Born in Ethiopia in 1936, Isaac speaks 17 languages and holds a BA and Phd from Harvard. In 1969, he helped create Harvard’s Afro-American Studies Department before serving as the faculty’s inaugural professor. For decades, Isaac has been engaged in global peace efforts, assiduously working to end conflicts in the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Ethiopia. “When the university becomes political, students also become political,” he says. “Students don’t come to university to protest,” Isaac says.
