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Across the Aisle
IGP’s Across the Aisle series features discussions between prominent domestic and global leaders with opposing viewpoints, with the goal of modeling for students the possibility for and value of respectful civil discourse, which is presently all too rare in our society.
IGP hosted an Across the Aisle discussion featuring Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, David N. Dinkins Professor of Practice in Urban and Public Affairs and an IGP Faculty Advisory Board member at Columbia SIPA.
IGP hosted an Across the Aisle discussion featuring legal scholars Thomas H. Lee, Leitner Family Professor of International Law at Fordham Law School and Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the US Department of Defense in the first Trump administration, and Gillian Metzger, Harlan Fiske Stone Professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia Law School and Acting Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel in the Biden Administration.
IGP hosted an Across the Aisle discussion featuring, for the first time, an on-stage dialogue between 67th Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former senator from New York and IGP Cofounder, and 70th Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former director of the CIA and IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow.
Two former US Trade Representatives from across the political spectrum—Mike Froman, 17th US Trade Representative under President Obama, and Robert Lighthizer, 18th US Trade Representative under President Trump—shared insights from their time at the negotiating table while reflecting on how to solve some of the toughest issues around trade, from navigating tariffs to building greater resilience in global supply chains to managing digital commerce. SIPA Dean Emerita Merit Janow moderated the conversation.
With the national debt soaring past $37 trillion, the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates, how does America’s unsustainable fiscal outlook affect our economic future? In partnership with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service, IGP hosted an Across the Aisle conversation with Jack Lew, 76th US Secretary of the Treasury, professor of international and public affairs, and IGP Faculty Policy Director at Columbia SIPA, and Steven Mnuchin, 77th US Secretary of the Treasury, exploring challenges and possible solutions to strengthen America’s economy. This event was moderated by Spring 2025 GU Politics Fellow and Associated Press Reporter Meg Kinnard.
The Hon. Roy K. Altman, US District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida and IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow, and the Hon. Steve Higginson, Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, discuss the purpose and function of the judiciary in American democracy in this panel moderated by Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.
Richard Clarida, former assistant secretary of the US Treasury for economic policy and IGP Affiliated Faculty member; Abby Joseph Cohen, professor at Columbia Business School and former chief US investment strategist at Goldman Sachs; Ben Harris, vice president and director of the Economic Studies program and director of the Retirement Security Project at Brookings; and Betsey Stevenson, former chief economist of the US Department of Labor, discuss the role of the economy on the US presidential election in this panel moderated by the host of What Next: TBD and contributor to The Atlantic, Lizzie O'Leary.
Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, and American Enterprise Institute Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies Kori Schake discuss the major foreign policy challenges facing the next US president in this panel moderated by IGP Faculty Scholar and Faculty Advisory Board member Timothy Naftali.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), co-chairs of the bipartisan, bicameral Paid Family Leave Working Group, and professors Jane Waldfogel and Sandra Black, discuss recent bicameral and bipartisan progress on national paid leave policies and the work remaining for the 118th Congress and beyond.
Ambassador Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs; IGP Inaugural Carnegie Distinguished Fellow Ambassador Robert O’Brien, former national security advisor; Dr. Julia Nesheiwat, former deputy and acting special presidential envoy for hostage affairs; Jason Rezaian, Washington Post columnist; and Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker Sean Penn discuss hostage diplomacy in a conversation moderated by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Former White House Chiefs of Staff Ron Klain and Mick Mulvaney discuss experiences in the White House in a discussion moderated by Amna Nawaz, coanchor of PBS NewsHour.
![To kick off the “Across the Aisle” series, Larry Hogan, the Republican former governor of Maryland (at left), joined Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York (at right). Andrea Mitchell of NBC News moderated. [photo: Shahar Azran]](/sites/igp/files/styles/16_9_637x359/public/2023-10/APPROVED%20across%20the%20aisle%20hogan%20mitchell%20hochul%201131_shahar.jpg.jpeg?itok=DvANnKYQ)
Kathy Hochul, the Democratic governor of New York and Larry Hogan, the Republican former governor of Maryland, discuss the need for more bipartisan consensus on issues like law enforcement, gun rights, and the integrity of voting in a conversation moderated by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News.