Tuesday, February 22, 2022
The USC Center for the Political Future (CPF) is proud to welcome Yar Chaikovsky, Partner at Paul Hastings Litigation Department, as a new member of its Board of Councilors.
“One of the Center’s missions is to bridge the political divide that exists across the country and bring civil discourse back into our politics and our national dialogue,” said Chaikovsky. “Too often this past century, people are judged, and their value to society determined, on a partisan basis. This is further enhanced or accelerated through today’s media channels, both traditional and more novel, as far too often no filter or fact checker is placed on many of these channels.”
Chaikovsky continued, saying that he “looks forward to assisting the students at USC to better understand, that despite their political differences, they can have effective and productive political communication while maintaining civility.” He added that, “we need to enable acceptance of diversity of thought and critical thinking in our current political climate to achieve the best in our society despite the challenges of many aspects of modern communication, including social media.”
Chaikovsky joins existing CPF Board members: Kevin Beggs, Barbara Boxer, Ken Broad, Lisa Korbatov, Kevin Parikh, Jeff Polak, and Hope Warschaw.
CPF Co-Director Mike Murphy calls the Board “an integral part of the Center that underpins all of our other efforts. Thanks to Yar’s support,” Murphy continued, “we can expand our programming and invest more in our USC students. This gift will help us grow our reach and promote civic dialogue both on and off campus.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome Yar to the Board,” said CPF Director Bob Shrum. “He is a remarkable individual and has been a steadfast supporter of our mission. Now Yar will play an even greater role in our commitment to combat a poisonous polarization in our politics.”
CPF plans to expand the Board of Councilors to ten members by year end 2022 in order to help the Center become more financially sustainable, to grow its successful programs and implement new ones, to increase opportunities for students, and to better serve its mission to educate and train future generations of political leaders.
People interested in serving on the Board should consider joining one of CPF’s Center Leadership Circles and contacting CPF Executive Director Kamy Akhavan.
For more information about CPF, please visit dornsife.usc.edu/center-for-political-future.