News: Slaughter ’80 to leave U. for D.C. think tank

By JAMES EVANS Staff Writer

Wilson School professor and former Wilson School dean Anne-Marie Slaughter ’80 will leave the University to become the next president of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The appointment would remove Slaughter from consideration for the University presidency, a position for which she was widely considered a front-runner — along with Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 — since the presidential search began last fall.

The University’s Presidential Search Committee is expected to make an announcement this spring. Katie Hall ’80, chair of both the Board of Trustees and the Search Committee, did not respond to a request for comment and has in the past declined to comment on the search.

The New America Foundation confirmed Slaughter’s appointment in a press release sent Wednesday night. She will leave the University but remain a professor emerita, according to the release, and work in the organization’s D.C. and New York offices.

Wilson School Dean Cecilia Rouse announced Slaughter’s departure in an email to all of the Wilson School’s undergraduate students Wednesday evening following the Foundation’s announcement.

The email also included a letter from Slaughter, who thanked the “extraordinary students,” “wonderful staff members” and “a faculty second to none.”

“But it is time for me to move one step closer to putting ideas into action,” her letter read. “I will always be grateful to Shirley Tilghman for bringing me to Princeton and to all of you for weaving together a community of mind and spirit that I have been proud to be part of. I will miss you all, but will not be far away.”

While Slaughter’s selection was announced Wednesday evening, she had confirmed her appointment to lead the New America Foundation to The New York Times earlier on Wednesday.

When contacted by The Daily Princetonian Wednesday afternoon, Rouse said she was not aware that Slaughter had confirmed her appointment to the Times.

Slaughter had been expected to co-teach WWS 501: “The Politics of Public Policy,” next fall along with Wilson School professors Amy Lerman and Grigore Pop-Eleches. As of press time Wednesday, she was still listed as a professor on the course description on the Registrar’s website.

Rouse declined to comment further at the time. She could not be reached as of press time following her email.

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Founded in 1999, the New America Foundation was most recently led by journalist Steve Coll, who last month was named the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. According to its website, the think tank is a “public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.”

According to the Foundation’s 990 form, Coll made $320,815 for the 2011 tax year. While Slaughter was dean of the Wilson School, she was paid $460,126 in 2009 and ranked among the University’s highest paid employees.

Slaughter last left the University in 2009, when she stepped down as dean of the Wilson School to join the State Department as director of policy planning, the first woman to hold that position. She also stepped down from New America’s board at the time, but rejoined in June 2011 when she left Washington to resume her academic career.

The New America Foundation is chaired by Eric Schmidt ’76, who also serves as the chairman of Google. Slaughter also serves as a consultant for Google, according to her biography on the University website.

Slaughter stirred national debate last June when she published an article titled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” in The Atlantic, in which she argued that societal factors continue to make it difficult for women to balance a fulfilling career with family life.