Professor Lee C. Bollinger
Lee C. Bollinger became Columbia University’s 19th President in 2002 and is the longest serving Ivy League president. He is Columbia’s first Seth Low Professor of the University, a member of the Law School faculty, and one of the nation’s foremost First Amendment scholars.
Professor Bollinger is widely published on legal and constitutional issues involving free speech and the press. His most recent books, co-edited with Geoffrey R. Stone, include: The Free Speech Century; National Security, Leaks and Freedom of the Press; and their latest volume, Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of Democracy.
In 2017, Professor Bollinger founded Columbia World Projects, an initiative that mobilises the University’s researchers and scholars to work with governments, organisations, businesses, and communities to tackle global challenges. In 2021 he launched the Columbia Climate School, the first new School at the University in 25 years.
Professor Bollinger serves on the Pulitzer Prize Board, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. From 2007 to 2012, he was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he also served as Chair from 2010 to 2012. He also served as a director of Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company), concluding his term in 2021.
As President of the University of Michigan, Professor Bollinger led the school’s landmark civil rights litigation in Grutter v. Bollinger, a Supreme Court decision that for the first time upheld the constitutional right of colleges and universities to engage in affirmative action to advance diversity in higher education.
Professor Bollinger is the recipient of ten honorary degrees and numerous awards.
Select publications
- Volume on the 50th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade (Title forthcoming), edited with Geoffrey Stone. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming fall 2023
- Affirmative Action: Its Intent, Its Impact, and Its Future, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming winter 2023
- Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of our Democracy, edited with Geoffrey Stone. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2022
- National Security, Leaks, and Freedom of the Press: The Pentagon Papers Fifty Years On, edited with Geoffrey Stone. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021
- Regardless of Frontiers: Global Freedom of Expression in a Troubled World, edited with Agnes Callamard. New York: Columbia University Press, 2021
- The Free Speech Century, edited with Geoffrey Stone. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
- Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
- Eternally Vigilant: Free Speech in the Modern Era, edited with Geoffrey Stone. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Paperback, 2003
Select awards
- Foreign Policy Association Medal, 2015
- US Navy Distinguished Public Service Award, 2013
- National Equal Justice Award, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 2003
- National Humanitarian Award, National Conference for Community and Justice, 2001
