A video recording of the Annual Membership Meeting on May 4, 2023.

A video recording of the Scarsdale Forum Board of Directors Special Meeting on February 16, 2023.

A video recording of the February 9, 2023 Scarsdale Forum Membership Meeting.

The Scarsdale Forum is honored to host noted Professor Akhil Reed Amar, Yale University Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at our SUNDAY SPEAKER program. The program is co-sponsored by the Scarsdale Forum and the Yale Westchester Alumni Association. Forum members, Yale alumni, and the wider public are invited to attend in-person or on Zoom. 

Professor Amar is a leading scholar and teacher of the history and interpretation of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, the author of several books on these and related subjects, and has appeared frequently in the media. This special program will cover issues that resonate today and topics from his latest, fascinating book, The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840. We look forward with interest to this special program and Professor Amar's sequels to this volume.

Program meeting featuring keynote speaker Mayor Jane Veron.

A video recording of the November 10, 2022 Scarsdale Forum Membership Meeting.

Recording of October 13, 2022 Membership Meeting featuring keynote speaker County Executive George Latimer.

Video recording of the Annual Membership Meeting held in-person at the Scott Room, Scarsdale Library, and livestreamed via Zoom.

State of the County Presentation at a Membership Program Meeting, no regular business conductedd.

Mayor Jane Veron presented the annual State of the Village report with a slide presentation, with participation by Village Manager Robert Cole, and a Q&A session.

The October 7 General Member Meeting minutes from Secretary Alexandra Tagami Vargo were approved. Treasurer Matthew Martin presented his report. Nominating Committee Chair and Immediate Past President Madelaine Eppenstein announced the 2022 nominees for the offices of Vice President, who will become President the following year, Secretary, Treasurer, and three Directors at Large, which will be voted on by members at the May 19, 2022 Annual Meeting. 

President Eli Mattioli announced the remaining two Sunday Speaker Series moderated events featuring notable Anti-Defamation League representatives on March 13, 2022, and "The History of Women in Scarsdale" presented by Jordan Copeland and moderator Dara Gruenberg on April 24, 2022.

Judy Cheng-Hopkins, a 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Scarsdale High School Alumni award, has just retired from an eminent 36-year long career at the United Nations.  Most recently, Judy served as the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support.  Previously, Judy served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Before that, Judy was the Director of the UN World Food Programme’s Bureau for Asia and Eastern Europe, where she supervised the UN’s most significant humanitarian operations in North Korea, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.  Judy has just been appointed as the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General for the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica, where she also serves as Chancellor.  Judy received a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, and she has diplomas/certificates from Harvard University and the University of Haute Bretagne.

Lindsay Gottlieb, a Scarsdale native, is the award-winning Head Coach of the University of California's Women's Basketball team. After her stellar career as an athlete/scholar at Scarsdale High School, Lindsay received her B.A. degree in political science from Brown University in 1999 and her Masters of Philosophy, Education degree from Syracuse University in 2001. In 2013, during her second year as Head Coach of the Golden Bears, Lindsay brought her team to the NCAA Final Four after leading her team to a 17-1 conference record. Lindsay was a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award, and was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. In 2014, her team made it to the Second Round of the NCAA tournament. Gottlieb is a recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Scarsdale High School Alumni award.

Suzanne Nossel grew up in Scarsdale, graduated from Scarsdale High School and was one of Eric Rothschild’s prized students.

She is a 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Scarsdale High School Alumni Award.

A human rights advocate and non-profit leader, Suzanne is Executive Director of PEN American Center.

Prior to coming to PEN American Center, Suzanne served as the Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, where she led a strategic reorganization to strengthen Amnesty’s external human rights impact and focus on building the next generation of human rights activists.

She also led successful efforts to secure passage of the Afghan Women and Girls Security Promotion Act of 2012 and convened a historic youth Town Hall with Burmese Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nossel also previously served in the Obama administration, where, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, she oversaw U.S. engagement in the UN Human Rights Council.

Suzanne is an accomplished author who has published hundreds of blog entries, op ed pieces and numerous scholarly articles.

Suzanne received her A.B. from Harvard College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Suzanne will be speaking on “The New Free Speech.”

Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps, David Raizen, President

Scarsdale Community Support Council, Linda Hillman-Chayes, President

State of the Schools, Suzanne Seiden, President of the Scarsdale Board of Education with Dr. McGill, Scarsdale School Superintendent

Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a Scarsdale native, is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the NYU-Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, and spent most of his career (1995-2011) at the University of Virginia. Dr. Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures–including the cultures of American liberals, conservatives, and libertarians. Dr. Haidt is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis, and of the New York Times bestseller, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. In his new position at NYU-Stern, Dr. Haidt is applying his research on moral psychology to business ethics, asking how companies can structure and run themselves in ways that will be resistant to ethical failures.

Clifford Krauss, New York Times national business correspondent covering energy. He covered the State Department and New York City police department before serving as Buenos Aires bureau chief and Toronto bureau chief. Before working at The Times, he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and was the Edward R. Murrow fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of "Inside Central America: Its People, Politics and History,"(1991). He has published articles in Foreign Affairs, GQ and Wilson Quarterly, along with other publications. A graduate of Scarsdale High School, Krauss returns home to engage Scarsdale for a lively discussion.

Mayor Miriam Flisser "State of the Village" and Proposed Non-Partisan Resolution Changes

State of the State
Amy R. Paulin
New York State Assembly

Where Do We Draw the Line?
An overview of the recent statewide
redistricting, its impact on Scarsdale and
proposed non-partisan initiatives
Susan Lerner
Executive Director, Common Cause NY

Glenn Kramon, assistant managing editor for the New York Timessince 2006, spoke on how the newspaper is changing and not changing with the times. Kramon oversees long-term reporting efforts in the newsroom which include the dangers of distracted driving; the safety and environmental hazards of sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks; the overlooked problem of concussions among young athletes; cheating on taxes and the loopholes and inequities in the tax code; environmental devastation in China; and the proliferation of tax and regulatory breaks afforded religious organizations.

In June 2003, Mr. Kramon became the first recipient of the Gerald Loeb/Lawrence Minard award for outstanding work as an editor. He is a graduate of Scarsdale High School.

“State of the County”
Kevin J. Plunkett
Deputy County Executive
Westchester County

“Sustainability Initiatives in the Village of Scarsdale”
Panel and video presented by the Forum’s Sustainable Scarsdale Committee
Miriam L. Flisser, Mayor of Scarsdale
Kay Eisenman, Village Trustee
Anne Jaffe Holmes,
Coordinator of Environmental Projects, Greenburgh Nature Center
Deborah Pekarek, Moderator