Dear President Schapiro and Provost Linzer,

The undersigned write you in the hope that lessons can be learned from the questionable process and unfortunate outcome of the recent search for Buffett leadership. That search, begun last year, ended on April 14, 2016 with the cancellation of the appointment of retired Lt. Gen. and former ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry as the Buffett’s Executive Director.

In our view, matters as important as the selection of a director for Northwestern’s premier institute in humanistic and social scientific global studies must be transparent and must incorporate Buffett and relevant faculty at their core. Members of the Buffett Institute overwhelmingly hail from the humanities and social sciences. For many years now, we have been successfully invested in making the Buffett a prime site for scholarly exchange at Northwestern. This is why we believe that any designs for the Buffett’s future should reflect to as great an extent possible faculty input and vision.

We hope that you will keep in mind the outcry of both faculty and students at an appointment, announced in November 2015, that provoked widespread and deep reservations. As is the case for the schools and colleges dedicated to knowledge and teaching at Northwestern, the Buffett and its considerable funds must be overseen by a bona fide scholar with deep university experience. Its direction should be determined by the same faculty who, as its administrators and collaborators, have made it what it is today. First and foremost, considerations of the Buffett’s future must be an occasion to embody the research and teaching that constitute our mission.

We look forward to continuing to engage with you on this matter.

Sincerely,

Jorge Coronado

Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Spanish & Portuguese Co-Director, Andean Cultures and Histories, Buffett Institute for Global Studies

Jacqueline Stevens

Professor, Department of Political Science
Director, Deportation Research Clinic, Buffett Institute

Frances Aparicio
Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Director, Latina and Latino Studies Program

Martha Biondi
Professor of African American Studies and History Chair, African American Studies

César Braga-Pinto
Associate Professor of Brazilian Studies
Director of Graduate Studies, Spanish and Portuguese

Laura Brueck
Associate Professor and Chair of Asian Languages and Cultures

Sherwin Bryant
Associate Professor, African American Studies & History Co-Director, Andean Cultures and Histories, Buffett Institute

Micaela di Leonardo
Professor, Department of Anthropology

Jeanne Dunning
Professor, Department of Art Theory and Practice

Stephen F. Eisenman
Professor, Department of Art History
Past President, Faculty Senate, 2008-10; 2013-15 Member, Global University Study Group, Buffet Institute

Hannah Feldman
Associate Professor, Department of Art History

Doris Garraway
Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian

Paul Gillingham
Director of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Associate Professor of History

Michal P. Ginsburg
Professor of French and Comparative Literature

Nina Gurianova
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Core Faculty, Comparative Literary Studies Program

Mark Hauser
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Katherine E. Hoffman
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Affiliated Faculty, Buffett Institute

Ian Hurd
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science Director, International Studies Program, Weinberg

Matthew Johnson
Professor, Department of Anthropology

Sylvester Johnson
Associate Professor of African American Studies and Religious Studies, Department of African American Studies
Director, Center for African American History

Lucille Kerr
Professor of Latin American Literature & Culture, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Christina Kiaer
Associate Professor, Department of Art History

Jörg Kreienbrock
Associate Professor, Department of German

Cristina Lafont
Professor, Department of Philosophy
Director, Critical Theory Cluster, The Graduate School

Robert Launay
Professor, Department of Anthropology

Judy Ledgerwood
Alice Welsh Skilling Professor, Department of Art Theory and Practice Director of Graduate Studies

William Leonard
Abraham Harris Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology Director of Global Health Studies

Michael Loriaux
Co-Founder and former Co-Director, French Interdisciplinary Group Director, Paris Program in Critical Theory, Literature, and the Media Professor, Department of Political Science

Emily Maguire
Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
Professor and Chair, Department of Art Theory & Practice

Charles Mills
John Evans Professor in Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, Department of Philosophy

Robert Orsi
Professor of Religion, Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies, Department of Religious Studies

Anna Parkinson
Associate Professor, Department of German
Affiliate of the German Interdisciplinary Group, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program and the Critical Theory Cluster

Nasrin Qader
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of French and Italian

Janice Radway
Walter Dill Scott Professor, Department of Communication Studies

Michael Rakowitz
Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Art Theory and Practice

Lane Relyea
Associate Professor, Department of Art Theory and Practice

Alessia Ricciardi
Professor, Department of French and Italian

Sylvie Romanowski
Professor, Department of French and Italian

David Schoenbrun
Associate Professor, Department of History

Shalini Shankar
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and the Asian American Studies Program

Laurie Shannon
Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English Literature, Department of English

Nitasha Sharma
Associate Professor, Department of African American Studies, and the Asian American Studies Program

Domietta Torlasco
Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian

Alessandra Visconti
Lecturer, Department of French and Italian

Samuel Weber
Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities, Department of German Director, Paris Program in Critical Theory

Mary Weismantel
Professor of Anthropology
Interim Director, Gender and Sexuality Studies

William N. West
Chair of Classics
Associate Professor of English, Classics, and Comparative Literary Studies

Ivy Wilson
Associate Professor, Department of English; Director, The Program in American Studies

Barry Scott Wimpfheimer
Director, The Crown Family Center for Jewish & Israel Studies Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies and Law

Jessica Winegar
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Jane Winston
Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian

Jared Wunsch
Professor, Department of Mathematics

Ji-Yeon Yuh
Associate Professor, the Asian American Studies Program and the Department of History

Paola Zamperini
Associate Professor, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures

Rebecca Zorach
Mary Jane Crowe Professor, Department of Art History