Jewish Studies Professorship Honors Eizenstat

Posted on April 1, 2008

A $1.5 million distinguished professorship in Jewish studies will be named in honor of Stuart E. Eizenstat ’64, lead negotiator for Holocaust reparation agreements and deputy secretary of the treasury during the Clinton administration.

The Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Distinguished Professorship in Jewish history and culture will be in the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies.

Eizenstat, who was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a Carolina student, graduated cum laude with a degree in political science. He received an honorary degree from the University and was Commencement speaker in 2000. He is a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Covington and Burling LLP.

David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and managing director of The Carlyle Group in Washington, D.C., one of the world’s largest private equity groups, has pledged $500,000 to help establish the UNC professorship.

Besides the Rubenstein gift, the professorship is being funded by additional contributions totaling more than $500,000 from many private donors and also will be eligible for $500,000 in matching funds from the N.C. Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund.

Rubenstein was deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy during the Carter administration, when Eizenstat was chief domestic policy adviser and executive director of the White House domestic policy staff.

“Stu’s service to our country and to the Jewish community are without parallel,” Rubenstein said.

Eizenstat helped acquire more than $8 billion in compensation from European companies for victims of the Holocaust and Nazi era. His book, Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor and the Unfinished Business of World War II, tells about securing property restitution, insurance payments and reclamation of looted art and bank accounts.

Eizenstat has held high-level positions during the past three Democratic presidencies.

When the Eizenstat professorship endowment is fully funded, the college will search for a rising scholar in modern Jewish history to fill the position.

Established in 2003, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies unites the public and UNC students and faculty who share a common passion for a deeper understanding of Jewish history, culture and thought. Drawing on college faculty from many disciplines, the center provides undergraduate academic minors in Jewish studies and modern Hebrew and sponsors a lecture series by leading experts in Jewish studies. Eizenstat serves on the center’s advisory board.

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Related coverage is available online:

• Jewish Studies Lectures to Probe Music, the South
  News report from December 2007
• Holocaust Expert Among Speakers in Jewish Studies Center’s Series
  News report from January 2006
• Gift to Center for Jewish Studies Made in Evans’ Name
  News report from April 2006

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