Frederick M. Lawrence

Lawrence is married to Kathy Lawrence, an academic who specializes in 19th-century American literature. They have two children, Miriam and Noah.

"Non-Jewish students and faculty, especially those from places like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or even Palestinians, are going to be in certain conversations. They’re going to be in certain rooms and they are going to hear things that people don’t say in front of me. And when they do hear those misconceptions, those people are going to say: ‘Well, that wasn’t my experience there. I went to Brandeis, I was at the president’s home, I met with Jewish students and that wasn’t my experience.'"

He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018.

Continuing the Rose's upward climb, in 2014 the museum announced that it would be partnering with the Tel Aviv Museum of Art to create a program that biannually selects emerging Israeli video artists to hold exhibitions at both museums. The joint project created the Chami Fruchter Video Prize, named for the wife of benefactor Lazar Fruchter. The award is given every two years to an Israeli video artist who has demonstrated considerable promise but has not yet been the subject of a solo museum exhibition. The winning artist receives $10,000 and their work is exhibited at both the Rose and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

During Lawrence's tenure, honorary degrees were awarded to a wide range of public figures. Among those honored - the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the philanthropist Myra Kraft and the chef Yotam Ottolenghi. In 2014 Brandeis University withdrew an invitation for an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. This was criticized.

Lawrence became the eighth president of Brandeis University on January 1, 2011, serving over five academic years. As president of Brandeis, Lawrence strengthened ties between the university and its alumni and focused on sustaining the university's historical commitment to educational access through financial aid. Shortly after taking office he launched a broad strategic planning process that engaged the entire university community. The plan, "Fulfilling the Promise," was endorsed by the Brandeis Board of Trustees in May 2013 and is being implemented by a broad range of participatory working groups. Lawrence supported student innovation including bVIEW (Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World), a conference by and for college students focused on future-oriented programming that depolarizes campus conversations about Israel, and ’Deis Impact, Brandeis’ annual student-run festival of social justice.

Lawrence's signature achievement upon arriving at Brandeis was to secure the Rose Art Museum, hiring its director Christopher Bedford and rebuilding its Board of Overseers. Before Lawrence's arrival, the Rose Art Museum was the subject of major controversy. Lawrence's predecessor had announced in 2009 plans to sell the Rose's art, a move largely criticized, especially as its legality was in question. In 2011, however, Lawrence settled a lawsuit stemming from that 2009 announcement; Lawrence announced that the university would not sell the Rose's art. At Lawrence's invitation, James Rosenquist, one of the original major artists to be exhibited at the Rose who had pledged never to re-enter the museum due to the controversy, returned to the Rose and spoke at the re-opening and rededication of the museum in 2011. Since then, the Rose has held many exhibitions such as "Dor Guez: 100 Steps to the Mediterranean" and "Image Machine: Andy Warhol & Photography," both in 2012; "Mika Rottenberg: The Production of Luck" and "John Altoon," both in 2014; and "Lisa Yuskavage: The Brood" in 2015. Ellsworth Kelly spoke at the Rose when he received an Honorary Degree from Brandeis in 2013.

From 2005 through 2010, Lawrence was Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School.

Lawrence has served on the national commission of the Anti-Defamation League since 2002 and from 2003-06 chaired the National Legal Affairs committee of the ADL. He has co-authored numerous Supreme Court amicus curiae briefs, on behalf of the ADL and other civil rights organizations in such cases as Virginia v. Black (2003), involving the constitutionality of the Virginia cross-burning statute, and Elonis v. United States (2015), involving the definition of a "true threat" under federal law consistent with the First Amendment.

Lawrence has published one book, Punishing Hate: Bias Crimes Under American Law, published by Harvard University Press in 2002.

Lawrence sits on the Board of Directors of Beyond Conflict, an organization that has been working since 1992 to foster educated dialogue in order to clear the path for peace talks, national reconciliations, and transitions to democracy. Beyond Conflict has engaged in peace-seeking work in areas such as South Africa, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Central America, and more. Under Lawrence's leadership on the board, the organization brings peace-making skills to appropriate leaders, those who are enemies to each other, and former combatants through three programs: geographic, thematic, and educational.

In 1988, he joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Law where he taught courses on civil rights enforcement, criminal law, and civil procedure. He also served as the school's associate dean for academic affairs from 1996 to 1999. Lawrence received BU's Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching, the university's highest teaching honor, in 1996.

Lawrence began his legal career in 1980 as clerk to Judge Amalya Lyle Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Later, Lawrence served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he became chief of the Civil Rights Unit. During that time Lawrence served under Rudolph W. Giuliani who was the United States Attorney.

Lawrence graduated from Williams College Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude in 1977, winning the William Bradford Turner Prize, the college's highest honor, and Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal in 1980.

Frederick M. Lawrence (born 1955) is an American lawyer, civil rights scholar and Secretary and 10th Secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation's first and most prestigious honor society, founded in 1776. Lawrence is a Distinguished Lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center, and has previously served as president of Brandeis University, Dean of the George Washington University Law School, and Visiting Professor and Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law School. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2018 and the American Law Institute in 1999.