Barbra Streisand funds UCLA academic center to study climate, ‘truth,’ intimacy and art

Just call it Barbra 101? The world of Barbra Streisand has just expanded.

The iconic singer and performer has funded a major academic center at the University of California at Los Angeles, complete with a very specific course of study of importance to Ms. Streisand herself.

The new institute will feature “four research centers that address her concerns,” the university said in a press release.

They are the Center for Truth in the Public Sphere, the Center for the Impact of Climate Change, the Center for the Dynamics of Intimacy & Power Between Women & Men, and the Center for the Impact of Art on the Culture.

“The first area of study and advocacy will focus on truth in the public sphere, a subject which Streisand is especially passionate about. Speakers and research will delve into urgent and existential threats to democracy, and examine how lies and the proliferation of disinformation can destroy a civic sense of decency, as well as entire countries,” the university said.

“Building upon her decades of work as an artist and activist, Barbra Streisand’s visionary act of generosity will enable UCLA scholars from many different fields to collaborate on research that will move society forward,” the university’s chancellor Gene Block said, on announcing the new endeavor this week.

“It is my great pleasure to be able to fund an institute at UCLA, one of the world’s premier universities,” Ms. Streisand said in a statement.

“This will be a place where future scholars can discuss, engage and argue about the most important issues of the day; where innovators will speak truth to power, help save our planet, and make glass ceilings for women an anachronism; and in the process give us a chance to have a brighter, more promising future,” she noted.