This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, will speak on “Civil Liberties and National Security” 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Oechsle Hall.
Free and open to the public, the talk commemorates the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and will deal with issues arising from them. It is sponsored by the Ethics Project, which promotes sound moral analysis and reasoning and their application to a full range of contemporary problems. Funding is provided by an endowment established by the late Louise M. Olmsted and her husband, Robert Olmsted.
Strossen, professor of law at New York Law School, has written, lectured, and practiced extensively in the areas of constitutional law, civil liberties, and international human rights. Since 1991, she has served as president of ACLU, the first woman to head the nation’s largest and oldest civil liberties organization.
The National Law Journal has twice named Strossen one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In 1996, Working Woman Magazine listed her among the “350 Women Who Changed the World 1976-1996.” In 1997, Upside Magazine included Strossen in the “Elite 100: 100 Executives Leading The Digital Revolution.” In 1998, Vanity Fair Magazine included Strossen in “America’s 200 Most Influential Women.” In 1999, Ladies Home Journal included Strossen in “America’s 100 Most Important Women.”
Since becoming ACLU president, Strossen has made more than 200 public presentations per year before diverse audiences, including on approximately 500 campuses and in many foreign countries. She comments frequently on legal issues in the national media, having appeared on virtually every national news program. She is a regular guest on ABC’s “Politically Incorrect” with Bill Maher and has been a monthly columnist for two Web-zines and a weekly commentator on the Talk America Radio Network. Last year, Strossen made her professional theater debut as the guest star in Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues, during a week-long run at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Strossen’s writings, which include approximately 250 published works, have been published in many scholarly and general interest publications. Her book, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights (Scribner 1995), was named by the New York Times a “notable book” of 1995 and was republished in October 2000 by NYU Press, with a new introduction by the author. Her co-authored book, Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties (N.Y.U. Press 1995), was named an “outstanding book” by Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in North America.
In 1986, Strossen became one of the first three women to receive the U.S. Jaycees’ “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” Award; she was also the first American woman to win the Jaycees International’s “The Outstanding Young Persons Of the World” Award. Strossen has received honorary doctor of law degrees from the University of Rhode Island, the University of Vermont, San Joaquin College of Law, Rocky Mountain College, and the Massachusetts School of Law. Other awards include the “Women of Distinction” award from the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, The Media Institute’s Freedom of Speech Award, and the Free Speech Coalition’s “Freedom Isn’t Free Award.” She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Strossen graduated from Harvard in 1972 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated magna cum laude in 1975 from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of Harvard Law Review. Before becoming a law professor, she practiced law for nine years in her hometown of Minneapolis as well as in New York.
Strossen is married to Eli M. Noam, professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and founding director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. They have residences in Manhattan and Kent Lakes, N.Y.
For more information on Strossen’s visit, contact George Panichas, professor and head of philosophy, at x5165.