Ira Magaziner - Student Activism

Student Activism

During his college years at Brown University, Magaziner was one of the two architects of the "New Curriculum," a liberal academic approach which includes no core requirements aside from the concentration the student pursues. Magaziner excelled academically at Brown and in 1969 was named valedictorian of his class.

During the 1968 black student walkout at the University, Magaziner held rallies in support of their demands, and as president of the Undergraduate Council of Students, he negotiated with the administration on the terms of their return. His valedictory address at graduation was featured in a 1969 Time magazine special on student leaders—a special which also included a story about a recent Wellesley College graduate, future First Lady and New York Senator Hillary Rodham. After his address, Magaziner led the students in turning their backs on Henry Kissinger, who was receiving an honorary degree. Magaziner also organized Brown's "spring weekend" concerts and festivities.

He was named a Rhodes Scholar upon graduation and studied political philosophy and economics under Isaiah Berlin at Balliol College. At Oxford, Magaziner met Bill Clinton, also a Rhodes Scholar, who would become a close friend and boss during the 1990s. After two years at Oxford, Magaziner left the program without earning a degree to organize protest rallies against the Vietnam War—at one point in cooperation with actress Vanessa Redgrave.

After Oxford, Magaziner and a group of former Brown students attempted to implement social democratic reforms in the city of Brockton, Massachusetts. These reforms included starting an agricultural cooperative, supporting liberal candidates for city council, strengthening the union movement, and printing a progressive town newspaper. Magaziner soon abandoned the project, after the group recognized that the effects of foreign business competition on the local manufacturing base would undercut their efforts. Magaziner then determined that a greater understanding of business was necessary to promote broad-based social and economic reforms.