Michael Sovern
| Michael I. Sovern | |
|---|---|
| 17th President of Columbia University | |
|
In office 1980–1993 |
|
| Preceded by | William J. McGill |
| Succeeded by | George Erik Rupp |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 1, 1931 Bronx, New York |
| Children | Douglas Sovern, Elizabeth Sovern, Jeffrey Sovern, Julie Sovern |
Michael Ira Sovern (born December 1, 1931) was the 17th president of Columbia University. He is currently the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. He is a noted legal scholar of Labor Law and an expert in employment discrimination.
Sovern was born in the Bronx to a dress businessman father and bookkeeper mother. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1949, summa cum laude from Columbia College in New York City in 1953, and Columbia Law School in 1955, receiving the prestigious John Ordronaux prize for having the highest academic average in his graduating class. Immediately after graduation, he joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota Law School and taught there until 1957.
He returned to Columbia as a visiting professor in 1957 and then joined the permanent faculty, becoming the youngest full professor in the University's history in 1960. He has mediated for New York City in transit worker contract negotiations, as well as firefighter and police disputes. From 1962 to 1966, he was the Research Director concerning Legal Restraints on Racial Discrimination in Employment for the Twentieth Century Fund. He was a law consultant for Time magazine for fifteen years (1965–1980). Sovern served as Special Counsel to Governor Brendan Thomas Byrne of New Jersey from 1974 to 1977. He was the co-chairman of the Second Circuit commission on Reduction of Burdens and Costs in Civil Litigation from 1977 to 1980, chairman of the New York City Charter Revision Commission from 1982 to 1983 and chairman of the State-City Commission on Integrity in Government in 1986.
During the 1968 strife on Columbia's campus, he served as chairman of the faculty executive committee which was credited with easing tensions. Sovern became Dean of the Law School in 1970 and was named Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost in 1979. He became President of Columbia University in 1980. While President, he quadrupled Columbia's endowment, recruited many prominent faculty and presided over the opening of the University's main undergraduate division, Columbia College, to women students. Perhaps most importantly, he greatly improved the university's financial health by balancing its budget and introducing strict budgetary controls. He stepped down as president in 1993 and returned to the faculty at Columbia Law School.
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