Jefferson LECTURE SERIES

Democracy and Liberal Education

James O. Freedman, President Emeritus, and President, Dartmouth College, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences

About James O. Freedman

Freedman served as President of Dartmouth College from 1987-1998. One of the highlights of Freedman's tenure in Dartmouth was the first comprehensive overhaul of the Dartmouth curriculum in more than 70 years in 1993. Also, he left the college with a considerably increased endowment and commitment to minority representation. In 1991, Freedman received the William O. Douglas First Amendment Freedom Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, and in 1996, the Frederic W. Ness Book Award of the Association of Law and Higher Education. He is the author of Crisis and Legitimacy: The Administrative Process and American Government (1978) and Idealism and Liberal Education (1996), where he examines the content and character of liberal education and offers a defense of affirmative action in higher education. He has also published numerous articles and reviews in scholarly journals in the United States, Great Britain, France, and Poland. In addition to his scholarly work, Freedman is active in civic and professional organizations. He served as chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Reappointment Commission in 1981 and as a member of the City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics from 1980 to 1982. He is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Antiquarian Society, the Board of Directors of the Houghton Mifflin Company, and the Borard of Trustees of the Jewish Publication Society of America. Freedman received his B.A. cum laude from Harvard in 1957 and his L.L.B. cum laude from Yale Law School in 1962.

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