Send Page to a Friend Tarsy set to join Facing History   By Molly Ritvo The Jewish Advocate April 8, 2008   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.”