Lincoln Caplan 1968 HGS, Distinguished Alumnus

On Friday, October 11, Hopkins was honored to welcome Lincoln Caplan 1968 HGS back to campus. Mr. Caplan has been named the Hopkins 2014 Distinguished Alumnus, an honor given each year to a talented man or woman making outstanding contributions in their given profession or field of endeavor. Caplan is being recognized for his contributions in legal journalism throughout his esteemed career, which include writing five books, as well as editorial writing for the New York Times and The New Yorker, among other publications.

Caplan spoke to our community about the shifting rate at which our society consumes news, challenged students to be mindful of what their news sources are, and compared the notion of “news” vs. in-depth journalism. Watch the attached video of both his address and the Q&A session that followed, where Hopkins students responded with thoughtful questions. After assembly, Mr. Caplan spent the morning visiting several classes, where he engaged in activities and discussion. At lunchtime, Caplan gathered with a number of faculty and students, including the staff of the Razor, in the Weissman Room for a "sandwich seminar" discussion. It was a thought-provoking exchange of ideas and Hopkins was fortunate to have had an opportunity to benefit directly from Caplan’s visit.

Caplan will return to Hopkins on June 14 as the featured speaker at the 2014 Reunion Luncheon. We thank Mr. Caplan for spending the day with Hopkins, and we look forward to his return later this year.

Barbara Riley's Introduction of Linc Caplan:

It is my great pleasure this morning to introduce Lincoln Caplan ’68 HGS who is Hopkins’ 2014 Distinguished Alumnus.  Linc is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and was a Harvard Scholar at Cambridge University and a White House Fellow.  Those experiences prepared Linc for a career in the law and in journalism that has placed him among the most elegant, insightful and wise writers of his generation.  One of the things I appreciate most about him – in addition to the fact that he has helped me with my own writing – is that the intelligence and experience that are so evident in his writing are always infused with conscience and clarity and the desire to help us understand how to be better citizens in a better country.

Linc is the author of five books, and many, many articles for The New Yorker, U.S. News and World Report, The New Republic and The American Scholar – just to name a few. He was the Knight Senior Journalist at the Yale Law School, the editor and president of Legal Affairs Magazine, and most recently, a member of the editorial board of The New York Times, where he covered the U.S. Supreme Court.  Linc Caplan is, in the words of another Times journalist, Anthony Lewis, a “tribune of the law” and a Hopkins alumnus who makes us all enormously proud.

Although Linc has never been far from Hopkins and, in fact just completed a ten-year term as a member of the Hopkins Committee of Trustees, please join me in welcoming Linc Caplan back to his school.