Amitai Etzioni, PhD - ACLU

Last updated on: 6/9/2008 | Author:

Amitai Etzioni, PhD Biography

Title:

Founder and Director of The Communitarian Network

Position:

Con to the question "Is the ACLU Good for America?"

Reasoning:

“Foes of the American Civil Liberties Union believe it has veered off to the left; friends argue that friends should not criticize a beleaguered champion of the freedom of speech. But only those who keep close tabs realize that the ACLU has gone silly… The ACLU trivializes rights and adds to litigiousness when it pursues many of these cases. Our liberties would be better protected if the ACLU would focus its zeal where it matters, rather than on drummed up, far out, or indefensible cases.”

Washington Monthly, 2002

Involvement and Affiliations:

Professor, George Washington University, 1980-present
Visiting Scholar in Sociology, Harvard University, 1996
Founder and Director, The Communitarian Network, 1990
Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Professorship (Visiting Professor), Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1987-1989
Professor, Columbia University, 1959-1980
Senior Adviser to Richard Harden, Special Assistant to the President, the White House, 1979-1980
Guest Scholar, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, 1978-1979
Chairman, Department of Sociology, Columbia University, 1969-1971
Associate Director, Bureau of Applied Social Research, 1969-1970
Senior Staff Member, Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University, 1961-1970
Director, Center for Policy Research, 1968
Recipient, John P. McGovern Award in Behavioral Sciences
Recipient, Seventh James Wilbur Award for Extraordinary Contributions to the Appreciation and Advancement of Human Values by the Conference on Value Inquiry
Recipient, Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Education:

PhD, Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, 1958
MA, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1956
BA, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1954

Other:

None found

Quoted in: