John Sexton

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Education and early career

Sexton holds a B.A. in History (1963), an M.A. in Comparative Religion (1965), a Ph.D. in History of American Religion (1978) from Fordham University, as well as a J.D. (1979) from Harvard Law School. In 2005, Sexton received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University, and from K.U. Leuven, Belgium. He clerked with Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger, and is a former president of the Association of American Law Schools.

Sexton co-authored "Civil Procedure: Cases and Materials" ISBN 0-314-25329-7 (along with John Cound, Jack Friedenthal, and Arthur R. Miller) a textbook on Civil Procedure which has become the most widely used legal textbook on any subject - used by two-thirds of law students in the United States.Fact|date=February 2007

An avid proponent of interscholastic debate, Sexton counts his early job as a teacher and debate coach at a secondary school in New York as among his most profound educational experiences. He is currently a leader in the Urban debate league movement, seeking to bring debate activities to underserved communities in America's urban areas through ALOUD, the Associated Leaders of Urban Debate. Sexton is one of the few presidents of a major research university to actively teach; he takes the time to instruct various undergraduate honors seminars throughout the school year.

President of NYU

Sexton has been both praised and criticized in his short tenure as president of New York University. He took over as president of NYU as the university was growing faster than ever. Under Sexton, NYU became The Princeton Review's number one "dream school", and has begun an ambitious campaign to increase the university's endowment.

The number of prospective students applying and attending NYU are at the highest point in its history.Fact|date=February 2007 The increasing student body has sparked resistance in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, as community members have been upset over NYU's rapid expansion.

Grad student labor dispute

In addition, Sexton has been involved in contract disputes with organized labor. The parties to these disputes include adjunct professors and graduate assistants. In fall of 2005, following a National Labor Relations Board ruling that graduate students are not laborers, Sexton decided not to negotiate a second contract with the Graduate Student Organizing Committee, sparking a strike among graduate assistants. In April 2006, Sexton reaffirmed his decision, noting, "Do not expect the university to change its position this decade or next decade." [http://www.nyunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/04/05/443360c9a9c3b?in_archive=1] These efforts have landed him on "New York" magazine's list of "2006's Most Influential New Yorkers" [http://www.newyorkmetro.com/news/features/influentials/16924/] , but also the #7 position on the "New York Press"'s list of 2006's "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers". [http://www.nypress.com/19/13/news&columns/loathsome.cfm]

Free speech dispute

Sexton has also been actively involved in a case with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). FIRE claims that NYU and Sexton wrongly (but constitutionally, since NYU is a private school) suppressed the display of Mohammad cartoons in April 2006, which were planned to accompany an academic discussion on the Islamic world's reaction to the Danish publication. The student organizers were given the choice of allowing the cartoons to be displayed or to allow non-students to attend. Sexton denied that any squelching of freedom of speech took place and insists that the university upheld the rights of the students. [http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/707.html]

Other activities

Sexton currently teaches two undergraduate classes: "The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses: Religion and State in America" and "Baseball as a Road to God". He appeared as a guest on "The Colbert Report" on December 6, 2006; during his time in studio, he gave Mr. Colbert one of his famous hugs.

Personal life

Thomas Oliphant's New York Times Bestseller "Praying for Gil Hodges" briefly mentions that Sexton grew up as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. In fact, Sexton is such a well-known baseball fan that he was an early participant in Rotissere (or Fantasy) Baseball, as a member of the Eddie Gaedel Baseball League. Sexton was one of a number of celebrities who reminisced about their baseball memories on the HBO Special Brooklyn Dodgers - Ghosts of Flatbush.

His wife, Lisa E. Goldberg, President of the Charles H. Revson Foundation, died on January 22,2007 at age 54.

References

* [http://www.nyu.edu New York University's Official Website]
* [http://www.nyu.edu/sexton-background.nyu New York University - About John Sexton]
* [http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/orgchart/board/sexton.html Federal Reserve Bank of New York - About John Sexton]
* [http://www.nyunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/04/05/443360c9a9c3b?in_archive=1 Washington Square News article]