William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale Welcomes Three New Members to Board of Directors
New Haven, CT – The William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale announced today that its Board of Directors has welcomed three new members: L. Brent Bozell III, James Freeman ’91, and John Spagnola ’79.
“We are extremely pleased that Brent, James, and John have joined us in the cause of helping to provide much needed intellectual diversity at Yale and perpetuating Bill Buckley’s legacy both on campus and beyond. They each bring a wealth of experience that will serve the Program well as it seeks to expand its efforts to restore the thoughtful exchange of ideas to its rightful place in a liberal arts education. We are honored and excited to work with them,” said Roger Kimball M. Phil ’82, chairman of the Buckley Program’s Board of Directors.
L. Brent Bozell III is the Founder and President of the Media Research Center, the largest media watchdog organization in America. Since its launch in 1987, the MRC has developed the largest video archive in the world; the popular NewsBusters.org blog site; the CNSNews.com internet news service; the Business and Media Institute; the Culture and Media Institute; and in April of 2014 launched MRC Latino. In 2010, Mr. Bozell founded ForAmerica, an organization committed to restoring America to its founding principles. In 1998, Mr. Bozell founded and was the first president of the Parents Television Council, the largest group in America dedicated to a restoring responsibility to Hollywood. He founded the Conservative Victory Committee PAC in 1987. Before founding the MRC, Mr. Bozell was the finance director and later the president of the National Conservative Political Action Committee.
Mr. Bozell’s bi-weekly column is syndicated by Creators Syndicate to over 50 media outlets nationwide. His writings have also appeared in numerous other outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Review, and USA Today. He is the author of numerous books, including And That’s the Way It Is(n’t) (with Brent Baker), Weapons of Mass Distortion, and Whitewash (with Tim Graham). His most recent book, Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election (with Tim Graham), was a national bestseller.Mr. Bozell serves on numerous boards of public policy, religious and artistic organizations. He received his B.A. in History from the University of Dallas.
James Freeman ’91 is assistant editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page. He writes about business and finance among other issues and supervises the Journal’s online opinion pages. Before joining the Journal in September 2007, he served as investor advocate at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he encouraged the transformation of financial reporting technology to benefit individual investors.
Before joining the SEC, he was the legislative and communications director for Rep. Chris Cox, working in particular on tax and Internet issues. Earlier, he created the Amazing Braino! Site on AOL’s Kids Only Channel, and was the producer of the award-winning PBS series, “TechnoPolitics.” He is a graduate of Yale and serves on the Board of Education of Summit, N.J.
John Spagnola ’79 graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Political Science. He played three years of varsity football, was two-time All-Ivy First Team, and finished his career as the all-time leading receiver with 88 receptions and 1554 yards. Drafted in the 9th round by the New England Patriots, Mr. Spagnola was released at the end of training camp and picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles in time for the season opener. Mr. Spagnola spent the majority of his pro career in Philadelphia, playing for nine seasons, eight active and starting for five seasons. In 1988, Mr. Spagnola played a year with the Seattle Seahawks and finished his career with the Green Bay Packers in 1989. During his career, he also served as a player representative and executive vice president of the NFL Players Association.
After his playing days ended, Mr. Spagnola pursued a career in broadcasting, working for ABC Sports and covering college football. For eight seasons he served as a color analyst, sideline reporter and studio analyst. He also started an investment consulting business in 1992. This company was later sold to the PFM Group where Mr. Spagnola serves as a Managing Director. Mr. Spagnola has taught courses on managing public funds for the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, St. Rose of Lima Parish, and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
About the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale
Launched in January 2011, the mission of the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program at Yale is to promote intellectual diversity on Yale’s campus. Named for National Review founder William F. Buckley, Jr. ’50, the Program offers a speaker series, conferences, Firing Line debates, funded summer internships for Yale undergraduates, and more.
More information about the Buckley Program is available at www.buckleyprogram.com.