President George W. Bush and Laura Bush stand with 2005 National Humanities Medal recipient Alan Kors.

Alan Charles Kors is an intellectual historian, specializing in the French Enlightenment. He holds the George H. Walker Endowed Term Chair in History at the University of Pennsylvania. Image File history File linksMetadata Alan_kors. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Alan_kors. ... ... Warehouse District in Walkers Point George H. Walker (October 22, 1811 – September 20, 1866) was an American trader and politician who helped found the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ... The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the moniker used by the university itself ) is a private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

A self-described conservative with libertarian leanings, he is known for his outspoken views on a number of subjects. Kors has frequently advocated the end of academic speech codes and has called for color-blind admissions at public universities. He has joined with the National Rifle Association, in an amicus brief by Academics for the Second Amendment that he signed, in advocating gun rights and an end to gun restrictions which he views as unconstitutional.

Kors has also been active as an expert in academic freedom since his arrival at Penn. In the 1993 "water buffalo incident," he defended Eden Jacobowitz against charges that he racially harassed a group of black sorority sisters. In the very early morning hours, the sorority was celebrating loudly just outside the dorms. Multiple students had yelled from their windows, in various ways, for the sorority to cease. When the police later came to question students, Jacobowitz freely admitted that he yelled, "Shut up, you water buffalo." The sorority members eventually dropped the charges. Academic freedom is the freedom of teachers, students, and academic institutions to pursue knowledge wherever it may lead, without undue or unreasonable interference. ... The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the moniker used by the university itself ) is a private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... An infamous event at the University of Pennsylvania was the racially charged Water Buffalo Incident. ... An infamous incident at the University of Pennsylvania is the so-called Water Buffalo Incident. ...

Kors co-founded---with civil libertarian Harvey A. Silverglate---and is currently the chairman of the Board of Directors of The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). He is a frequent contributor to Reason magazine. The FIRE logo. ...

In 1992 President George Herbert Walker Bush named him to Council of the National Endowment of the Humanities. He was confirmed by the United States Senate and served on the committee for six years. Seal of the Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ...

Early in 2005, George Herbert Walker, great-grandson of Bush oil dynasty founder, George H. Walker, gifted $1 million to the University of Pennsylvania in order to establish the George H. Walker Endowed Term Chair. The University of Pennsylvania appointed Kors as its recipient.

In 2005 President George W. Bush awarded him the National Humanities Medal for his "scholarship, devotion to the Humanities, and...defense of academic freedom." 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities. ...

Books

• The Shadow University: The Betrayal Of Liberty On America's Campuses by Alan Charles Kors (Author), Harvey A. Silverglate (Author) ISBN 0060977728 (1999)
• Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700: A Documentary History (Middle Ages Series) by Alan Charles Kors (Editor), Edward Peters (Editor) ISBN 0812217519
• Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (4 vol. set) by Alan Charles Kors (Editor) ISBN 0195104331 (2002)
• Atheism in France, 1650-1729: The Orthodox Sources of Disbelief by Alan Charles Kors (Author) ISBN 0691055750 (1990)
• D'Holbach's Coterie: An Enlightenment in Paris by Alan Charles Kors (Author) ISBN 0691052247 (1976)

External link

• Foundation for Individual Rights in Education