I hope you will not leave this conference without recording your resolve to establish this network and articulating a concrete timetable and a set of steps to put it into action. Now let me conclude with a challenge. The MacArthur Foundation is pleased to have contributed to the conference and I think it likely we will help respond to your plan of action. But the defense of academic freedom should not hinge on support from private foundations. Universities should take the lead as indeed the University of Chicago has today.
Most universities can afford to support a scholar in peril from time to time if they want to.
This is a leadership responsibility, which should not be delayed by internal bureaucratic processes. At the New School I held myself to that standard. I often made the commitment to help first and figured out later how we could cover the cost. Rapid response in the face of an emergency is essential. Almost always I found someone in the New School family who wanted to help financially, so the cost to the University was not great.