New York University’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness and Response (CCPR) and one of its programs, the International Center for Enterprise Preparedness (InterCEP) have been named as recipients of a gift of $400,000 from W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., the independent, employee-owned book publishing firm that served as publisher of the authorized edition of The 9/11 Commission Report. The donation comes from the book’s proceeds.
“We were deeply honored to have been selected by the 9/11 Commission as the authorized publisher of the Report,” remarked Drake McFeely. “When we undertook the Report’s publication, we did so in a spirit of public service, fully aware that we would shoulder a financial commitment unprecedented for this firm and were unlikely to recover all our expenses. Instead, because of the overwhelming response to the Report, we find ourselves in the privileged position of being able to make voluntary donations that, we believe, are broad in scope, aim to serve the interests of all Americans, and carry forward the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.”
“NYU is honored to be the recipient of this generous and public-spirited gift from W. W. Norton & Company,” said John Sexton, the university’s president. “The attack upon the World Trade Center was visible from the heart of NYU’s campus, and the impulse to frame a safer future runs deep in our community. The spirit of civic-mindedness that was evident in W. W. Norton’s publishing the 9/11 Commission’s superb report is echoed in the gifts they are today announcing.”
The Center’s mission (http://www.nyu.edu/ccpr/) is to improve the nation’s preparedness and response capabilities to terrorist threats and catastrophic events. “The Center was created by Congress in response to the events of September 11, 2001, to produce research that directly improves the safety of our nation,” said Brad Penuel, director of NYU’s CCPR. “It is immensely gratifying to have the Center’s achievements acknowledged through this important gift.”
Serving as a catalyst for homeland security research across the entire university, CCPR leverages the research capacity of each of NYU’s fourteen schools and functions as a university wide, cross-disciplinary center that coordinates research, disseminates products, and generates policy recommendations. Its projects involve experts and leaders from around the globe and address issues ranging from medical capacity during crises to legal issues relating to security, and state-of-the-art training for first-responders. The Center is a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and its Office for Domestic Preparedness.
Bill Raisch, the director of The International Center for Enterprise Preparedness (InterCEP) at NYUthe world’s first major academic center dedicated to private-sector emergency preparedness and risk managementsaid, “This is a beginning, not an end. The 9/11 Commission Report is an agenda for action; it is not a history book. One of its key findings was that the private sector, where most of us live and work, is largely unprepared and at significant risk.” The Center’s mission statement notes that U.S. businesses and other private sector organizations control an estimated 85 percent of America’s critical infrastructure and employ the vast majority of the country’s employees. For this reason, the private sector must be integrated with governmental readiness, response, and recovery operations. Public-private communication and cooperation in emergency management is crucial for the nation’s well-being and is an important focus for the Center, which serves as an international resource for education and research in this vital area. Raisch continued, “W. W. Norton’s gift is a challenge to all of us to do more in preparing for emergencies of all kinds. As the Commission’s report states, in the post 9/11 world, private sector preparedness is not a luxury it is ignored at a tremendous potential cost in lives, money, and national security.’”
In addition, Norton is giving $200,000 to the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University to endow the new Norton-9/11 Fellowships in International Relations that will be awarded annually, in perpetuity, to two students who must each have stated his or her firm intention to pursue a career that promotes international understanding between the United States and other countries and works toward the goal of preventing terrorism.
The authorized edition of The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States was published nationwide in trade paperback by W. W. Norton & Company on July 22, 2004, at the time of the 9/11 Commission’s release of its report in a nationally televised news conference. Norton had less than one week to arrange for more than 500,000 copies to be printed and express shipped to bookstores nationwide. The Authorized Edition with Index was published in hardcover by W. W. Norton & Company on September 7, 2004. To date, the Report has sold more than one million copies.
Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, the 9/11 Commission’s chair and vice chair, announced Norton’s selection as the authorized publisher of The 9/11 Commission Report in a media advisory issued on May 19, 2004. Norton was selected from among competing publishers based on its commitment to adhere to specific criteria in releasing the book: affordability (an unusually low list price of $10.00 for the 592-page trade paperback); accuracy (Norton pledged to publish exactly what the Commission wrote, with no additions, deletions, or editorial changes of any sort); availability (nationwide distribution simultaneous with the Commission’s release of its report); and longevity (in the May 19 announcement, Norton’s president pledged “to undertake whatever steps are necessary to ensure that this historic document is available to the American public for generations”). The Commission received no advance payment, income, or royalties from Norton, and Norton received no money from the Commission.
W. W. Norton & Company is the nation’s largest independent, employee-owned book publishing firm. Founded in 1923, the firm now publishes approximately 450 books each year in its combined trade, college, and professional divisions. The firm continues to adhere to its original motto, “Books that Live,” striving to publish works of enduring distinction.
New York University, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, was established in 1831 and is one of America’s leading research universities and a member of the selective Association of American Universities. It is one of the largest private universities, it is a leader in attracting international students and scholars in the U.S, and it sends more students to study abroad than any other U.S. college or university. Through its 14 schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music, public administration, social work, and continuing and professional studies, among other areas.