A pundit's next act

Jay Godwin

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When David Brooks ended his 22-year run as an opinion columnist for The New York Times in January, he wrote in his farewell column that “one of the most exciting things in American life today is that a humanistic renaissance is already happening on university campuses.” A few days later, on February 1, he joined the renaissance, beginning a five-year term as the inaugural Presidential Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. Brooks will host lectures and events and launch a weekly video podcast for The Atlantic with support from the university. YaleNews reports that the podcast will feature “academics and other experts with varying points of view on the fundamental questions of the humanist tradition, from the meaning of life to the nature of democracy.”