Trustees Name President Lee C. Bollinger As Seth Low Professor of the University
Media contact: Robert Hornsby, 212-854-9752, [email protected]
The Trustees of Columbia University have appointed President Lee. C. Bollinger (Law ‘71) as the first Seth Low Professor of the University. In appointing Bollinger a professor of the University, the Trustees have recognized the scope of his service as university-wide, an honor conferred on faculty members of the highest distinction.
Since he became Columbia’s President, Bollinger has been a member of the Columbia Law School faculty and has taught an undergraduate course each year on the First Amendment and Freedom of Speech and Press. He continues to write on issues of global press freedom. His most recent book, Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century, was published in 2010 by Oxford University Press. The Law School will remain Bollinger’s primary academic home as he pursues his scholarship and teaching.
“The Trustees strongly believe that given Lee’s spectacular success in Columbia’s significant advancementon so many fronts even while he continued to teach and write in his own scholarly field, it was important to mark the ongoing value of his multi-disciplinary academic contributions,” said Chairman Bill Campbell (CC’62, TC’64). “The university has achieved just remarkable momentum under his leadership, from the success of a historic fundraising campaign to the quality and diversity of our students, the breadth of our faculty’s thought leadership, and the smart, sustainable way we are expanding our physical presence both locally and globally. But through it all, Lee has continued to be a dedicated teacher of Columbia students and scholar of free speech. We thought it was important for his academic appointment to reflect and maintain for the long-term the breadth of his engagement.”
Bollinger began his term as Columbia’s nineteenth president on June 1, 2002. During his earlier service as president at the University of Michigan, he led the litigation effort and shaped the public advocacy resulting in the twin Supreme Court decisions upholding the importance of diversity as a compelling justification for affirmative action in higher education. He has continued to serve as a prominent voice in public discussion of diversity in higher education, both before and since the recent Supreme Court ruling in the case Fisher vs. University of Texas.
The Trustees created the new professorship in honor of Seth Low, a leader of New York City and Columbia’s president from 1890-1901, the decade that saw the University relocate from midtown Manhattan and embark on building its iconic Morningside campus. Bollinger’s appointment as Seth Low Professor of the University is independent of his term as Columbia’s president and will continue for as long as he remains on the Columbia faculty.
“There has been no higher professional honor and pleasure than serving as President of Columbia, especially during this era of extraordinary expansion, physically and intellectually, and I feel the same way about teaching our wonderful students.” said Bollinger. “I very much appreciate this added honor.”
Background note: For many years there has been a “Seth Low Professor of History,” currently held by Volker Berghahn. That position is not connected to or replaced by Bollinger’s new title.
About Columbia University
Among the world’s leading research universities, Columbia University in the City of New York continuously seeks to advance the frontiers of scholarship and foster a campus community deeply engaged in the complex issues of our time through teaching, research, patient care and public service. The University is comprised of 16 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools, and four affiliated colleges and seminaries in Manhattan, and a wide array of research institutes and global centers around the world. More than 40,000 students, award-winning faculty and professional staff define the University’s underlying values and commitment to pursuing new knowledge and educating informed, engaged citizens. Founded in 1754 as King’s College, Columbia is the fifth oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.