T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr., is president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Cribb was Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs in the Reagan Administration, serving as President Reagan’s top advisor on domestic matters. Earlier in the administration he held the position of Counselor to the Attorney General. He also served as vice chairman of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board from 1989 to 1992. Today he also is president of the Collegiate Network, an association of independent college newspapers; vice president of the Council for National Policy; and counselor to the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy.
Bill Dunn’s formal education was in theoretical physics. He then spent two years teaching and researching physics and seven years conducting operations research and systems analysis studies for the U.S. government. By 1974, Dunn had educated himself in the technical trading of futures (commodities) portfolios. He then formed DUNN Capital Management and began trading for clients in October of 1974. He moved the company headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Stuart, Fla., in 1980. DUNN currently manages over $1 billion for institutional and individual clients from around the world. DUNN’s composite track record spans a period of over 30 years and has achieved a return of over 20% per annum, net of all fees and expenses. Dunn is actively involved with a number of libertarian organizations around the country, and his wife, Rebecca, also supports many of these as well as other local civic organizations.
Benjamin Hammond is a clinical professor in periodontal microbiology at the Temple University School of Dentistry. Hammond is professor emeritus of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (1991–present). He served as a professor of medicine and dental medicine (1991–1997) and as the director of the Oral Microbiology Testing Service at the Medical College of Pennsylvania/MCP-Hahnemann University College of Medicine. Hammond is also a former professor (1970–1991) and chairman (1972–1985) of the Department of Microbiology and former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (1984–1991) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Other awards and posts include: president of the American Association for Dental Research (1978); Lindback Award for distinguished teaching, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (1969); and member, National Advisory Dental Research Council, National Institutes of Health (1975–1978).
Nat Hentoff contributes regularly to Village Voice and The Wall Street Journal. Among other publications in which his work has appeared are The New York Times, The New Republic, Commonwealth, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker, where he was a staff writer for more than 25 years. Hentoff’s views on journalistic responsibility and the rights of Americans to write, think, and speak freely are expressed in his weekly column, and he has come to be acknowledged as a foremost authority in the area of First Amendment defense. He is also an expert on the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court, student rights, and education. He has published many books on jazz, biographies, and novels, including a number of books for children. Among his works: Does Anybody Give A Damn? Nat Hentoff on Education, Our Children Are Dying, A Doctor Among Addicts, Peace Agitator: The Story of A. J. Muste, The New Equality, The First Freedom: The Tumultuous History of Free Speech in America, The Day They Came to Arrest the Book, John Cardinal O’Connor: At The Storm Center of a Changing American Catholic Church, and Free Speech for Me—But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other.
Roy Innis was born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and grew up in New York City. He served in the U.S. Army. He attended City College majoring in chemistry, and subsequently held positions as a research chemist at Vick Chemical Co. and Montefiore Hospital. Mr. Innis joined the Congress of Racial Equality’s (CORE’s) Harlem chapter in 1963. In 1967, Innis was appointed the first resident fellow at the Metropolitan Applied Research Center. Innis was elected national director of CORE in 1968. From this post he has drafted the Community Self-Determination Bill, toured seven African countries, rescued a Bronx Catholic school, exposed the Tawana Brawley hoax, run for mayor of NYC, established a community school, organized an anti-drug campaign, and been involved or served in several organizations.
Wendy Kaminer, a lawyer and social critic, writes about law, liberty, feminism, religion, and popular culture. Her latest book is Free for All: Defending Liberty in America Today. A former Guggenheim fellow, she is the author of six previous books, including: Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety, True Love Waits: Essays and Criticism, It’s All the Rage: Crime and Culture, I’m Dysfunctional, You’re Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashion, and A Fearful Freedom: Women’s Flight from Equality. Her articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, The American Prospect, Dissent, The Nation, and Newsweek. She is a columnist for Free Inquiry. Her commentaries have aired on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition.
Professor Leonard P. Liggio is the executive vice president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation; former president, former treasurer, and current senior vice president of the Mont Pèlerin Society; former president, former executive vice president, and current Distinguished Senior Scholar at the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University; research professor at George Mason University Law School; executive director at the Freedom Project and the International Freedom Project; former president of the Philadelphia Society; and former vice president at the Cato Institute. He is also a former member of the history faculty at the City College of New York (CUNY) and former member of the faculty of the American Studies Program, State University of New York–Old Westbury. He is former editor-in-chief of Literature of Liberty and serves on the editorial board, of the American Journal of Jurisprudence,Cato Journal, and Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines. Liggio serves as board member at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and formerly was board member at the Acton Institute. He is president of American Friends of the Institute of Economic Affairs (London) and chairman of the board of the Institute for Economic Studies–Europe (Paris and Aix-en-Provence). He edited the “Special Issue on Religion and Economics” of the Journal des Econmistes et des Etudes Humaines (volume 13, numero 2/3, juin-septembre 2003).
Herbert I. London is the John M. Olin Professor of Humanities at New York University. He was responsible for creating the Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 1972, and acted as its dean until 1992. In addition, he is the president of the Hudson Institute, a world-famous think tank with headquarters in Washington, D.C., and he is a tenured professor of social studies at New York University. London is a noted social critic whose work has appeared in every major newspaper and journal in the country including such diverse publications as Commentary, National Review, American Spectator, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, The Washington Times, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Modern Age, Los Angeles Times, and Forbes. He is the author and editor of 21 books, with his most recent being Decade of Denial. London is presently a syndicated columnist with Knight-Ridder. He is a contributing editor for St. Croix Review, The Social Critic,and American Arts Quarterly, and is the publisher of American Outlook.
Muriel Morisey is an Associate Professor of Law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University. Professor Morisey has also served as Legislative Counsel of the ACLU and at the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. While earning her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, Professor Morisey held senior staff positions with then-United States Representatives Walter Fauntroy and the late Shirley Chisholm. Professor Morisey also served on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment investigation of President Richard Nixon. Professor Morisey has been extensively involved in the work of educational and other nonprofit organizations throughout her career. She has served on the National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union and the boards of the ACLU Philadelphia Chapter, the Pennsylvania affiliate, and the Massachusetts affiliate. Professor Morisey is also a former Trustee of Radcliffe College (her alma mater) and, prior to joining the Temple Law faculty, she was a member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education faculty and Director of Policy Analysis in the University's Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.
Steven Pinker is Harvard College Professor and Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Until 2003, he taught in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. He conducts research on language and cognition, writes for publications such as the New York Times, Time, and Slate, and is the author of seven books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, Words and Rules, The Blank Slate, and most recently, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature.
Since 1973, Milt Rosenberg has hosted WGN Radio’s Extension 720, a two-hour program dealing with topics ranging from politics to financial investment to entertainment to religion to foreign policy to literature. Past guests of note include: Margaret Thatcher, Colin Powell, Charlton Heston, William Safire, Bill Murray, Betty Friedan, Zbignew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter, Norman Mailer, Henry Kissinger, and many members of the U.S. Congress. For the past five years, Talkers magazine has included Rosenberg in its “Heavy Hundred” list of the top radio personalities in the country, citing him as the “nation’s leading author interviewer.” Outside of his radio show, Rosenberg is a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, where he has served as the director of the doctoral program in social and organizational psychology. Prior to coming to Chicago, he taught at Yale University, Ohio State University, and Dartmouth College. A prolific author of numerous articles, both in professional journals and political magazines, he has also authored or co-authored a number of books, including: Attitude Organization and Change, Theories of Cognitive Consistency, Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy, Beyond Conflict and Containment: Critical Studies of Military and Foreign Policy, and Vietnam and the Silent Majority.
Dr. Candace de Russy is a nationally recognized expert on education and cultural issues. A former college professor with a doctorate in French from Tulane University, she was appointed to the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy by President George W. Bush in 2002. De Russy has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York since 1995. In 2004, she was named a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., where she focuses on academic standards, assessment, governance, strategic planning, accountability, funding and other issues in higher education. De Russy is currently a member of the Trustees Council of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Scholars. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Independent Women’s Forum. A contributing editor at Crisis magazine, De Russy has been published in The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Post, among other publications. She was featured in segments on 60 Minutes and The O’Reilly Factor and has been the subject of feature articles in The New York Times, the Associated Press, and Village Voice.
John R. Searle is the Mills Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Language at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a former lecturer in philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford. Searle possesses honorary degrees from the University of Lugano (2003), University of Turin (2000), University of Bucharest (2000), University of Wisconsin (1994), and Adelphi University (1993). A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1977, he has written numerous books, including: The Campus War (1971), Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind (1983), The Construction of Social Reality (1995), The Mystery of Consciousness (1997), Mind, Language and Society, Philosophy in the Real World (1998), La Universidad Desafiada, el Attaque Postmodernista en las Humanidades y las Ciencias Sociales (2002), and Consciousness and Language (2002). Searle has held visiting posts, given special lectures and participated in conferences in many worldwide. He has won various prizes and awards, including: Jovellanos Prize, Spain 2000; Jean Nicod Prize, France, 2000; Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California at Berkeley, 1999; Homer Smith Award, New York University School of Medicine, 1993; Fulbright Award, 1983 and 1985; Faculty Research Lecturer, University of California at Berkeley, 1987; Reith Lecturer, BBC, London, 1984; Guggenheim Fellow, 1975–76.
Ricky Silberman is a cofounder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Independent Women’s Forum. Silberman is also the former vice chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Christina Hoff Sommers is the W.H. Brady Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. She has been a professor of philosophy at Clark University since 1980. She specializes in ethics and contemporary moral theory and has published many scholarly articles in such journals as the Journal of Philosophy and The New England Journal of Medicine. Sommers became known to the wider public as the author of The War Against Boys and Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women. Her articles have appeared in such places as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, New Republic, Chicago Tribune, and Times Literary Supplement. Sommers has appeared on The McLaughlin Group, Nightline, The CBS Evening News, Crossfire, Eye to Eye, 20/20, Inside Politics, Equal Time, Politically Incorrect, and The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss such issues as the future of feminism and gender bias in the schools. Sommers earned her B.A. at New York University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy at Brandeis University in 1979.
It is with deep sadness that FIRE announces the passing of an invaluable member of its Board of Advisors, David Brudnoy. Not only was Mr. Brudnoy a radio talk show host, television commentator, teacher, and writer, but to many people at FIRE he was also a friend. He will be sorely missed.
For 18 years, Mr. Brudnoy hosted one of New England’s most influential and popular radio programs. Described by The Boston Globe as “the talk-radio host for people who didn’t like talk radio,” he loved the free exchange of ideas and was known for treating guests with dignity and respect.
Mr. Brudnoy taught history, philosophy, politics, and communication at Harvard University, Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, and the University of Rhode Island. His articles were printed in The New York Times, National Review, New Republic, The Japan Times, The Saturday Evening Post, The Journal of American History, TV Guide, and Boston Magazine. He was honored with the first Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1996 March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Awards ceremony. His memoir, Life Is Not a Rehearsal, was published by Doubleday in 1997. That same year, Mr. Brudnoy won the Freedom of Speech Award from the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts and was nominated for the prestigious Marconi Award for “Personality of the Year in a Major Market.”
Mr. Brudnoy’s contributions to FIRE were invaluable. He was a committed and consistent defender of liberty, and his insight and intellect helped FIRE from the beginning. FIRE Vice Chairman and cofounder Harvey Silverglate noted in The Boston Phoenix that “Brudnoy really believed the best thing about this country was that everyone could have a point of view and not be afraid to express it—in freedom.”
FIRE is not alone in mourning Mr. Brudnoy. Tributes to Mr. Brudnoy’s life have spanned the political spectrum, with Senator Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and many others paying their respects. In a particularly eloquent tribute, Governor Romney told the Globe: “The two most important days in your life are the day you’re born and the day you leave.... On the day you leave, you measure your life on two things—what you’re taking with you and what you’re leaving behind. What he’s taking with him is a soul that’s pure, honest, and full of character and integrity. What he leaves behind is literally millions of listeners who have gotten new perspectives and insights from his unprejudiced voice.”
Mr. Brudnoy passed away on the evening of Thursday, December 9, at Massachusetts General Hospital after an arduous battle with cancer. FIRE expresses its heartfelt sympathy to his friends, family, and loved ones.
