On April 8 and 9 Art and Shirley Sotloff P'02, parents of freelance journalist and early ISIS captive and victim Steven Sotloff ‘02, visited campus to share their story and celebrate the life of their son. For the month of April, the display cases in the atrium of Miller Bicentennial Hall were filled with donations by Art and Shirley of Steven’s books and other objects, as well as biographical information about his life and accomplishments at The Academy and beyond.
Many of the donated books are available for student access in the library. Others containing Steven’s notations are housed privately in Kimball Union’s Archives.
During their two-day visit, the Sotloffs visited classes, made a presentation at All School Meeting, joined students in small group discussions and met with members of the Global Scholar program. They shared their experiences candidly and spoke about the 2Lives Foundation they established in Steven’s memory, the mission of which is “to support journalists by providing scholarships for journalism students, implementing global safety training and best practices for journalists working in conflict-torn regions of the world, and promoting policy change in the U.S. and worldwide hostage laws.”
In conjunction with their visit, fellow freelance journalist and ISIS captive and survivor Theo Padnos visited campus on Tuesday to attend classes with the Sotloffs and to show his documentary film, Theo Who Lived.
Thank you, Art and Shirley Sotloff, and Theo Padnos, for sharing your experiences with Kimball Union.
To view Art and Shirley Sotloff’s All School Meeting Address, please visit our livestream archive.
To view photos from Art & Shirley’s visit, please visit the 4.8.19 Flickr Album.