John Sexton

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John Sexton is the fifteenth President of New York University, having held this position since 2002. Prior to that, he served as Dean of the NYU School of Law, one of the top five law schools in the country according to U.S. News and World Report. He is also currently the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Sexton holds a B.A. in History (1963), an M.A. in Comparative Religion (1965), and a Ph.D. in History of American Religion (1978) from Fordham University, as well as a J.D. (1979) from Harvard Law School. In 2005, Sexton received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University. He clerked with Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, and is a former president of the Association of American Law Schools. According to a speech given by Sexton in late-September 2001 at NYU School of Law, Berger was known to refer to Sexton as his "red clerk," connoting Sexton's supposed liberal tendencies.

He co-authored (along with John Cound, Jack Friedenthal, and Arthur Miller) a textbook on Civil Procedure which has become the most widely used legal textbook on any subject, and is used by two-thirds of law students in the United States.

An avid proponent of interscholastic debate, Sexton counts his early job as a teacher and debate coach at a secondary school in New York as among his most profound educational experiences. He is currently a leader in the Urban debate league movement, seeking to bring debate activities to underserved communities in America's urban areas through ALOUD, the Associated Leaders of Urban Debate. Sexton is one of the few presidents of a major research university to actively teach; he takes the time to instruct various undergraduate honors seminars throughout the school year.

Sexton has been both praised and criticized in his short tenure as president of New York University. He took over as president of NYU as the university was growing faster than ever. Under Sexton, NYU became Princeton Review's number one "dream school," and has begun an ambitious campaign to increase the university's endowment. The number of prospective students applying and attending NYU are at the highest point in its history. The increasing student body has sparked resistance in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, as community members have been upset over NYU's rapid expansion. In addition Sexton has continuously battled with organized labor in contract talks with both adjunct professors and graduate assistants. In fall of 2005, Sexton's decision not to negotiate a second contract with the Graduate Student Organizing Committee sparked a strike among graduate assistants. In April 2006, Sexton reaffirmed his decision, noting, "Do not expect the university to change its position this decade or next decade." [link]

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External links

Sexton teaches two classes to undergraduates: "The Supreme Court and Religion" and "Baseball as a Road to God"

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