregon and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Columbia Law School. He served as a law clerk to Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Chief Justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court. Bollinger went on to join the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School in 1973, becoming dean of the school in 1987. He became provost of Dartmouth College in 1994 before returning to the University of Michigan in 1996 as president. Bollinger assumed his current position as president of Columbia University in June 2002.
Affirmative action cases
In 2003, Bollinger made headlines as defendant in the Supreme Court cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger. In the Grutter case, the Court found by a 5-4 margin that the affirmative action policies of the University of Michigan Law School were constitutional. But at the same time, they found by a 6-3 margin in the Gratz case that the undergraduate admissions policies of Michigan were not narrowly tailored to a compelling interest in diversity, and thus that they violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In 2006, affirmative action in university admissions in the state of Michigan was banned by a ballot initiative known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.
President of Columbia
As president (known affectionately as "PrezBo"), Bollinger has attempted to expand the international scope of the University, taking frequent trips abroad and inviting world leaders to its campus. Bollinger has been criticized for taking a neutral public position on controversies in 2004–5 regarding alleged intimidation of students by professors in the Middle East Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) department by the Boston-based pro-Israel advocacy organization The David Project and for placing the department in receivership. He has also been at the forefront of criticism for his role advocating the expansion of the university into the Manhattanville neighborhood and the possible use of eminent domain to help it seize property there. The Bollinger administration's expansion plans have been criticized as fundamentally incompatible with the 197/a plan for development crafted by the community, and for failing to address the neighborhood's need to maintain affordable housing stock.
In November 2006, Bollinger was elected to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, a term lasting for three years.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad controversy
Bollinger received much criticism in September 2007, when Columbia invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at its campus on September 24, 2007. A number of local and national politicians, including presidential hopefuls John McCain, Fred Thompson, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, denounced Columbia for hosting Ahmadinejad.
Additionally, some of Bollinger's critics accused him of hypocrisy for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak at the university in the name of academic freedom and freedom of expression, but citing those same values in 2005 as justifications not to readmit an ROTC program to Columbia in light of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays. Explaining his ROTC decision at the time, Bollinger wrote: "the university has an obligation, deeply rooted in the core values of an academic institution and in First Amendment principles, to protect its students from improper discrimination and humiliation."
Bollinger described the event as part of "Columbia's long-standing tradition of serving as a major forum for robust debate, especially on global issues."
Bollinger released a statement on Columbia's website on September 19, 2007 outlining the content of his introduction, which included Ahmadinejad's statements regarding the Holocaust, Israel, and the Iranian government's record on civil liberties and human rights.
In his introduction, Bollinger explained to the student body that the 'free speech' afforded to Ahmadinejad was for the sake of the students and the faculty rather than for the benefit of Ahmadinejad himself, whom Bollinger referred to as "exhibiting all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator." Bollinger's introduction received both praise and condemnation. Bollinger's remarks were widely criticized by Iranians, who perceived him as being an ungracious host and saw the treatment as adding to the perception of America as a bully in the Middle East.
Personal life
Bollinger is married to artist Jean Magnano Bollinger. They have two children.
Books authored
In addition to his academic and administrative positions, Bollinger has authored many articles and books on the subject of free speech.
- The Tolerant Society (ISBN 0195040007)
- Images of a Free Press (ISBN 0226063496)
External links
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