By Drew Grant 12/06/11 8:40am

Tony Kushner

Tony Kushner (via Getty Images)

Tony Kushner Wins $100k 'Creative Citizenship' Award; Donates Money to CUNY, FTW

Last night, Pulitzer Prize-winner playwright and  Abe Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner was awarded $100,000 as part of a joint  “Creative Citizenship” Award from The Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation.

Giving a speech at The Nation Institute’s Annual Gala last night at The Metropolitan Pavilion, Mr. Kushner humbly accepted the prize for his progressive–and somewhat controversial–voice in politics, religion, and theater, noting that he felt a little bit guilty since anytime he heard of anyone winning an award, he always felt a twinge of jealousy. Jokingly, Mr. Kushner gave an example of being aggrieved that Israeli scientist Dan Shechtman won the Nobel Prize this year for the discovery of quasicrystals. “I don’t even understand what quasicrystals are,” Mr. Kushner said. “But I still thought, ‘Aww, why didn’t I win?’” Read More

By David Freedlander 5/11/11 3:16am

Features

CUNY, or Change: The Jeffrey Wiesenfeld Guide to Campuses and Anti-Semitism With a Key to Board Politics

Jeffrey Wiesenfeld’s mother doesn’t approve.

“Vy are they bothering you?” Mr. Wiesenfeld said on Friday afternoon, channeling her Yiddish. “Vhat they want from you? They don’t pay you. You sit there and they give you problems, aggravation, vhat do you need it for? Go home, see your daughter. Vhy are you sitting there until 8:30 Read More

By Azi Paybarah 1/07/10 5:32pm

The State of Charles Barron

Christine Quinn is putting the finishing touches on her list of committee assignments.

One of the questions is whether or not she’ll reappoint Charles Barron as chairperson of the higher education committee. (The display by his supporters during the hearing yesterday may give her some new excuses for stripping his chairmanship.)

How he Read More

By Azi Paybarah 12/01/09 9:26pm

Barron, Live

Here’s video of Charles Barron at a groundbreaking ceremony earier this morning, responding to a critic in the crowd by yelling and, momentarily, walking away from the podium as if to confront the man physically.

The Post identifies the critic as Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a CUNY trustee.

By Staff 9/19/06 11:49am

Pataki's Parting Gift for Wiesenfeld

After months of delays, George Pataki sent the name of Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, his former Jewish liaison, to the Republican-controlled state Senate for reappointment as trustee to CUNY last Friday. And it went nowhere.

A spokeswoman for Senate Republicans, Lisa Black, blamed the hold-up on a technicality: Wiesenfeld’s name, she said, was sent too late Read More