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DER WE C1

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

A private university in the public service

 

Office of the President

ELMER HOLMES BOBST LIBRARY
70 WASHINGTON SQUARE SOUTH, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10012

March 11, 1980

Mr. Leonard Bernstein
One West 72nd Street
New York, New York 10023

Dear Mr. Bernstein:

We are writing to invite you to speak before the combined
communities of The Rockefeller University and New York
University next fall. On that occasion we will inaugurate
an exciting cooperative program to encourage increased
dialogue between scientists and humanists.

Recently, members of the faculty and administration of The
Rockefeller University have been reflecting on the value
of emphasizing the humanities in an institution devoted
primarily to scientific research. New York University is
carrying on a program committed to reinvigorating the
humanities as a central dimension of the nation's intel-
lectual life. Because of our converging goals, the two
Universities have agreed to develop a series of joint
activities in the humanities. This cultural dialogue may
also have wide implications for the future of higher
education in New York City. .

While knowing that you are heavily committed, we urge you
to give special consideration to the importance of this
event and to accept our invitation to speak. If you
agree, the lecture (including demonstration, if you wish)
would be on a topic of your own choosing, and could take
place on a date to suit you, on a weeknight between Octo-
ber 26 and December 15, 1980 at Caspary Auditorium, The
Rockefeller University, a hall with excellent acoustics,
seating 500. Of course, we would avoid Election Day,
Thanksgiving, and days on which the Universities are not
sitting. A small dinner in your honor would precede the
lecture, and an honorarium would be provided.

Your friend David J. Oppenheim, Dean of the New York
University School of the Arts, is enthusiastic about the
possibility of this lecture. He has promised to press our
case with you.

A:
Mr. Leonard Bernstein March 11, 1980
Page Two

Leslie Tuttleton Berlowitz, Director of the New York
University Humanities Council, will be in touch with you
to coordinate the specific details of the evening.

Sincerely yours,

Goa Serr

shua Lederberg Ivan L. Bennett, Jr., M.D.
resident Acting President
The Rockefeller University New York University