Lee Bollinger

Lee C. Bollinger is an American legal scholar and former university president renowned for his expertise in First Amendment law and freedom of speech.

Bollinger served as dean of the University of Michigan Law School from 1987 to 1994, provost of Dartmouth College from 1994 to 1996, and president of the University of Michigan from 1996 to 2002. During his Michigan presidency, he defended the university's race-conscious admissions policies in the landmark Supreme Court cases Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the undergraduate point system was ruled unconstitutional while the law school's holistic approach was upheld as narrowly tailored to achieve diversity. From 2002 to 2023, he led Columbia University as its 19th president, overseeing significant expansions in global initiatives, research infrastructure, and enrollment while emphasizing the institution's role in fostering open inquiry.