Courage in Public Scholarship Award
The Award was envisioned in 2014 at the conclusion of NSSR/TCDS’s Democracy & Diversity Summer Institute in Wroclaw, Poland, by a group of alumni of NSSR/TCDS now living and working in Europe. They discussed the meaning of the New School academic experience that had shaped their personal and professional lives: its openness to others, its critical approach, its intellectual engagement, and its culture of dare-to-know and dare-to-discuss. Guided by The New School’s commitment to scholarly excellence, civic engagement, and ethical commitment to the larger world, they formed the NSSR-Europe Collective. Drawing on the ethos of the University in Exile and the conviction that especially in dark times universities carry a special responsibility vis-à-vis society, the Collective proposed to establish an annual tribute to exceptionally audacious thinkers, teachers, and doers through an annual Courage in Public Scholarship Award.
To date, the Award has been conferred upon six recipients: Ann Barr Snitow (2015), Agnes Heller (2016), Ewa Letowska (2017), Jan Tomasz Gross (2019), Osman Kavala (2021), and Elzbieta Matynia (2023).
