Einstein’s death, draws attention tonwhat goes on in this sleepy hollow innthe western corner of Princeton. Sonwhat is to be done to regain thenpreeminence that the Institute oncenrightly claimed for itself?nIAS should be the nation’s premiernresearch institute and a model for allnothers; today, in most fields, it simply isnnot. IAS is truly distinguished in math,nastrophysics, and particle physics; notnonly because of the prominence ofnsome of its permanent faculty in thosenareas, but also because of the constantninfusion of new energy in the form ofnpost-docs and scholars who come tonjoin in projects of collaborative research.nAlas, the social sciences and thenhistorical school scarcely register in thenAmerican academy. Their permanentnprofessors are not prominent, thoughnthey publish; they do not conductncollaborative research projects withngenerations of IAS members, thoughnthey may chat with them from day tonday; and they do not attract platoons ofnpost-docs whom they absorb into ongoingnand shared research. This permanentnfaculty does not teach students;ndoes not engage with youngerncolleagues; does not share work withnand learn from senior colleagues asnthey come from year to year; and inngeneral lives a very insulated and —nconsequently — intellectually flaccidnlife.nClearly, actions need to be taken tonimprove the place financially, politically,nsocially, and intellectually. First,nIAS needs to reform the board ofndirectors so that the nonacademicnmembers contribute funds to IAS in ansubstantial way, as part of a major drivenfor new capital; the policy of NYU’snboard, “Give, get, or get out,” workednwonders in getting rid of the timeserversnand bringing in activists with ancommitment to the institution. I wouldnexpect each member of the board tongive or get IAS one million dollars anyear at a minimum, or to leave; todaynthe board is dead weight.nSecond, IAS should renew its relationshipnwith the National Endowmentnfor the Humanities. When lastnDecember IAS told the NEH to takenits money and shove it, throwing awaynthree-quarters of a million dollars onnthe spurious claim of defending academicnfreedom (see Cultural Revolu­ntions, June 1990), it was seen in Washingtonnas making a claim on entitlementsnthat the NEH cannotnaccord to any institution. A long-termnrelationship with a major fundingnagency in the humanities was jeopardized,nand many other Washingtonnfunding agencies saw IAS in a lessthan-flatteringnlight.nThird, IAS must recruit women andnblacks. The IAS has to give seriousnthought to recruiting qualified womennfor its mathematics and natural sciencenschools, which at this time have disproportionatelynfew women. The mostlymalenand lily-white character of thenInstitute also contradicts the characternof American intellectual life, enrichednas it is by the participation of womennand blacks as much as by EuropeanandnAsian-Americans. You don’t neednaffirmative action or quotas to correctnthis.nFourth, IAS should bring in outsiders.nI would set up advisory councils,nmade up of outside scholars of thenhighest standing, to organize (on thenmodel of the NEH summer seminarsnfor college teachers) annual seminars,nled by outsiders, chosen competitively,nwith each full-year seminar director inncharge of attracting a dozen colleaguesnto share in a collaborative project. Thenselection of the seminar professors,ninvited for one or two or even threenyears, depending on the character ofnthe research project, would be made bynpanels of outside experts, from whichnall locals would be excluded; suchnpanels would insure that local prejudicenor intrigue play no role. Thenalternative is to close the schools ofnhistory and of social science entirely,nby not replacing the existing professorsnas they retire, and by encouragingnthose among them who can find othernemployment to do so.nFifth, IAS needs to cut out insiders.nI would loosen the ties to PrincetonnUniversity, which are currently incestuous.nThe Institute’s relationships tonother universities should be defined bynthe scholarly excellence and even eminencenof those outsiders brought tonIAS, not by the school ties those outsidersnwear.nSo long as the IAS continues toncongratulate itself on its distinguishednpast, it will continue its long-termndecline into mediocrity and irrelevance:nan institute for advanced sine­nnncures, an institution for advanced salaries.n—]acob NeusnernFORREST MCDONALD, the historian,nand poet Charles Causley arenthe recipients of the 1990 IngersollnPrizes. McDonald received the RichardnM. Weaver Award for ScholarlynLetters, and Causley, the T.S. EliotnAward for Creative Writing. Thenawards, each of which carries a cashnprize of $20,000, acknowledge authorsnof abiding importance whose worksnaffirm the fundamental principles ofnWestern civilization.nForrest McDonald was born in Orange,nTexas, in 1927. He served in thenU.S. Navy in 1945-1946 before goingnto the University of Texas at Austin,nfrom which he took his Ph.D. in 1955.nHe has taught at Brown, Columbia,nDuke, and New York University, andnsince 1976 he has been a professor ofnhistory at the University of Alabama,nwhere he was named DistinguishednResearch Professor in 1987. He is thenauthor of 15 books, including We thenPeople: The Economic Origins of thenConstitution (1958), E PluribusnUnum: The Formation of the AmericannRepublic (1965), and Novus OrdonSeclorum: The Intellectual Origins ofnthe Constitution (1985), for which henwas a finalist for the 1986 PulitzernPrize. He is generally considered thenleading scholar of the American Constitution.nChades Causley was born in Launceston,nCornwall, in 1917. He servednin the Royal Navy from 1940-1946nand was for 25 years a schoolteachernbefore becoming a full-time writer. Henhas been writer-in-residence at thenUniversity of Western Australia, thenFootscray Institute of Technology, Victoria,nand the School of Fine Arts,nBanff, Alberta. In addition to his ownncollections of poetry, he is the authornof a number of books for young readersnand the editor of several anthologies ofnverse. His verse plays and libretti fornmusical theater include adaptations ofnthe 13th-century Aucassin and Nicolette,nDylan Thomas’s The Doctor andnthe Devils, and Hans Christian Andersen’snThe Tinderbox. He has also justnfinished work on Aesop, an originalntext for the National Youth MusicnTheatre of Great Britain. He wasnDECEMBER 1990/9n