TARSY SET TO JOIN FACING HISTORY
By Molly Ritvo

Jewish Advocate
April 8 2008
MA

Andrew H. Tarsy Ex-ADL director looks ahead

Facing History and Ourselves, a Brookline non-profit that promotes
tolerance, has hired Andrew H. Tarsy, the former regional director
of the Anti-Defamation League New England as its chief institutional
advancement officer.

"I am very excited," Tarsy, who found himself embroiled in controversy
last year, told the Advocate. "I have been an admirer of the
organization for years; we are certainly not strangers."

Tarsy will begin his position at Facing History, an educational
organization that focuses on preventing prejudice by teaching about
the Holocaust and other examples of mass genocide, in early April.

Tarsy accepted the position, which is part of the senior leadership
team, on March 25.

The former ADL director found himself at the center of a media
conflagration beginning last August when several Massachusetts
towns – among them Lexington, Newton and Watertown, home to a large
Armenian population – severed ties with the ADL’s No Place for Hate
antidiscrimination program because of the ADL National Director Abraham
Foxman’s stance regarding the Amenian genocide. Foxman released a
statement claiming the massacre was "tantamount to genocide," but did
not fully acknowledge the mass killing of some 1.5 million Armenians
by the Turkish government in the early 1990s.

Tarsy, who publicly dissented from the national position, was fired
and then rehired shortly after. He left the ADL in December and a
search for his predecessor is still underway.

"I have been working with Facing History and Ourselves throughout
my career," he said. "It’s a real team effort over there. Everyone
collaborates in a meaningful way."

Marty Sleeper, associate executive director of Facing History and
Ourselves, explained that Tarsy will help over see fund-raising and
program development.

"We are excited to have him join us and to move forward into the next
century. [Tarsy] shares a passion for what we do and he is committed
to teaching the dangers of intolerance, in particular the genocides
of the 20th century," Sleeper said.

Facing History offers classroom and professional development guides,
including curricular resources, to educate and examine racism,
prejudice, and anti-Semitism with the hopes of fostering humane and
informed citizens and students.

The international organization has programs in 120 countries and has
reached more than 1.6 million students around the world each year,
Sleeper noted. They have published a book on the Armenian genocide
entitled "Crimes Against Humanity and Civilization: The Genocide
of the Armenians," a book exploring the roots of racism entitled
"Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement,"
and many Holocaust resource guides.

As Tarsy prepares to leave a more political role behind, members
of the Boston Jewish community feel that his role will allow him to
express his views more openly.

"I think this is a wonderful opportunity for him," said Nancy
K. Kaufman, executive director of The Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Boston. "I think he will be able to speak freely
about the issues he is most passionate about including speaking out
against genocide, whether that is the Armenian or Jewish genocide."

James Rudolph, chair of the ADL regional board of directors, added
that they wish Tarsy mazel tov.

"I just want to wish Andy the best of luck," he said. "He is a great
leader and I enjoyed working with him." When asked if the ADL is
hoping to mend the severed ties, he said that it is a "totally separate
issue. The only fair thing to say is that we congratulate him."

Sleeper added that Facing History and Ourselves is gearing up for a
year of big initiatives.

"We are moving forward on a strategic plan that will position us
in the 20th century," he said. "That means that we have a number
of initiatives working globally in the fields of technology and
publishing, at the same time as making sure that teachers around the
country have a core knowledge and are able to pass on the lessons on
the Holocaust. Andy is going to help us do this."

And Tarsy, with a little chuckle, added: "I will be very busy for
the foreseeable future."