1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910464234503321

Autore

Sovern Michael I

Titolo

An improbable life : my sixty years at Columbia and other adventures / / Michael I. Sovern ; cover design by Catherine Casiliano

Pubbl/distr/stampa

[New York, New York] : , : A Columbia University Publication, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-231-53705-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (325 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

CasilianoCatherine

Disciplina

378.0092

Soggetti

College presidents - United States

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Table of Contents; List of Illustrations; Foreword by Walter F. Mondale; Foreword by Lee C. Bollinger; 1. A Shared Story; 2. Riot; 3. Rebuilding; 4. Aftermath; 5. Condoms and Wrinkle Cream; 6. Becoming a Dean; 7. Litigating: Tuskegee and the Supreme Court; 8. Provost; 9. Building an Administration; 10. Beginnings; 12. Columbia College; 12. Columbia Law School; 13. Minnesota; 14. Coming Home; 15. Publishing and Moonlighting; 16. Climbing Out of a Hole; 17. Ceremonies; 18. Doing the Right Thing: Coeducation, Charter Revision, and Columbia Football; 19. The Pulitzer Prizes

20. Reagan Versus Mondale 21. Disappointing My Peers: Divestiture and Earmarks; 22. City Corruption and Columbia Unrest; 23. A Sabbatical Leave and a Return to Celebrations; 24. Remembering Malcolm X and Working with the Community; 25. International Guests, Anniversaries, Dedications, and a New Campaign; 26. Closing a School; 27. Salman Rushdie at Risk; 28. Hail and Farewell; 29. The Last Year; 30. A Backward Glance; 31. There Is Life After a Presidency; 32. Shubert-a Great Gig; 33. Almost a Justice; 34. Sotheby's; 35. America's Challenge; 36. What Next?; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Columbia University began the second half of the twentieth century in decline, bottoming out with the student riots of 1968. Yet by the close of the century, the institution had regained its stature as one of the



greatest universities in the world.According to the New York Times, ?If any one person is responsible for Columbia's recovery, it is surely Michael Sovern." In this memoir, Sovern, who served as the university's president from 1980 to 1993, recounts his sixty-year involvement with the institution, as well as his experiences growing up poor in the South Bronx and attending