Boston Globe, MA
March 29 2008

Ex-ADL leader joining Brookline nonprofit

By Hinda Mandell
Globe Correspondent / March 29, 2008

The former regional director of the Anti-Defamation League New
England, who was at the center of a firestorm last year over whether
to fully acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, will join a Brookline
nonprofit that teaches tolerance.

Andrew H. Tarsy will begin his position as chief institutional
advancement officer at Facing History and Ourselves in April. He
accepted the job Tuesday.

"I’ve been an admirer and friend of the organization and the people
there," Tarsy said yesterday.

The move is the latest step in a months-long controversy that saw him
fired and rehired, only to have him resign a few months later. It
began in August when the Watertown Town Council, under pressure from
the town’s large Armenian population, voted to sever its ties with
the ADL’s No Place for Hate antidiscrimination program because the
national ADL’s refused to fully acknowledge the genocide. Tarsy later
broke ranks with the national office, was fired in August, and then
rehired. He left in December.

Margot Stern Strom, executive director and president of the board of
Facing History, said Tarsy will help oversee fund-raising and program
development. Tarsy will be part of the senior leadership team.

"Andy has unique experience in being a leader of a nonprofit," Strom
said. "He has legal experience and tremendous experience in being
able to articulate the work Facing History and Ourselves does."

Facing History and Ourselves offers professional development and
resource guides to educators on genocide, with the goal of fostering
tolerance among students. The international organization has programs
in 120 countries, Strom said.

As part of its educational program, Facing History has published a
book on the Armenian Genocide, "Crimes Against Humanity and
Civilization: The Genocide of the Armenians."

Leaders within the Jewish community expressed excitement for Tarsy’s
next professional venture. "I think he will be able to use his
passion in a very positive way, untethered, at Facing History," said
Nancy K. Kaufman, executive director of Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Boston.

A spokeswoman for the ADL in the New York office offered Tarsy her
best wishes. "We wish him well in what he chooses to do with his
life," said Myrna Shinebaum.

A search is currently underway for a regional director at the Boston
office of the ADL.

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