Editor’s note: Peter Schjeldahl died on October 21, 2022, the day that this issue of the Voice went to press. You can read his obituary in the New York Times, as well as a tribute by New Yorker editor David Remnick.
Two Carleton alumni join a distinguished list of Pulitzer Prize finalists and winners.
In early May, Columbia University announced the 2022 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists.
Peter Schjeldahl ’64, the New Yorker’s resident art critic, was named a finalist in Criticism for “accessible and dedicated” arts writing “that introduces or revisits painters, institutions and movements, offering tender appreciations and unflinching dissents.”
Joseph Shapiro ’75, a news investigations correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR), and Eli Hager, then staff writer for the Marshall Project, were co-finalists in National Reporting for “powerful” journalism “that exposed how local government agencies throughout America quietly pocketed Social Security benefits intended for children in foster care.”
“It is extraordinary to win a Pulitzer nomination,” says freelance journalist Robert Strauss ’73, and “to have two [nominees] from a place that—when Joe and Peter were at Carleton—had about 1,000 students makes those of us in journalism just plain proud.”
The seven Schjeldahl columns chosen by the Pulitzer Board, all from the New Yorker’s Art World section, are representative of his clear, honest, and personable writing style. In “My Struggle with Cézanne,” for example, the critic wrestles with his own impatience and discomfort with the “inarguably great artist.” In “The Pioneering Feminism of Niki de Saint Phalle,” he explores the French-American avant-gardist’s two aesthetic phases—“feminist rage” and a “celebration of womanhood”—and argues the late–20th century artist was both vitally important and ahead of her time. In “When a Museum Feels Like Home,” Schjeldahl fondly describes his favorite museum, the Frick Collection in New York City, as “pre-loved” and “toasty” warm, and smartly argues for the power of its unchronological layout and episodic style.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” Schjeldahl says. “I never really thought I would be in line for [a Pulitzer]. It was a pleasant shock. But then I’ve been doing it for close to 60 years, and you know, eventually I guess they run out of other people to give it to!”
The three nominated stories co-authored by Shapiro and Hager were hosted online by both NPR and the Marshall Project, a news organization that focuses on the U.S. criminal justice system. “Foster Care Agencies Take Millions of Dollars Owed to Kids. Most Children Have No Idea,” introduces readers to Malerie, Tristen, Katrina, Alex, Ethan, and Mateo—six foster youth who say the state of Alaska pocketed thousands of dollars that belonged to them. Their case studies, the reporters found, are indicative of the sorts of loopholes that exist across the country.
“States and cities . . . even hire private agencies to figure out which kids are eligible for the checks,” Shapiro reports. “Then they apply for them in the child’s name—usually without telling them—and then cash the checks. The money doesn’t get set aside for extras for that child. It goes back to the state or county, usually straight to the general treasury. These kids are, in effect, paying for their own foster care.”
“Were You Ever in Foster Care? Here’s How to Find Out if the Government Took Your Money,” is a step-by-step guide for foster kids as they figure out if they are entitled to benefits, and accompanies “These States Take Money Meant for Foster Children,” which includes specific data on foster care benefits from every state.
“Many children and youth in foster care are entitled to Social Security benefit checks,” Shapiro explains. “But child welfare agencies cash the checks [instead]. It’s an unfair practice but little known, even in child welfare circles. I wanted to do the reporting so people would know about this extra burden we place on foster children, who already face some of the longest odds of any kids.”
Peter Schjeldahl left Carleton before earning his diploma, following his restless, artistic spirit to live in Paris and then New York City. “I was a terrible student,” he says, “but I worked my way to newspaper reporter in my early 20s. I was always a poet and fell into the New York poetry world, which at that point was coextensive with the art world. Most of the poets wrote out criticism for art magazines, so I started doing it. People liked how I did it and asked me to do it again. I educated myself in public, never having taken an art course, which was a very painful way to learn. But you remember the lessons very well, and I’m still at it.”
In 1998, after spending eight years writing art criticism for the Village Voice weekly newspaper, Schjeldahl joined the New Yorker. His work has also appeared in Artforum, Art in America, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times’ arts section and magazine. In 2015, he received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Carleton. “My daughter told [my grandson] that Papa was going to get an award from the college he dropped out of,” Schjeldahl says with a laugh, “and he said, ‘Wouldn’t they want to keep that a secret?’”
Like Schjeldahl, Shapiro says he’s thrilled by the Pulitzer nomination, especially because it will help magnify the results of his reporting. “It’s a great honor to get that recognition from the Pulitzers,” Shapiro says. “Even better, the stories are creating positive change for foster youth. New York City announced it will stop taking survivor’s benefits from foster youth. Other cities and states have taken steps, too.”
Shapiro’s coverage of unequal justice systems and health and disability issues for NPR aligns well with the Marshall Project’s core mission: exposing institutional wrongs that impact prisoners and their families to spur legal, legislative, and community action. He regularly collaborates with the nonprofit and has worked with staff writer Christie Thompson on multiple investigative stories on the problems with solitary confinement in America’s penal system. (After working with the project for six years, Hager now writes for ProPublica, covering issues affecting children and teens in the Southwest.)
Before joining NPR, where he’s been for 21 years, Shapiro spent 19 years at U.S. News & World Report as a senior writer on social policy and served as the magazine’s Rome bureau chief, a White House correspondent, and congressional reporter.
Shapiro’s and Schjeldahl’s nominated works are not only praiseworthy, says Strauss, but both of his fellow alumni embody the best of a broad-based, liberal arts education.
“For parents who worry about their kids who have degrees in American studies and English,” he says, tongue firmly in cheek. “Well, these two are to your worry.”
Pulitzer and Carleton
The Pulitzer Prizes were established by Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian American journalist and newspaper publisher, who left money to Columbia University upon his death in 1911. A portion of his bequest was used to found the School of Journalism in 1912 and establish the Pulitzer Prizes, which were first awarded in 1917. Since then, multiple Carls have been honored as finalists and winners. They include:
Michael Gartner ’60, winner of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing • Kai Bird ’73, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography • Laurie Sheck ’75, finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry • Catherine Manegold ’77, winner of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in Spot News Reporting as part of the staff of the New York Times • T. J. Stiles ’86, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for History • Jonathan Capehart ’89, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing as part of the editorial board of the New York Daily News • Loren Holmes ’03, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service as part of the staff of the Anchorage Daily News