HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — The Board of Directors of Consumers Union (CU), the independent, nonprofit publisher of
Consumer Reports in Yonkers, NY, has elected Hofstra Law School Professor Norman I. Silber to be its Board Secretary.
As a result of his election, Professor Silber becomes a member of the CU Board's Executive Committee, which serves an important advisory role to the President of CU. Jim Guest, President and CEO of Consumers Union, said, "I'm very pleased that Norm, a longtime advocate for the consumer movement, has become the Secretary of the CU Board. His position on the Executive Committee will be a tremendous asset to me, given his integrity and passion for the organization's mission, history and values."
Professor Silber was first elected to CU's Board in 1996, after a long affiliation with the organization. He wrote his Yale doctoral dissertation about Consumers Union and published a widely acclaimed book,
Test and Protest, about the organization and its marketplace impact. The book highlighted CU's historical contributions to seat-belt safety, the landmark Surgeon General's report on smoking, and the elimination of Strontium-90 (nuclear fallout) from the American diet.
Professor Silber teaches and writes in areas that relate to consumer law, commercial law, legal history and nonprofit corporations. He joined the Hofstra Law faculty in 1989, after practicing with the New York City law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, and serving as a law clerk to Judge Leonard I. Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to attending law school, Professor Silber taught history at Sarah Lawrence College and Yale University. His articles have appeared in
Harvard Law Review,
Columbia Law Review,
Pittsburgh Law Review,
Stanford Law & Policy Review, and other academic journals. He has also scripted a PBS television documentary about risk and consumer regulation.
