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FIRE Names David A. French as President
PHILADELPHIA, June 1, 2004—The Board of Directors of the Foundation for
Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) announces, with the deepest satisfaction,
the appointment of David A. French as FIRE's president. David will be behind
his desk at FIRE's office in Philadelphia by June 28, 2004. Alan Charles Kors,
FIRE's chairman, said, "This is an ideal pairing of an individual and an
organization, at a time of unprecedented opportunity."
David A. French, a native Kentuckian, graduated with honors from Harvard Law
School, was a lecturer at Cornell Law School, and has been a partner at Greenebaum,
Doll & McDonald, a 200-lawyer firm with offices in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
For the past four years, he has served as religious freedom counsel for the
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, has been the most active member of FIRE's
Legal Network, and has devoted himself pro bono to the civil liberties of college
students and professors.
He was the lead attorney both in FIRE's first major public case, a successful
defense of freedom of association at Tufts University, and in FIRE's recent
historic victory in federal court against the unconstitutional speech code at
Shippensburg University. He is the author of FIRE's Guide to Religious Liberty
on Campus. He is also the coauthor, with Harvey A. Silverglate, FIRE's
vice-chairman, and Greg Lukianoff, FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy,
of FIRE's forthcoming Guide to Free Speech on Campus.
"FIRE has worked wonderfully with David from the start," Kors noted.
"David is a nonpartisan defender of the individual rights of all students
and faculty," Kors added, "with an exemplary dedication to liberty,
free speech, legal equality, and rights of conscience not as means to advance
this or that particular agenda, but as ways of being human. I am delighted that
he will be FIRE's first president under our expanded Board of Directors. He
will bring us yet greater success and growth."
Silverglate observed, "I have had the pleasure and privilege of working
with David on some of FIRE's most important cases involving free speech, free
thought, and fair procedure. He has the rare gift of combining legal, ethical,
moral, and practical analysis seamlessly, and he is truly expert in shaping
honest arguments and strategies in the cause of liberty. David's skill and devotion
promise wonderful things for the next stage of FIRE's efforts to change the
campus culture on behalf of individual rights, liberty, and dignity."
David A. French, 35, is married to Nancy French. They have two children, Camille,
5, and Austin, 3.
CONTACT:
Alan Charles Kors, Chairman of the Board of Directors, FIRE: 215-717-3473; ack@thefire.org
Harvey A. Silverglate, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, FIRE: 617-661-9156;
has@thefire.org
David A. French: 215-717-3473; David.French@thefire.org
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