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THE NEW SCHOOL CELEBRATES 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF
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| New School President Bob Kerrey presents Honorary Degree to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin |
New York, February 18, 2009 — The New School for Social Research traveled to Berlin, Germany, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the University in Exile, which was established by The New School in 1933 to provide a home for scholars rescued from fascist Europe and to preserve Germany’s centuries-old traditions of scholarship, academic freedom, and unfettered inquiry.
The celebration, which took place on February 19 and 20 at the American Academy in Berlin, included the presentation of an honorary degree to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by New School President Bob Kerrey with introductory remarks presented by Fritz Stern, professor emeritus at Columbia University. The ceremony was followed by an international symposium on academic and intellectual freedom and a formal public announcement of the Alvin Johnson–University in Exile Memorial Fellowship Fund.
“We are proud to honor Chancellor Angela Merkel’s distinguished service as part of our reaffirmation of The New School’s ties to Germany’s rich academic traditions,” said University President Bob Kerrey. “Today, The New School still proudly upholds the values of academic freedom and social justice that inspired the creation of the University in Exile. We continue to occupy the front lines of support for oppressed scholars in other countries – a focus reflected in our successful efforts this year to bring two endangered scholars and their families from Ethiopia and Iraq to the university. This conference provides an opportunity to uphold our commitment to these values while continuing our long-standing tradition of U.S.-German intellectual exchange.”
To further commemorate this milestone, The New School established the Alvin Johnson–University in Exile Memorial Fellowship Fund, which will provide full tuition and stipend for exceptional German graduate students wishing to study at The New School for Social Research.
“The Alvin Johnson–University in Exile Memorial Fellowship will allow us to bring German graduate students into our lecture halls and classrooms, where they will infuse our community with new perspectives and approaches, in the tradition of the school’s founders,” said Michael Schober, dean of The New School for Social Research. “This fellowship initiative will serve as a reminder of the courage and vision exhibited by Alvin Johnson in his campaign to create the University in Exile. It will also be a reminder of the values for which he labored – academic freedom, open-minded inquiry, and social justice – which make The New School the singular institution of higher education it is today.”
The university’s celebration included an international conference organized by its journal Social Research: An International Quarterly of the Social Sciences, titled, “Free Inquiry at Risk: Universities in Dangerous Times.” The symposium used the anniversary as a springboard to discuss the core values of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and free inquiry in the life of the university under conditions of national and international duress.
Leading academics from the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East joined in two sessions to examine contemporary threats created by rapid globalization, international collaboration, massification, corporate partnerships, increasing numbers of franchises, regime change, and other conditions reshaping universities around the world.
“This symposium brings together the many shareholders in higher education to help us collaboratively defend and support the myriad devastating challenges to academic freedom,” said conference director Arien Mack, editor of Social Research and the Alfred and Monette Marrow Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research. “By proactively exploring the pressures challenging our core value of free inquiry, we can ensure collaborative efforts to ensure the traditions that have allowed intellectual freedom to flourish.”
The University in Exile was founded in 1933 by The New School’s first president, Alvin Johnson, who envisioned it as a haven for intellectuals seeking refuge from the Nazis, and an opportunity to preserve and promote the remarkable traditions of the German academy. In 1934, the University in Exile was incorporated into The New School as the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, which later became The New School for Social Research. During the 1930s and forties, The New School sponsored immigration visas for more than 180 refugee scholars and their families, including scholars such as Karl Brandt, Gerhard Colm, Max Wertheimer, Hans Speier, Wolfgang Kohler, Rudolf Arnheim, Wilhelm Reich, Adolph Lowe, Alfred Schütz, and Leo Strauss. The many renowned German and European thinkers among that group made enormous contributions to The New School and to the American academy as a whole. Their presence at The New School marked the beginning of a trans-national dialogue that continues to produce vital scholarly work.
On Thursday, February 19, the conference explored the future of free inquiry in an era of economic stress, tension over national security and globalized power. The panel included the following academic leaders: Markus Baumanns, executive vice president of the Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius ZEIT Foundation and chairman of the Executive Board of Bucerius Law School; Kurt Biedenkopf, chairman of the Hertie School of Governance, Germany's first Professional School for Public Policy, and former minister-president of the Free State of Saxony; Jonathan Cole, John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University, provost emeritus, and dean emeritus of the faculties, Columbia University; Bob Kerrey, president, The New School and former U.S. Senator from Nebraska Anatoly Mikhailov, founding rector of European Humanities University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
On Friday, February 20, the second and final session of the seminar discussed the internal and external stresses that impact university commitments to academic freedom and freedom of inquiry. The panel included Shlomo Avineri, professor of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Craig Calhoun, president, Social Science Research Council and University Professor of the Social Sciences, New York University; Yehuda Elkana, president and rector, Central European University; Alan Ryan, warden of New College, Oxford, and professor of Politics, University of Oxford; and Moderator Hans-Peter Krüger, professor of practical philosophy at the University of Potsdam.
About The New School – Located in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village, The New School is a center of academic excellence where intellectual and artistic freedoms thrive. Over 10,200 matriculated students and approximately 6,400 continuing education students come from around the world to participate in a wide range of undergraduate to doctoral programs in art and design, the social sciences, management and urban policy, the humanities and the performing arts. When The New School was founded in 1919, its mission was to create a place where global peace and justice were more than theoretical ideals. Today, The New School continues that mission, with programs that strive to foster engaged world citizenship. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu.
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