The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute

Will Human Rights Survive? Seventy-five years ago, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Can we ensure its implementation today? by Navi Pillay in The Nation.  To mark Human Rights Day, on December 6, Roosevelt House presented an extraordinary program honoring Eleanor Roosevelt’s role in drafting and passing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event featured a…

Yalda Royan, left, with Fawzia Koofi and Asila Wardak, both members of the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan, held a media briefing on Dec. 11, 2023, at Roosevelt House, Hunter College, in Manhattan, after they met privately with the United Nations Security Council regarding a new assessment on Afghanistan. The women said it downplayed human rights considerations. JOHN PENNEY/PASSBLUE

Hunter College marked the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a powerful performance by actor and advocate Meryl Streep as Eleanor Roosevelt, who led the drafting of the declaration. The performance, staged as a dialogue with Navi Pillay, a former UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, took place at a star-studded reception at Hunter’s Roosevelt House Public Policy…

The advisory board, faculty, and staff of Roosevelt House mourn the passing of our beloved longtime advisor and generous benefactor, Hunter College alumna Dr. Anita Arrow Summers (’45). A well-known economist and Wharton School Professor, Dr. Summers graced many alumni reunions, provided much-valued expertise on forging the original Roosevelt House public policy curriculum, and funded faculty…

Eleanor Roosevelt would have been celebrating her 139th birthday. A supporter of workers rights, had she been alive she would have attended today’s dedication of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Memorial at Greene Street and Washington Place, in Manhattan. Her friend, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, witnessed the fire and later said “The New Deal was born that day.”

Below is the full story “Ms. Magazine Has Been Fighting for the ERA Since Its Inception” by Max Fallon-Goodwin published in Ms. Magazine on September 22, 2023. Ms. Magazine Has Been Fighting for the ERA Since Its Inception Hunter students Gretchen Wulfmeyer and Tabia Ahmed; Rep. Gloria Johnson; Sign4ERA petition leader Bella Ramirez; Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney; Feminist Majority president Eleanor…

Media Contacts: Ruth Milkman, 310-871-3055 William Herbert, 518-605-4402 NEW YORK, NY (August 31, 2023)— A new report released by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, State of the Unions 2023: A Profile of Organized Labor in New York City, New York State, and the United States, is a part of an annual publication series, documents recent trends in unionization patterns. As Figure 1a shows,…

[Caption: Carolyn B. Maloney officially ringing the Nasdaq Closing Bell in honor of the Equal Rights Amendment and Women’s Equality. Directly behind the podium from left to right pictured are Sally Greenspan (Downtown Women for Change), Lisa Sales (President of Virginia NOW), Asia Khan (founder of the Sign4ERA Initiative), Carolyn B. Maloney, Zakiya Thomas (President & CEO of ERA Coalition and…

Hunter College Political Science Professor Sandy Schram and his co-authors, Joe Soss (University of Minnesota), Richard C. Fording (University of Alabama), have won the Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award from the Public Policy Section of the American Political Science Association for their book Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberalism and the Persistent Power of Race. 2011. University of…

We mourn the loss of Richard Ravitch, an esteemed friend and counselor to Hunter College and an early member of the Roosevelt House Advisory Board. We are grateful that he was a generous and engaged member of the Hunter community. His philanthropy included support of the Hunter College Mother’s Day Scholarship Fund, in honor of his mother, an alumna. In all that he did during his remarkable life,…

Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab and Laurie M. Tisch, Founder and President of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, together announced the four winners of the 2023 Joan M. Tisch Community Health Prize during a ceremony on Wednesday, June 14 at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute — with each honoree taking home a $10,000 prize. Four winners — two nonprofit organizations and two…

Roosevelt House deeply mourns the loss of our extraordinary alumna, Eva Kastan Grove ’58, a cherished friend to Hunter College. Eva’s involvement at Hunter reflected her deep commitment to social justice and helping immigrants. Her transformative philanthropy included supporting Hunter’s Immigrant Student Success Center for students who are first-generation Americans or immigrants, as she was…

Roosevelt House’s Human Rights Program Director Jessica Neuwirth authored the Commentary: Commercial surrogacy bill further erodes the rights of women in The Times Union on June 6, 2023. Read Jessica Neuwirth’s Commentary: Commercial surrogacy bill further erodes the rights of women online.

For Release May 25, 2023 Opening Reception and Discussion Evening of May 25 (New York, May 25, 2023)—In tribute to longtime Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab—as she enters the final month of her consequential 22-year-long leadership of the school—the public policy institute she created in Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s onetime family home today opened a new exhibit exploring its entire…

Photo: (L-R) Sonia Ossoriao, Executive Director of NOW NYC; Thomas Costa, GAO Director of Education, Workforce and Income Insecurity; Carolyn B. Maloney, Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Leader in Residence at Roosevelt House; Jennifer J. Raab, President, Hunter College; Carol Jenkins, ERA Coalition Board Member (New York, March 14, 2023) At a press conference at Roosevelt House, former…

Hunter College to Host Sylvia Plath Symposium at Roosevelt House on March 30 Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan Headline Roster of Speakers  (New York, March 13) — Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab announced today that in honor of Women’s History Month, feminist icons Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan will speak during the college’s daylong “Sylvia Plath Symposium” on March 30 at the Roosevelt…