Last updated on: 5/29/2008 | Author: ProCon.org

Ira Glasser, MS Biography

Title:
Former Executive Director of the ACLU
Position:
Pro to the question "Is the ACLU Good for America?"
Reasoning:

“I love what the ACLU stands for and what it has provided me: an opportunity that very few people ever have to spend one’s worklife fulfilling a teenage dream.”

Jan./Feb. 2001
Theoretical Expertise Ranking:
    Experts
Individuals with PhDs and JDs or equivalent advanced degrees in fields relevant to the ACLU. Also top-level government officials (such as foreign leaders, US presidents, Founding Fathers, Supreme Court Justices, members of legislative bodies, cabinet members, military leaders, etc.) with positions relevant to the ACLU.
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • ACLU, National Executive Director, 1978-2001
  • New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Executive Director, 1970-1978
  • NYCLU, Associate Director, 1967-1970
  • Current magazine, Editor, 1964-1967
  • Founding member of the Board of Directors, Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • President of the Board of Directors, Drug Policy Alliance
  • Board of Advisors, Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE)
  • Recipient, Lifetime Achievement Award, Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union, 2003
  • Recipient, Justice in Action Award, Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 1999
  • Recipient, Malcolm, Martin, Mandela Award, Greater Baptist Trinity Church, 1993
  • Recipient, Allard K. Lowenstein Award, Park River Independent Democrats, 1981
  • Recipient, Silver Gavel Award, American Bar Association, 1972
  • Recipient, Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, New York Association of Black School Supervisors, 1971
Education:
  • MS, mathematics, Ohio State University
  • BS, mathematics, Queens College, 1959
Other:
  • Essayist on civil liberties principles and issues whose writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Village Voice, Harper’s, The New Republic, The Nation, and Christianity and Crisis, among other publications
Quoted in:
  1. Does the ACLU Support Child Pornography?