CONVENTIONAL WISDOM held that South Africa could never be home to a civil society after apartheid, but Archbishop Desmond Tutu never stopped believing that morality and leadership could ignite and sustain change.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

As keynote speaker, Tutu, the Robert W. Woodruff Visiting Professor of Theology, set the stage for the Sam Nunn NationsBank Policy Forum, “Leadership, Values, and Ethics: Educating Global Citizens for a New Millennium,” a conference on higher education’s role in fostering citizenship in the next century.

“This is a moral universe, [one that must be led by those] willing to jeopardize their leadership positions by adopting stances unpopular with a constituency,” Tutu said.

He called for “epoch-making initiatives” from the nearly two dozen panelists who would assemble the next day before nearly eight hundred business, government, and civic leaders; students; and other attendees for three days in March.

Highlights of the event

Presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley narrowed Tutu’s focus during his own remarks. “The university is not a corporate training ground for the marketplace but serves a much broader purpose,” Bradley said. “We must be aware of its spiritual dimension and encourage it.”

Emory Trustee Sam Nunn ’61C-’62L, who served in the U.S. Senate for twenty-four years before co-chairing the National Commission on Civic Renewal, said college campuses are microcosms of the larger community. “The critical issue is how our nation can strengthen the civic ties that hold us together in a time of rapid technological advancement and increasing social and cultural diversity,” Nunn said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala praised universities for increasingly placing students in leadership roles. “Civic renewal needs public institutions, and universities can change attitudes, but how to do it is a profound question,” she said.

Ira Harkavy, director of the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, decried the insular thinking that can infect universities, creating what he called “islands of sparkling affluence in seas of desperation. . . . Teaching students to become citizens can’t be done in isolation.”

Emory Provost Rebecca S. Chopp closed the event by merging historical significance with immediate goals. “Education and citizenship have traveled together throughout history. Our quest is to bring together education and civic society—partners now seemingly divided, though the link between civic life and higher education is intrinsic to the nature of life in a democratic society.”

Final policy goals and recommendations compiled from the forum will be published in the fall. Visit the forum’s website for more detailed information.—G.F.