January 7, 2016 John Sexton Named Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance

John Sexton, the immediate past president of New York University and a legal scholar, has arrived at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress to serve as the Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance. Sexton’s tenure began on Jan. 4.

Sexton is the past president of New York University (NYU) and also the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law. He is dean emeritus of the NYU School of Law, where he served as dean for 14 years. He joined the law school's faculty in 1981, was named the school's dean in 1988, and was designated the university's president in 2001. Under Sexton's administration, the university expanded to open campuses in Shanghai and Abu Dhabi and oversaw an increase in student applications.

While at the Kluge Center, Sexton will convert into a book a series of essays he wrote during his time as president of NYU. According to Sexton, the essays are reflections on an array of topics relevant to the place and promise of higher education.

The essays “range from the role of universities as places of sanctuary for civil discourse, to my vision of the global network university, to meeting the pressing challenge of our time to provide meaningful access, worldwide, to a college education,” Sexton said. At the close of his tenure, Sexton will deliver a public lecture.

Sexton is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a past member of the executive committee of the Association of American Universities. He is past chair of the American Council on Education, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities of New York. He has served as the chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2003-2006) and chair of the Federal Reserve Systems Council of Chairs (2006). He served as a board member for the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) (1996-1998), and was founding chair of the board of NASD Dispute Resolution (2000-2002). He also serves on the board of the Institute of International Education. While dean of the NYU School of Law, he was president of the Association of American Law Schools.

Sexton is a co-author of “Civil Procedure: Case and Materials” a leading legal casebook. He also is the author of “Redefining the Supreme Court’s Role: A Theory of Managing the Federal Court System” in addition to several other books, numerous chapters, articles and Supreme Court briefs. His most recent book, “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game,” published in March 2013, is based on an undergraduate seminar he taught at NYU.

Emeritus Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, prior to his retirement, appointed Sexton to the Kluge chair. Sexton will be at the Kluge Center for five months, until the end of May.

The Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance is a distinguished senior research position in residence at the Library. Its holder is appointed by the Librarian of Congress. Using research facilities and services at the Library of Congress, the scholar conducts research that focuses on the development of government in the United States and on domestic matters of, and among, the three branches of government.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best thinkers to stimulate and energize one another, to distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources, and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For more information about the Kluge Center visit www.loc.gov/kluge.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s first-established federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 160 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov.