Lee Carroll Bollinger was born on April 30,1946 and is an American lawyer and educator who is serving as the 19th and current president of Columbia University, where he is the Seth Low Professor of the University and a faculty member of Columbia Law School.
15 Facts About Lee Bollinger
Lee Bollinger was at the center of two notable United States Supreme Court cases regarding the use of affirmative action in admissions processes.
In July 2010, Bollinger was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York board of directors for 2011.
Lee Bollinger was raised there and in Baker City, Oregon.
Lee Bollinger spent a year as an exchange student in Brazil with AFS Intercultural Programs.
Lee Bollinger served as a law clerk to Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Chief Justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Lee Bollinger went on to join the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School in 1973, becoming a full professor in 1979, and dean of the school in 1987.
Lee Bollinger was appointed provost of Dartmouth College in 1994, before returning to the University of Michigan in 1996 as president.
Lee Bollinger assumed his current position as president of Columbia University in June 2002.
On October 19,2010, the Board of Trustees announced through a university-wide email that Lee Bollinger had agreed to continue as president for at least the next five years.
In 2003, after having served as president of the University of Michigan, Bollinger made headlines as the named defendant representing the University of Michigan in the Supreme Court cases Grutter v Bollinger and Gratz v Bollinger.
Lee Bollinger has been criticized for taking a neutral public position on controversies regarding the Middle East Languages and Cultures department and for placing the department in receivership.
Lee Bollinger has been the subject of criticism for his role in advocating the expansion of the university into the Manhattanville neighborhood and the possible use of eminent domain to help it seize property there.
President Lee Bollinger has lived in the Columbia President's House since February 2004, after the building underwent a $23 million renovation.
In November 2006, Lee Bollinger was elected to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, a term lasting for three years.