Newsmaker

Every Friday, we choose an alum who has been making headlines—for better or for worse.
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5/13/11: Cory Booker ’97JD

By the staff | 12:40pm January 03 2012

 

Last September, when the American Civil Liberties Union called for a federal investigation of alleged police brutality in Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker ’97JD responded angrily to the “unnecessary aspersions” and “distortion of facts.”

This week, when Justice Department officials announced they are launching said investigation, Booker stood by their side, calling the probe “free consulting” that will help him clean up the police force. “I’m pretty relieved and enthusiastic about working with the Department of Justice,” the mayor said.

Seen as a rising political star, Booker—a Rhodes scholar who voluntarily moved into a public housing project after graduating from Yale Law School—is the only mayor on Time magazine’s 2011 list of the “most influential people in the world.” (Oprah Winfrey wrote his blurb.) This weekend, he takes a break from his political battles to host the Newark Peace Education Summit, at which the Dalai Lama and others will explore “the power of nonviolence.” Perhaps they and the DOJ will help make way for the OMPD.

 

Filed under Rhodes scholarship, milestones
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