AMHERST — Forgetting to do the reading, getting a bad grade or sleeping through class begins to look pretty mild when your professor is known as the “master of disasters.”
Kenneth Feinberg teaches a University of Massachusetts Amherst course titled “Historical Responses to Unique Catastrophes: The Role of Public Compensation in American History,” which draws on his experience as special master of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund and administering many other similar funds.
Feinberg, 70 and a 1967 UMass graduate, normally teaches the class through the video chat program Skype, but on Wednesday he traveled to campus to work with students in person.
The topic of Wednesday’s class was New Zealand’s tort system, a national tax that funds payments to victims of automobile accidents. Reminding the class that New Zealand has “more sheep than people,” Feinberg asked the 17 students whether such a system would ever fly in the United States.
“What about the argument that historically there is no way the American people would ever buy into the New Zealand tort system because we grew up as a country as risk-takers, as self-reliant?” he asked.
The students, all in the honors program, took different positions. One argued that insurers and lawyers would oppose a system that took away business from them. Another stated that Americans today are more skeptical of special interests and more willing to support programs for the greater good. A third said that many people would not see an immediate benefit to such a program, but would see a tax increase.
“Lower-class citizens would opt for the program,” said Nella Rasic, a senior journalism major from Wellfleet. “They might be unfamiliar with the court system and not have the means for a lawyer and don’t have time to wait for money.”
During a break in class, Feinberg said the topic is an important one for study in historical context.
“We’ve seen in the last 10 years examples of public compensation like the 9/11 Victim Compensation fund and a fund to compensate uranium miners or innocent victims of radiation poisoning,” he said. “It’s a good idea for students to review and analyze under what circumstances the government steps in with special compensation programs.”
This is Feinberg’s second course with UMass conducted largely through Skype, and he said both have gone successfully.
He said he hopes students leave his class with a better understanding of public policy and why nations sometimes decide to intervene on behalf of victims of catastrophes.
“History offers a valuable guide to understanding contemporary America,” Feinberg said. “If you have a better understanding of history, you are better able to evaluate contemporary needs.”
Rasic said she enjoys the discussions in class, and that she and her classmates have gone over a dozen examples of public compensation. For her the most memorable was the 9/11 victim fund.
“It was one of the ones we studied that he administered himself and we read from his own book,” she said, adding that it was an event she remembered well. She was 9 at the time.
Rasic said she plans to attend law school before getting a job in journalism.
For Feinberg, who was recently named administrator of Volkswagen’s program to address claims related to its falsification of emissions data on some diesel engines, his own start in such programs came following the Vietnam War.
A judge appointed Feinberg to design a compensation system for soldiers who were affected by the harmful chemical Agent Orange.
“After I did that, everyone started calling me,” he said.
Dave Eisenstadter can be reached at deisen@gazettenet.com.