David Leebron
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| David W. Leebron |
David W. Leebron is the current President of Rice University. He married Y. Ping Sun, a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Yonggen Sun of Shanghai, on October 7, 1990. They currently have two children, Daniel and Merissa, who attend St. John's School in Houston.
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[edit] Youth
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Norman D. Leebron in 1956, David Leebron was reared in Philadelphia. An Eagle Scout, Leebron was influenced by a steady stream of exchange students in his house - from Europe, Japan and Mexico - to develop an interest in international affairs. He later traveled to Germany as an exchange student himself. He speaks excellent German. [1]
[edit] Education
Leebron earned a Bachelors, summa cum laude, in history and science from Harvard College in 1976, and his JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1979, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review, notably working with the future Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts. [2]
[edit] Career
After graduating from Harvard Law, Leebron clerked for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler in Los Angeles at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He taught as a professor at the UCLA School of Law for a semester. Leebron then entered private practice from 1981 to 1983 as an associate at the New York firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. He then re-entered academia as a law professor at New York University and the director of NYU's International Legal Studies Program from 1983 to 1989. In 1989 he joined the faculty at Columbia Law School, where he became dean in 1996. He became President of Rice University in 2004. As a professor, he taught and published in areas of corporate finance, international economic law, human rights, privacy and torts. He was also a co-author of a textbook on human rights, though most recently has written about problems in international trade law. He is member of the New York State bar and, currently inactive, the Hawaii and Pennsylvania bars. He is on the Committee and the American Law Deans Association Board of Directors. He has served on the Association of American Law Schools Committee on Nominations. He is also a member of the American Law Institute (ex officio), the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Society of International Law, the board of directors of the IMAX Corporation and the editorial board of Foundation Press. [3]
[edit] Columbia University
As Dean of Columbia Law, Leebron roughly doubled the annual giving and the school's endowment, enhancing financial aid and support for students who enter public service. He was known for recruiting excelling junior faculty and holding a strong commitment to diversity throughout the faculty and in leadership positions.[4]
[edit] Conflict with FIRE
However, as Dean of Columbia Law, Leebron faced conflict with the academic civil liberties group FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) concerning a criminal law examination given by Cardozo Professor of Jurisprudence, George P. Fletcher. The question, titled Revenge of the Big Monkey, posed a hypothetical question of an anti-fertility cult member named David who was hunting pregnant women and killing their fetuses. Gaye, David's last victim, had been unsuccessfully seeking an abortion and after the attack had told doctors that she wanted to write a thank you letter to her assailant. Students, faculty and Leebron himself noted how the question could potentially create a hostile environment and made light of violence towards women. However, others claimed that no matter the content, the exam was protected academic material. While there was no formal reprimand, there was a lack of support for professor Fletcher.[5]
[edit] Rice University
Leebron became the 7th President of Rice University on June 30, 2004.
As president, Leebron has pushed the creation of a vision for the University, called the Vision for the Second Century [6]. Leebron set forth a plan for expansion, calling for opinions from the Rice community. [7]. The vision calls for expanding the undergraduate body to around 3800, adding two more colleges and expanding the current ones. The new students will mostly come from outside Texas, while the number of Texas students hold steady at around 1300 students.
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by S. Malcom Gillis |
President of Rice University 2004- |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
