On May 18, at the 96th Connecticut College Commencement ceremony, Noah Feldman will deliver the keynote address to the Class of 2014. Feldman is the Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, as well as a Senior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard. According to his Harvard biography, he specializes in constitutional studies with an emphasis on the relationship between law and religion, constitutional design and the history of legal theory. Feldman is also a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Bloomberg View.
In 2003, Feldman was a senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq. He therefore advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the drafting of the nation’s interim constitution.
Drew Majkut ’14 said, “I am super excited to have the opportunity to hear Noah Feldman speak at our commencement. I really enjoyed last year’s speaker [Howard Gordon], but I think that Mr. Feldman brings an element to the table that has been impressed upon us during our four years at Conn: integrity. What is missing from his bio on the Harvard website is that, yes, he did serve under the CPA in Iraq, but that he resigned from the position because of ethical objections of how he viewed the American approach to rebuilding the Iraqi economy and political system.”
Majkut explained that Feldman went on to write one of his books, What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building, on the matter. “He discusses the ethical obligations that a state has when rebuilding another state. Even when we mean well, the results will almost always be suboptimal.”
Feldman has authored six other books: Cool War: The Future of Global Competition; Constitutional Law, Eighteenth Edition; The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Supreme Court Justices; The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State; Divided by God: America’s Church-State Problem and What We Should Do About It; and After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy.
Feldman is the brother of Simon Feldman, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College. When asked about his relationship with the College, Feldman noted, “I’ve spoken at Conn once before. But my only other relationship is through my brother Simon, who loves the College and the students and talks about both all the time.”
Professor Simon Feldman said, “I was surprised and thrilled to find out that my brother, Noah, was asked to be our commencement speaker. I didn’t even know he had been nominated! One of the many things I love about my brother is that it can be hard to predict what he will say at any given moment – but what he has to say is always interesting, often provocative and, generally, pretty damn entertaining. I’m really looking forward to having him on our campus.”
Having given one prior commencement address at Kalamazoo College a couple of years ago, Noah Feldman said, “[I enjoy] the chance to be part of the joy of the graduates and their families, as well as their introspection about their futures.”
In the past four years, the Class of 2014 has witnessed a wide array of keynote commencement speakers. In 2011, Clark University Research Professor of International Development, Community and Environment Cynthia Enloe ’60 spoke at the 93rd Centennial Commencement. The following year, the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London, Louis B. Susman, delivered the speech. Last year, an Emmy-winning television writer and producer, Howard Gordon, was the College’s choice.
These choices have been received with varying degrees of success by the student body, and, in particular, the graduating class at hand. One of the largest qualms students have expressed in the past is a lack of diversity represented by the speakers. While Feldman is a white male, he brings with him a different area of expertise than previous speakers.
Majkut spoke to the choice of Feldman as opposed to both past years’ speakers and commencement keynote speakers in general: “While he isn’t the flashy, sexy pick that most colleges try and get for commencement speakers, I think that his international experiences, depth of knowledge and ethical integrity will result in a more meaningful speech that the Class of 2014 will remember long after we graduate.”
When asked about his expectations for the commencement ceremony on May 18, Feldman quipped, “I am hoping for good weather! If I can say something that adds to the experience, that will make me happy. If not, everyone will have fun anyway.” •
