[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 5, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2213-E2214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE DEPARTURE OF PRESIDENT LEE BOLLINGER FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF 
                                MICHIGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN N. RIVERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 5, 2001

  Ms. RIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Lee C. 
Bollinger, who will be leaving as president of the University of 
Michigan at the end of this month to become president of Columbia 
University in July.
  For nearly 5 years, Mr. Bollinger has been a transforming leader at 
the University of Michigan, whose Ann Arbor campus is in my 
congressional district. During that time he has achieved a number of 
major accomplishments.
  One of those efforts is the Life Sciences Initiative, which was 
launched in 1999. With a commitment of $100 million in campus funds, a 
$130 million endowment and additional revenues, the University will 
become a major source of research on human genomics, chemical and 
structural biology, and bioinformatics. A new six-story Life Sciences

[[Page E2214]]

Institute is now under construction on the Ann Arbor campus. The 
university will also benefit from the state's Life Science Corridor, a 
20-year program to develop new technologies in the life sciences 
statewide.
  Mr. Bollinger has also overseen the most successful fund-raising 
campaign in history, raising nearly $1 billion since 1997. In three of 
those four years, Michigan raised more money from alumni than any other 
public university. Research expenditures also reached record levels 
under his stewardship to stand among the highest in the nation.
  By far, one of his most significant contributions has been his ardent 
and effective defense of affirmative action in admissions. Mr. 
Bollinger has been a strong supporter of the need for diversity in 
higher education, and his willingness to fight several lawsuits on that 
issue underscore his strong commitment to that principle. I know of no 
president who has been so closely tied to students and who has related 
as well to the thousands of young men and women at the university.
  From bringing the Royal Shakespeare Company to Ann Arbor to 
dedicating the new Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Lee 
Bollinger has been a man of vision--a leader of compassion--and a 
strong advocate for the principles that he and the University embody.
  I know he has mixed feelings about leaving behind the Michigan family 
as he moves on to Columbia next year. But those of us who have seen the 
progress and growth of the university under his tutelage can only say 
``thank you'' to Lee for his outstanding service to the University, to 
the people of Michigan and to the nation.
  I call upon all my colleagues to thank him for his legacy of service, 
and to join me in wishing him and his wife Jean well in their future 
endeavors.

                          ____________________