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Report of the President REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT REPORT OF THE

Refl ections on Encounters With Three Cultures by Vartan Gregorian

ceiver and a giver—and every step of the way has Introduction made for an exhilarating and inspiring journey.

At fi rst as a foreign student, then as an 1764, 1895 and 1911. Those dates represent immigrant, then as a citizen who was born and quite a span of time. The fi rst is the year that raised in Iran and spent his secondary school Brown University was founded; the second is years in Lebanon, I was always keenly aware the year that The New York Public Library of being an outsider, even though, over time, was established and the third is the year that I gradually became an “insider,” too. During Andrew Carnegie created the philanthropic the past fi fty years, since I attended Stanford foundation he named Carnegie Corporation of University as a freshman, I have always been New York. interested not only in the outward, visible It has been my privilege to serve the three structure of organizations, but also their tex- above-named institutions, each representative ture, their idiosyncrasies, and their individual of a different nonprofi t culture, each with a dif- institutional cultures. Furthermore, my career ferent structure, different history, and different has been such that I have seen institutions both dynamics. While serving these institutions I from below and above, from the trenches to have been both an observer and a participant, a the helm, which allowed me to observe not spectator and an actor, a reader and a lender, a re- only their individual segments but also to un- derstand how all the parts fi t together to form important commonality, though, is that all were their whole structure and support their overall founded to serve our society and our democ- mission. In writing this essay, it is my inten- racy, and all remain dedicated to that purpose. tion to share my observations, and to refl ect Synthesizing what I have observed and on and analyze the nature of the three cultures learned over decades of service in three differ- in which I have spent my career: libraries, the ent cultures provides a major challenge. Hence, academy, and the fi eld of philanthropy. These though I cannot promise to be brief, I will do refl ections are based primarily on my experi- my best to be thorough. ences as the head of The New York Public Library, Brown University and now, Carnegie Corporation of New York. I hope that some of my observations as an outsider/insider will pro- vide useful insights and the kind of fi rst-hand knowledge that may assist those who have taken or will take similar journeys especially now, when the role of nonprofi ts is so essential to the advancement of progress in our nation’s 3 social, cultural, and economic domains and when the role of foundations, in particular, seems to be in the national spotlight.

Naturally, I have not drawn my observa- tions exclusively from the three institutions that I have headed. I have also relied on my previous experiences and impressions during the years that I was a professor at San Francisco State College, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Pennsylvania. However, I have organized this essay along chronologi- The New York Public Library cal lines, from my time at that most iconic of American libraries, The New York Public One’s opening lines are always indicative of Library, followed by Brown University. Finally, what one thinks of the character of an institu- I will examine the nature and scope of philan- tion. For me, The New York Public Library thropy in the United States as seen through is much more than a cultural institution; I the lens of Carnegie Corporation of New York, consider libraries to be among the central edu- which I joined as president in 1997. cational resources of any civilization, includ- ing ours, which is why, in 1981, when I fi rst The experiences and knowledge I have addressed the staff of the Library as their new acquired at each institution have had an impact president,1 I called them “my fellow educators.” on my experiences at the next. While each is Walking into the Library that morning I had different from the others, they do have com- mon traits, common problems, and they often 1 Vartan Gregorian served as president of The New York confront common issues. Perhaps their most Public Library from 1981 to 1989. thought about the important role that libraries As to the many subjects I studied over the had played in my life and about my respect for years, while I felt that I was caught between librarians, not simply as keepers of books and dilettantism and expertise, my unwavering collections of materials but as true dissemina- interest in each and all of them made libraries a tors—even champions—of knowledge. Along natural habitat for someone like me. The New with teachers and other public servants, they York Public Library provided a nearly perfect are modest, unsung civic heroes, who day after home replete with seemingly endless opportu- day, year after year, answer questions, provide nities to satisfy my intellectual curiosity. At the guidance along the pathways of research and same time, I came to appreciate the obvious literature, and catalogue, organize and analyze differences between the world of the university, information, turning what might seem like which I had just left, and the world of librar- ordinary tasks into something sublime. ies. To begin with, no one can graduate from a library. There are no entrance or exit exams. In- I have always been in awe of libraries and dividuals come and go, doing their work, their have been in love with books since I was a research, or just reading for pleasure. It was child. Later, I became a regular habitué of fascinating for me to walk through the Library bookstores particularly those that sell used and see all the different individuals who used 4 books, an addiction that I know I share with the different collections—it was like having a many people around the world for whom window onto a true microcosm of humanity. prowling the aisles of a used bookstore is some- People of different ages, genders, races, appear- thing close to going on a great treasure hunt. ance and dress took up almost every chair in When I arrived at The New York Public the Library or were bent over a book, a docu- Library from the University of Pennsylvania, ment or other material at almost every table. where I had served in both academic and Unlike universities, whose constituents are administrative positions from 1972 until 1981, fi nite, The New York Public Library’s constitu- I was no stranger to libraries. After all, as an ents were, potentially, everybody. The Library undergraduate and graduate student at Stan- did not have any specifi c or particular groups ford University, I had more or less lived in the or individuals as its clientele: those who used library as I pursued my education, which fo- the Library’s facilities were an ever-changing cused on history and the humanities. In subse- cross-section of humanity who came from the quent years, as my interests widened to include city, from all across the country as well as from fi elds such as European intellectual history, the many foreign nations. In that connection, one history of the Middle East and of the modern of the many features of the Research Library Caucasus, not to mention Afghanistan, my ap- that I found extraordinary was that one did preciation for the scope, range and richness of not have to produce scholarly credentials, iden- library collections grew. When I became dean tifi cation, or show citizenship status in order to of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the Uni- read a book or an article, or see a photograph versity of Pennsylvania, the university libraries or some other item. It was anyone’s right to became a much-beloved responsibility for me, look at and learn from the Library’s materials. as my concern was not only the quality and Even noncitizens had this same right because, breadth of material and services they offered when you walked into the Library, nobody but ensuring their future, as well. asked your status in terms of American citizen- ship, occupation, or residency. Just the fact that resources of the Library far outweighed their you showed up at the front door gave you the meager pay. When he was young, the late New right to use the Library and all its resources York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan spent and connections to the rest of the world. his Saturday afternoons shining shoes on 42nd Street and afterwards, would make his way to The Library universalized everybody. the Library’s Main Reading Room. “It was the By that I mean it served as a bridge between fi rst time I was taught that I was welcome in the individual and anything they wanted or a place of education and learning,’’ he said. “I needed to know about anything under the would go into that great marble palace and I sun—or beyond it—that human beings had would check my shoeshine box. A gentleman written, dreamed of or speculated about. I in a brown cotton jacket would take it as if I’d thought about that notion even more than I passed over an umbrella and a bowler hat.’’3 had in the past after the Library’s card cata- logue was computerized because I realized, Because the Library had so many grateful then, that whether a person was in the Main benefi ciaries, I knew we did not have to rely Research Library on 42nd Street or at any local only on our talented public affairs and develop- branch library, they could look for material ment offi cers to tell the Library’s story. Others in any one of the many different collections did. Individuals such as Senator Moynihan 5 throughout the system and fi nd it with ease. told it for us, and told it frequently, to all kinds In fact, computerization allowed someone in of audiences. From time to time, though, I search of information to peruse not only the did hear particularly special or unusual tales Library’s research collections (which today about how the Library had infl uenced lives number more than 40 million items includ- and events. For instance, early in the twentieth ing books, maps, audio recordings, fi lms, century, Pan American Airways sent research- videotapes, CDs, DVDs, sheet music, prints, ers to the Library to help seek out routes to the clippings and materials for the blind2) but also Far East. Edwin Land did scientifi c research to gain access to the collections of other librar- leading to his invention of instant photography ies across the globe. In many ways, the Library in what is now The New York Public Library’s enabled those who used it to transcend the Science, Industry and Business Division. Law limitations of shelves and walls, of geography, fi rms were heavy users of the Patents and of even space and time. It served as a bridge Trademarks collection, one of the largest in the to the whole world, and provided a link to the United States. The Library’s famous picture past and a pathway to the future. collection (which today includes an online database of over 30,000 images from books, I was curious about the historical role and magazines and newspapers as well as 450,000 legacy of the library and was delighted to learn digitized images from primary sources and such interesting vignettes as the fact that, in printed rarities including illuminated manu- their youth, the actor James Cagney, former scripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare New York Community Trust president Her- prints and photographs, illustrated books and bert B. West and novelist Cynthia Ozick all printed ephemera), was, and is still extensively served as Library pages. They were paid very used by those in the advertising, fashion and little but the value of their exposure to the vast

2 The New York Public Library, Systemwide Statistics, 3 “The ‘People’s Library’ to Celebrate as a Cathedral of www.nypl.org/pr/objects/pdf/2003nyplfacts.pdf. Knowledge for All,” The New York Times, May 19, 1986. design fi elds, not to mention architects, interior can represent both an anchor to the country decorators and others. Notable users included and the culture they left behind and their fi rst the actress Grace Kelly, who read about Vic- stable footing in their new land. torian furniture, and Norbert Pearlroth, who Let me illustrate this point by using as did much of the research for Robert Ripley’s an example The New York Public Library’s syndicated Believe It or Not newspaper series.4,5 Dorot Jewish Division, a major collection Even Leon Trotsky spent some time at the that I found to be an extraordinarily “ecu- Library during the few months in 1917 that he menical” place where orthodox, conservative, lived in New York City. reform, radical and atheist Jews—and even What also struck me as being particularly non-Jews—met, forgetting their differences unique about the Library was that, as one of because they were in the presence of a common the cultural and intellectual centers of New cultural heritage. Over the years, the Dorot York, it helped the city serve as the “capital” Division has also served some notable readers of many diasporas. I was, for example, aston- and researchers: Bob Dylan used the Jewish ished to fi nd out that New York had around division to explore possible Jewish origins of 300 ethnic publications that serve a tapestry Indians in the Southwestern United States. In 6 of ethnic communities which, in turn, serve as the early part of the century, when the library bridges to their countries of origin. The city’s was home to immigrant scholars and writers, great library is itself an embodiment of all the Isaac Bashevis Singer read Yiddish and Hebrew diasporas that have brought people of every books there for his weekly column for the Jew- race and ethnic and national origin to our ish Daily Forward.6 country. It is a microcosm of America in all its The same intensity of work, research and diversity, and its holdings refl ect that fact. It is study could be found in many other parts of also a refl ection of the city’s cycling waves of the Library, such as the Asian and Middle immigration. One can imagine, for instance, Eastern Division and the Slavic and Baltic that a demographer studying the city’s popula- Division, where a multitude of scholars from tion shifts over the past hundred years might different ethnic backgrounds, with different look through the lens of The New York Public ideologies and outlooks, poured over precious Library system, particularly its local branches, documents, intent on deciphering secrets about and fi nd out how German-language materi- ancient military confl icts, resolving literary als were gradually replaced on the shelves by questions, retracing the progress of the Bol- books, magazines and newspapers in a vari- shevik Revolution, investigating the Stalinist ety of East European languages and then by period, the Russian avant-garde movement a plethora of media representing a veritable and Cold War intrigues. Peeking into these explosion of languages including Greek, Chi- rooms, one saw great concentration on the face nese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Hindi, Russian, of every person, each one studying the special Japanese, Arabic, etc. For immigrants, libraries book, article or letter that would solve some 4 ibid. mystery for them, prove a point or just satisfy 5 “[Pearlroth] usually worked ten hours a day, six days a week in the Library’s Main Reading Room. It was their curiosity. In these rooms, one also felt the estimated by The New York Public Library that Pearlroth examined some 7,000 books every year, meaning that he immeasurable depth and presence of human researched in more than 350,000 books during decades of work on Believe It or Not!” Source: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Norbert_Pearlroth. 6 op. cit. “The ‘People’s Library’.” history in all its variations and dimensions, and thousand—writers for whom the Library has with all its tragedies, triumphs and mysteries. always been there when we needed it,” Caro has said.8 Many other writers have also noted Another arm of the Library that was—and their debt to The New York Public Library: remains—a great source of pride to both the E. L. Doctorow, Norman Mailer, Isaac Bashe- city and the Library is the Schomburg Center vis Singer, Elizabeth Bishop, Barbara Tuch- for Research in Black Culture, a national re- man, Rachel Carson, Arthur Schlesinger, John search library devoted to collecting, preserving Updike, Betty Friedan, Theodore H. White, and providing access to resources documenting and Mary Gordon who said, “It’s like walking the experiences of peoples of African descent into a cathedral…It’s a place that represents throughout the world. The Center’s original peace and security. It reminds me that what materials came from the personal collec- I do in the world is a valuable and important tion of the distinguished Puerto Rican-born thing to do.’’ Alfred Kazin, who researched his black scholar and bibliophile, Arturo Alfonso fi rst book there in the 1930s, immortalized the Schomburg. In 1926, the Schomburg Center Library in his book, New York Jew.9 “When- gained international prominence when its ever I was free to read,’’ he wrote, “the great resources were combined with the Division of library seemed free to receive me.’’10 Negro Literature, History and Prints, which 7 opened on January 14, 1905, in a library build- The Library also welcomed academics of ing on 135th Street in Manhattan, constructed all stripes, including independent scholars and with funds donated by Andrew Carnegie. (In eminent professors from all over the world, 1951, the branch library, now on 136th Street, as well as the vast spectrum of colleges and was renamed for poet Countee Cullen, an universities in the New York metropolitan area. important fi gure of the Harlem Renaissance.) One special relationship in this category is Today, the Schomburg Center contains over with the Graduate Center of the City Univer- 5,000,000 items and provides services and pro- sity of New York, which houses the elite Ph.D. grams for constituents from the United States programs of the entire City University system. and abroad. It was originally located right across the street on Fifth Avenue so that The New York Public But of course the Library is more than the Library could serve as its library.11 sum of its magnifi cent parts: it is also a living, breathing institution, always busy, always For me, as well as for everyone else work- working, always alive. For me, one exciting ing in the Library, it was exhilarating to see bonus that came with being at the Library was the multitude of users coming through the meeting people I had only read or heard about, doors and the level of activity taking place in particularly writers. The Library had spe- every room, on every fl oor during every hour cial rooms for writers, such as the Wertheim that the Library was open. So much learn- Study and the Frederick Lewis Allen Room, ing, so much education, so much knowledge an intimate, book-lined sanctuary that has and scholarship being absorbed, created, and provided workspace for writers such as Robert 8 http://www.nypl.org/university/storyexcerpts.html 7 Caro, who wrote much of The Power Broker 9 Knopf, 1978. 10 op. cit. “The ‘People’s Library’.” there. “I am only one of a thousand—or ten 11 In 1999, the Graduate Center moved to the landmark building that was the site of the former B. Altman 7 The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York department store on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue in (Knopf; 1974). Manhattan. passed along. One felt a tremendous responsi- so new ways of generating funding for the bility to the institution and to those who used Library was a constant challenge. Many in- and loved it—as well as to those who were yet novations, including all the new technologies to discover the richness of the resources within that were implemented at the Library, certainly its walls—but also saw great opportunities enhanced service to the institution’s users to be a “good ancestor” to those who would but did not save money. In fact, they usually follow after by strengthening the Library and increased costs because they required new increasing its ability to serve the citizens of the staff expertise, new technicians, new computer city and the nation, as well. hardware and other equipment, new software, etc. And it wasn’t just the four research centers A Democratic Institution in Manhattan13 that had to be supported but From the fi rst day I walked into the Library as also the 85 branches in the Bronx, Manhat- its president, it was clear to me that the 42nd tan and Staten Island. (New York City’s other Street building was not just a repository of boroughs, Queens and Brooklyn, each have books and collections but that its history,12 its separate library systems.) purpose, the way it operated and the diverse Each of the research centers and all of the populations it served all went into endowing 8 branches were always striving to serve not it with the majesty of a great civic monument only their “regular” users but also new ones that was a living, working symbol of American who came through the doors every day, which democracy. The Library bore witness to the meant that while the Library was still a rich openness of our nation, of New York, and resource for immigrants trying to bridge the of our society. It was, and always had been, gap between their experiences in the United a place where the social elite and the general States and their country of origin, there were populace met as equals and had equal access now additional newcomers to serve. Differ- to the treasures within. In the presence of the ent branch libraries in different communities Library’s vast storehouse of knowledge, all throughout the city found themselves with could be equally humbled by what they did not patrons who had emigrated from such a variety know and equally elevated by what they could of places as Asia, Africa, Central Europe, Latin learn—and everything they could learn was America and the many countries and regions theirs, for free. that had once been part of the Soviet Union. Institutions such as The New York Public And because the branch libraries were integral Library, however, are only free because people to the community, pivotal to the acculturation have decided to subsidize the library’s opera- process for newcomers, after-school havens for tions by contributing to it as taxpayers and as eager students, and lynchpins of local cultural individual benefactors. But even if costs are and social events, when people walked through met one year, they are sure to rise the next, the doors of the libraries in their communities they found much more than books. The librar- 12 In 1895, New York City’s two important, semi-public ies provided English-as-a-second-language libraries, the Astor and Lennox libraries, agreed to join with the Tilden Trust, which had been bequeathed classes, children’s programs, computer training, money by the once-governor of New York, Samuel J. Tilden (1814-1886), to “establish and maintain a free 13 The Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The library and reading room in the city of New York,” to New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, form a new entity that would be known as The New Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center; the Schomburg York Public Library. The cornerstone for the new library Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, was laid in 1902. Industry and Business Library. as well as introductory courses on genealogy, constantly seeking new ways to serve their typing, map reading, stocks and mutual funds, publics—which were, and are, just about patents and trademarks, and much more. In everyone. That was among the reasons why, that connection, it is important to note that for when choosing Trustees for The New York some immigrants who may not have had the Public Library, the possibilities were endless opportunity to receive much education in their because serving the Library meant demonstrat- homeland and were now struggling, as well, to ing appreciation and loyalty not only to the get by in a completely new environment, the City of New York, but also to the nation as Library provided a dignifi ed and respectful well as to the spirit of democracy. place to study. For some people who might be The Library’s Board was made up of people embarrassed to reveal their lack of education, from all walks of life: writers, industrialists, it’s easier to say to others that “I’m going to the socialites, business leaders, lawyers—all of library,” rather than admit the need to go to lit- them serving the Library without pay or any eracy classes. Particularly for those individuals other material reward while also contributing who personally, or culturally, felt it important to it fi nancially. to “save face” in this manner, the Library of- fered a safe haven to learn on their own. Let me illustrate the uniquely democratic 9 character of both the Library and its Trust- It’s important to remember that even today, ees by focusing on three rare and remarkably libraries across the nation continue to play this civic-minded individuals who served on the role. And perhaps their contributions are even Library’s Board. more central to acculturation now that our nation is experiencing the largest immigrant Mrs. Brooke Astor, the Library’s Board and refugee resettlement since the Industrial Chair and later, Honorary Chair, was regarded Revolution. Cities up and down the East and by everyone as the doyenne of New York West coasts, across the Great Plains and all society. She also provided a living link to the across the South—rather than just the gateway Library’s Astor14, Tilden and Lennox collec- cities of the past such as New York and Los tions. The sophisticated, determined, gracious Angeles—are the new, nontraditional settling and generous Mrs. Astor made the Library not grounds where foreign-born newcomers fi nd only a fashionable obligation on the part of jobs, housing, and affordable prices. In each of New York high society but also a noble cause these places, where both new immigrants and that transcended class and wealth. She set the long-time citizens—schoolchildren and adults standard for recognizing that The New York alike—may not have the ability to buy laptops Public Library was not an institution to which and home computers or to pay cell phone bills one deigned to make charitable contributions or purchase iPods on which to download news but rather that it was a public trust deserving and information, libraries are still the com- of investment by every philanthropist and phil- mon ground where, as Andrew Carnegie said, anthropic organization because it encompassed democracy and learning intertwine. the entire spectrum of culture and education available in our nation. Through her founda- In essence, the research libraries and all the circulating branches were the most democratic 14 The Astor Library, which was merged into the of institutions, open and available to all who New York Public Library in 1895, was founded by a $400,000 bequest of John Jacob Astor (1763–1848). wanted to use them. The libraries were also See also footnote 12. tion, she not only donated more than $24 and functioned as a great engine of democracy, million to the Library but got directly involved personifying America’s dedication to openness, in other ways, such as visiting the branches, freedom, and a world of opportunity. sitting with parents and grandparents and Brooke Astor and Richard Salomon were a talking to them about their children, reading great combination, but there was a third actor to children and chatting with the librarians. who made this group into a powerful triumvi- Just giving money was not enough for her, rate working on behalf of the Library, and that since noblesse oblige was not at all her style of was Andrew Heiskell, a giant in the publishing philanthropy. Her philosophy was that she industry. When I fi rst met him, he was the never gave money unless she visited whatever outgoing CEO of Time, Inc., a member of project or institution was the potential recipi- the Harvard Corporation and the incoming ent and thoroughly acquainted herself with its chairman of The New York Public Library’s mission, goals and accomplishments. Participa- Board of Trustees. Born in Naples, Italy to tion was essential to Mrs. Astor, as was, in the American expatriate parents, he spent the case of The New York Public Library, making fi rst twenty years of his life leading a nomadic it her personal responsibility to bear witness existence, with his mother and sister, a life that to its greatness. She was determined to send 10 took them from hotel to hotel in Italy, France, a message far and wide that the Library and Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Though its branches were there to educate, serve and he had occasional tutors, he didn’t go to school enhance the lives of all individuals striving for until he was ten and he never graduated from wisdom and knowledge, and that they also had college. He knew nothing about America when a special role to play in the lives of families and he arrived here at the age of twenty, at the their children—those who would be the lead- height of the Depression, but ten years later ers of tomorrow—and hence, investing in the he had become the publisher of Life, the most Library meant investing in the future. successful news magazine in the United States. Richard B. Salomon was, to the best of my For Andrew, duty, honor, service, country knowledge, the fi rst Jewish Chairman of the and humanity were permanent values. Unlike Board in the history of The New York Public Brooke Astor and Richard Salomon, Andrew Library, serving from 1977 to 1981. Known as Heiskell was very outspoken. But what he did “Charles of the Ritz” because he was the for- have in common with Astor and Salomon was mer chairman and chief executive of Lanvin- that he cared deeply about The New York Pub- Charles of the Ritz, Inc., he launched many ca- lic Library because it represented the freedom reers including those of Vidal Sassoon and Yves to learn, to become educated and to exploit the St. Laurent. He was a larger-than-life fi gure, opportunities that life offers. All three individ- credited with almost single-handedly “invent- uals contributed their time, their energy, their ing” Madison Avenue in terms of groundbreak- imagination, their names and their fortunes to ing packaging and marketing. In addition to supporting and strengthening the Library. his extraordinary leadership in the business A fourth leader of the Board soon emerged: world, he was a man with two great passions: Marshall Rose, who spearheaded the renova- Brown University and The New York Public tion of The New York Public Library and Library. He loved the Library because it stood transformed the former B. Altman’s depart- as a symbol of citizenship and opportunity ment store on Fifth Avenue into the $100 mil- lion Science, Industry, and Business Library. However, when I came to the Library in In addition, a unique feature of The New York 1981, its fate did not seem so well assured. In Public Library’s Board of Trustees was that the fact, as Andrew Heiskell so bluntly wrote in his cardinal of the Catholic Archdiocese of New book, Outsider, Insider: An Unlikely Success Sto- York was an ex offi cio member of the Board. ry,16 “The library was broke”—and it showed. This was because in the early part of the centu- ry, The New York Public Library had acquired Support for “The People’s Palace” the libraries of the archdiocese, hence it was With so much goodwill directed toward the customary to have the cardinal on the Board. Library, why, then, was it in a state of decline When I was president of the Library, Terence in the 1960s and 1970s? Primarily, I think Cardinal Cook was a Trustee, lending his because it had been taken for granted; it was particular political clout to the Board, as did seen as a constant in New York, a fi xture, his successor, John Cardinal O’Connor. There rather than as an institution that had to be were quite a number of other civic, cultural invested in as part of securing the city’s future. and business leaders, including representatives Libraries, arts programs in the schools, the of the mayor, the comptroller, and the City infrastructure of public buildings—these are Council who also served on the Board on an ex always among the fi rst targets of cost-savings 11 offi cio basis; their devotion to the Library was measures when a city has to balance its budget, selfl ess and their efforts on its behalf boundless. notwithstanding the real and often permanent damage this may do, not only to the programs The New York Public Library also benefi t- and institutions, but to the people they serve. ed from the professionalism and commitment This was the case in the 1970s when New of the directors, curators, librarians and staff York City was going through a deep recession. who believed passionately in the institution15 It was shocking, really, and terribly sad to see and from the efforts of the many able admin- how far into disrepair the Library had fallen istrators in other departments such as Budget, in those years. At the time that I assumed the Finance, and Public Affairs. In addition, there presidency, there was talk of bankruptcy, of were scores of volunteers who worked at the selling some of the Library’s collections, closing Library with great joy and dedication. But some branches or charging admission. Hours perhaps most of all, it was the support of the of operation had been scaled back; dust, grime public, both in New York itself and across the and decay were winning the battle to destroy nation, that gave this great, democratic and the beautiful marble and woodwork; books constantly evolving institution the chance to were being kept out of circulation because face its future with confi dence and energy. there wasn’t the manpower to catalogue them;

15 It was my privilege, during my years at the Library, to older volumes were crumbling to dust because get to know many great curators and library leaders, funding for conservation measures wasn’t avail- such as Lola Szladits, curator of the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American able. Outside, the building looked shabby and Literature; David Stam, director of the Research Libraries; Edwin Holmgren, director of the Branch neglected. Bryant Park, directly behind the Libraries; and Richard De Gennaro, former librarian Library, was a dark and derelict place, particu- of the University of Pennsylvania and later of Harvard University, who served as director of The New York larly unsafe at night. The rich holdings of the Public Library. The Library also had an extraordinary and imaginative group of development offi cers led by Library and the dedication of the librarians, Gregory Long, perhaps the best and most imaginative development leader I’ve known, who is now the president of the New York Botanical Garden. 16 Marian-Darien Press, 1998. their professionalism and their expertise were Furthermore, like all its sister libraries the main forces keeping the Library an ongo- across the nation, the Library had to adapt to ing, viable, central institution. changing times by embracing and utilizing all the new technologies that were becoming avail- Our fi rst task at the Library was to reaffi rm able—which meant not only fi nding the mon- and highlight the centrality of The New York ey to provide the budget for these innovations Public Library in the life of the city and of the but also effectively and smoothly incorporating nation. The message that the staff and Board them into the institution’s daily operations. and I, along with the Library’s many support- And in an age when individuals were testing ers, were eager to get out was that the Library out their newfound ability to access knowledge was not begging for help—it deserved not only and information online, bypassing institu- to have its infrastructure restored and replen- tions such as the Library, we had to prove to ished and all its services reinstated, it also de- the public that the Library had not become served a better and more secure future, because irrelevant; that it was, in fact, among the most its well-being refl ected the vibrance and sus- modern and contemporary of institutions. tainability of the city itself. If the Library was allowed to continue to decline, then the city In that regard, we were proud to under- 12 would also be seen as moving backwards, as score another aspect of the Library’s signifi - well. After all, the people of New York and all cance to an evolving society: its unwavering Americans were the real owners of the Library commitment to the rights of its users. The because it existed to serve them, to provide a Library has always stood—as it stands today, great archive of knowledge and education open along with the 117,000 other libraries in and free to all. the United States including 9,000 public libraries—as a guardian of Americans’ right In regard to “getting the message out,” one of free inquiry and to the privacy of their of the most important decisions we made at the searches for information. In fact, the protec- Library was prompted by my belief—shared by tion of these rights has been codifi ed by the the staff and the Board—that democracy and American Library Association, which says in excellence are not mutually exclusive; in regard the Library Bill of Rights, “Books and other to the Library, that translated into a conviction library resources should be provided for the that public institutions can have both high interest and enlightenment of all people of visibility and high standards. With that in the community the library serves. Materials mind, we set out to make the Library’s cause should not be excluded because of the origin, everybody’s cause, and we made that cause not background, or views of those contributing simply about survival but about the quality of to their creation.” Further, the Bill of Rights the Library’s survival. It would not be enough states, “Libraries should provide materials simply to keep the doors open: those doors had and information presenting all points of view to lead to the most thorough, wide-ranging on current and historical issues. Materials and eclectic collection of knowledge and infor- should not be proscribed or removed because mation—both probing deep into the past and of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”17 The poised on the cutting edge of tomorrow—that Council of the American Library Association human beings were capable of amassing.

17 Libraries: The First Amendment and Cyberspace, by Robert S. Peck (American Library Association, 2000). has also reaffi rmed the right of privacy, issuing papers, magazines, television stations—and a strong recommendation that libraries across especially, without the help of The New York the U.S. “Formally adopt a policy which Times, which took up the Library’s cause in a specifi cally recognizes its circulation records big way. Indeed, at times it seemed there was and other records identifying the name of so much coverage of the Library in the paper, library users to be confi dential in nature,” and with stories appearing almost daily, that Abe that they “Advise all librarians and library Rosenthal, the editor of the Times, complained employees that such records shall not be made to Arthur Gelb, the managing editor—not available to any agency of state, federal, or lo- necessarily jokingly—that there must have cal government…”18 been something wrong with the paper because a whole day had passed without the Times We went about our mission of telling the publishing a story about the Library. I should Library’s story in many ways, illustrating note here that Arthur Gelb did not have to how it affected the lives of children, immi- prod the reporters, however: even the jaded grants, and “ordinary citizens,” as well as the and blasé New York press corps got caught up scholars, writers, scientists, artists, and all in the Library’s struggle to reestablish itself as the others who would have been lost without central to the life of the city and the nation. this irreplaceable library. We also pointed 13 The New York Daily News, the New York Post, out that, pre-Internet, The New York Public Time, Newsweek, Women’s Wear Daily, even Library served as the morgue for many news- Rolling Stone, not to mention scores of fashion papers including The New York Times that did magazines and journals dealing with librar- not have a back-issues archives open to the ies, the arts, and culture, all featured positive, public.19 We told publishers that we were one supportive features about the Library because it of their most important links to the public, was their Library as much as anybody else’s. because people who learn, through libraries, to love reading, are future buyers of books. It wasn’t just the press, or just wealthy and And we told everybody who would listen that, eminent individuals who came to the aid of the as Andrew Carnegie said, the free library “is Library. A study by Independent Sector has re- the cradle of democracy.” vealed that, contrary to conventional wisdom, low-income people donate a disproportionately This was a message that resonated, that larger percentage of their income than do the everyone seemed to understand. There was wealthy, which comes as no surprise to me little doubt that the Library deserved the time, because I certainly found this to be the case in attention and fi nancial contributions from regard to the Library. One of the most moving everyone who could afford even the small- donations that ever came over our transom was est measure of support. We could not have a Social Security check sent from the resident spread our message as far and wide as we did of a nursing home who enclosed a note that without the assistance of the media—news- said, essentially, “I don’t have much money, but 18 ibid. this is my tribute to the Library.” One of the 19 It is important to note here that today—hard as it may seem for some to believe—there are still millions upon most surprising gifts was from the person who millions of pages of archival records and documents as well as recordings, visual images and other material left us one million dollars in his will because, that have not been digitized and are not stored in he said, he didn’t like the government and any electronic media or available online; it is the responsibility of libraries to continue to preserve these didn’t want his money to end up with them. materials so they are available to future generations. Over the years, at the annual public holiday pressure from prominent individuals who were party we held at the Library, I stood at the eager to sponsor a table. door along with Mrs. Astor, Andrew Heiskell, One major outcome of the Literary Richard Salomon and other Trustees to greet Lions—an event that was later imitated thousands of patrons—the citizens of New throughout the country—was that the author York, whom I called the true stockholders and biographer Barbara Goldsmith helped of The New York Public Library—and was to establish a preservation laboratory at the greeted, in turn, with many envelopes holding Library (which now operates under the banner small contributions and large checks. It was of the Barbara Goldsmith Conservation and like people were attending a wedding, a bar Preservation Division) and galvanized the mitzvah or a christening. most infl uential writers of our time on behalf Writers were also important stockholders in of a campaign for the use of acid-free paper the Library, so to extend “the right of owner- to ensure that books last through the genera- ship” to them we created the Literary Lions tions. Later, Goldsmith also became a Trustee evening, which was really the handiwork of of the Library. Richard Salomon and philanthropist and Estée The Library Trustees, staff and I were 14 Lauder Company executive Leonard Lauder. grateful, gratifi ed, humbled and thrilled by This was also a way to link “high society” to how people rose to our cause and honored philanthropy since, in bringing writers and “The People’s Palace,” a term coined by some benefactors together, we made clear that the of us but popularized by Norman Mailer, wealthy should consider it a privilege to host a among others. Still, there were times when table in honor of an author at an event cel- some of my colleagues and I felt discouraged ebrating the city’s and nation’s most important or weighed down by how challenging it was literary fi gures. The writers were clearly the to meet the aspirations of the public and their celebrities at the event, and their star rose many needs. On such occasions, my recom- even higher by being included in the circle of mended remedy for that feeling was simply Literary Lions. In fact, there were no speak- to walk into the Library’s Main Reading ers and no introductions at the Literary Lions Room, and the sight of hundreds of readers dinners because, considering both the writers and researchers bent over the tables lit by Tif- and society fi gures in the room, everybody was fany lamps, books and papers in hand, would somebody. Instead, we had prominent actors provide a shot of instant adrenalin. Often, and actresses read classic passages from promi- one could see several generations of one fam- nent authors. ily—a grandparent, a parent and a child or The event started out with twenty-one two—reading and studying in the Library at distinguished writers acting as hosts to twenty- the same time. one tables for dinner and the cost to benefac- I don’t mean to minimize the diffi culties tors was $10,000; it became such a success that that we faced in turning around the fortunes of we eventually raised the price to $25,000. The the Library, but to provide some context for the media coverage was so extensive that it brought contrast between the wonderful, hopeful days forth many requests to underwrite the costs of we all experienced and the diffi cult ones, too. the decorations, beverages and food as well as Dealing with the public sector, for example, was extremely taxing. Government on every In terms of funding, another important level is confronted by so many needs, from so lesson to be learned was that while touting the many quarters, that it was diffi cult to show economic benefi t of maintaining institutions how the Library—no matter how deserving it such as museums and libraries is a wonderful was—could be seen as more worthy of support idea, pushing the economic end of the argu- than so many other institutions, organizations ment for the value of such institutions should and individuals, many of those in dire straits. not come at the expense of their intrinsic so- Still, we did try to make our case by giving cial, cultural and educational value. Economic hours of testimony before the City Council, rewards may indeed accrue to a city, state, the Board of Estimate and community boards. or nation from having extraordinary public And then, of course, we went through the an- institutions, but they should not be counted on nual ritual we engaged in with the city govern- or be narrowly perceived as economic engines ment: fi rst, the mayor would cut the Library’s only. That is not the purpose for which they budget. Then, volunteers working on behalf of were created nor the ultimate goal that they the Library would collect thousands of signa- should be striving for. tures from people in every borough demanding Additionally, I came to believe that, in that the cuts be restored and present these peti- terms of funding institutions such as the Li- 15 tions to City Hall. Finally, the City Council brary, while lump sum additions to budgets are would put back into the budget the money that fi ne, what is best is that fi nancing be provided the Mayor had removed. It was a brutal process on the basis of a formula—the way that Social but gratifying, in the end, because it was clear Security payments are determined, for ex- to the city’s offi cials that those who loved our ample. Lump sums can be subtracted from at Library were also voters, and attention had to someone’s whim or during periods of economic be paid to how they thought the city’s resourc- downturn. Formulas are faceless and enduring es should be apportioned. and often less subject to being tampered with. Still, I learned an important lesson from All in all, the renaissance of The New York participating in “funding battles” with the Public Library was a triumph of public-private city. Because New York City, as I noted earlier, partnership. Initially, the public sector thought actually has three separate library systems; they had given us what amounted to a hunting if we competed against each other for fund- license by telling the Library that in order to ing, we all lost. The best way to handle our get public funding, fi rst we had to show them different needs was to meet beforehand and what kind of money we could raise from the settle any competitive problems that might private sector. Because we were so successful exist among us in terms of funding needs so in raising private support, we transformed the that we could present a unifi ed front to the city city’s hunting license into a compact between once we entered into negotiations. We learned the city and our institution, showing that not to air any disagreements we might have indeed, public funds spent to maintain and had in public. I remember, once, even surpris- improve The New York Public Library would ing city bureaucrats by declaring, “Give more be matched many times over by private sup- money to Queens!” That kind of collegiality port, not only in the form of money but also by and solidarity gave all our requests for funding those who gave their collections to us to house more authority. at the Main Library on 42nd Street and by those who contributed to the branch libraries memory of mankind, the record of human around the city. During my tenure, through endeavor, open to all who wish to pass through public and private generosity, we raised $327 their doors. million for the Library (not including more Based on these premises, we undertook a than $100 million in gifts-in-kind), but the campaign that marshaled historical, moral, amount of money wasn’t nearly as signifi cant ethical, populist, idealistic and progressive ar- as the fact that, in time, the entire engine of guments in support of the Library. Therefore, the city and its resources—government, corpo- instead of seeing ourselves as supplicants for rations and citizens—was mobilized on behalf the Library, we viewed ourselves as promoting of the Library and committed to its future. people’s partnership with The New York Pub- The Impact of Philanthropy lic Library. After all, supporting the Library was one of the few causes in our society that My years at the University of Pennsylvania was both non-controversial and ecumenical at had exposed me to the extraordinary breadth the same time. Being a supporter of the Library and range of American philanthropy, but was, in a sense, being a supporter of history, heading The New York Public Library thrust of knowledge, of education, of culture and of me into the midst of intense and intimate 16 learning and democracy. We were convinced encounters with individual philanthropists that everyone would be in agreement about and philanthropic families, as well as with a that. After all, even Lenin had praised The number of the nation’s major foundations. New York Public Library; in 1913, after read- Interacting with those who were among the ing the Library’s fi rst annual report, he wrote most prominent and committed philanthro- an editorial for Pravda in which he suggested pists in the nation left a lasting impression on that what Russia needed was a similar institu- me in terms of the culture of New York City tion where citizens would have free access to and America, which promotes not only the information and knowledge… act but the duty of giving—along with the genuine joy of helping a cause that one deeply Almost everyone we approached about and profoundly believes in. supporting the Library responded with extraordinary generosity. There were mem- I used to say—and still deeply believe— bers of families who have a legendary history that the only institutions capable of giving or of philanthropy, such as the Rockefellers, guaranteeing some measure of earthly im- notably David and Laurence. And Mrs. As- mortality are museums and libraries. Buildings tor, of course, who provided support not only do not last. Streets and the names given them through her own personal philanthropy but don’t last. Even cemeteries, which are meant also through the Vincent Astor Foundation.20 to last, have an ephemeral quality—after all, Other philanthropic families whose members few people visit them on a regular basis for any were major supporters of the Library included reason other than to mourn. In that connec- the Gottesman sisters, Joy, Celeste and Miriam tion, the documentary fi lmmaker Ken Burns and their spouses. They supported the Library has helped to popularize a favorite expression through various Gottesman family founda- of mine—namely, that museums and libraries are the DNA of our civilization. They are the 20 The Vincent Astor Foundation, created in 1948, embodiment of the individual and collective intentionally spent down its funds and was closed by Brooke Astor in 1997. tions and funds,21 as well as Irene Diamond Widened Horizons who headed the Aaron Diamond Foundation In retrospect, my eight-and-a-half years as pres- after the death of her husband in 1984.22 In ident of The New York Public Library broad- addition, there were those who gave because of ened my outlook—as I’m sure it would have both a deep commitment to what they felt was for anyone in a similar position—on education their civic duty combined with a sense of grati- and connected me with America’s national in- tude for the opportunities that The New York stitutions, and with the world, in general, in a Public Library had provided to them. These in- way that the years I had spent as a teacher and cluded the Wallace Foundation, which became academic administrator in California, Texas faithful supporters of the Library, because De- and Pennsylvania24 had not. My horizons were Witt and Lila Wallace had used the Library’s widened. Any sense of regional parochialism resources when they began condensing books that may have lingered in my consciousness and articles for Reader’s Digest. In fact, the had now dissipated. After sailing forth into DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Room was restored the vast ocean of social, cultural, political and to its turn-of-the-century glory with Wallace educational life that is New York City, it was funding. Another example was Bill Blass, who impossible to retain any sense of insularity became the fi rst fashion designer to be named or isolation, or to return to a smaller world 17 a Trustee of The New York Public Library. He or hold a smaller worldview. Over time, New began his association with the Library in 1984, York nationalized, even internationalized many when Richard Salomon invited him to help individuals like me: as the oft-quoted saying organize a Literary Lions fund-raising event. goes, “The journey was just as important as He later left the Library $10 million, one of the the destination,” and in my case, in terms of largest gifts it had ever received at that time. what I learned from my relationship with the Blass said, “Growing up in a little town in Library—and my stewardship of that remark- Indiana during the Depression, books and the able institution—that was certainly true. local library were an important part of my life. In fact, I would say that in a sense I began I’m a visual person; that’s my profession, but to see America through the prism of my experi- books are my passion.”23 ences at The New York Public Library. The 21 A 1981 grant of $1.25 million from the D.S. and R. H. Gottesman Foundation allowed The New York swirl of political, social, cultural, ethnic and Public Library to refurbish its main exhibition hall, educational dynamics that I dealt with on a which had not been used for displays since World War II. The hall is now called the D. Samuel and Jeane R. daily basis revealed America to me in all its Gottesman Exhibition Hall, in honor of businessman and philanthropist D. Samuel Gottesman and his wife complexity and diversity—through personal Jeane. In 1987, another neglected part of the Library, as well as institutional contacts—with such a beautiful domed space that had fallen into use as a warehousing area, was reopened as the Celeste Bartos impact that I knew I would be forever affected Forum, after grants from Celeste Gottesman Bartos and her husband Armand helped to restore it for public by what I had been exposed to. Perhaps one of use. Miriam (Gottesman) and Ira D. Wallach provided the most important lessons I learned was that, support for The New York Public Library’s Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, which bears their name. as an academic administrator, I had spent my Joy Gottesman Ungerleider-Mayerson was a major benefactor of the Library’s Dorot Jewish Division. time focusing on whatever issue or problem I 22 Irene Diamond passed away in 2003 at the age of had to deal with immediately, often without 92. In the ten years between 1987 and 1996, when it closed after spending its assets, the Aaron Diamond Foundation gave away over $220 million to more than 24 Elsewhere, such as in my autobiography, The Road to 700 New York City organizations. Home, I have discussed my career at San Francisco State 23 “Bill Blass Gives $10 Million to Library,” The New York College, the University of California at Los Angeles and Times, January 13, 1994. the University of Texas at Austin. considering or even understanding the larger restored. Thanks to Marshall Rose and Andrew context that surrounded whatever the issue Heiskell, even Bryant Park was in the process of was. But the Library taught me to always keep being reborn as a safe and beautiful garden spot my mind and my eyes open to everything, in the middle of the city that could be enjoyed from small nuances to the big picture, and by casual strollers, lunchtime diners and even to keep learning as much as I could, because used for major cultural and civic events. everything I learned had value. Much had been accomplished. We had While at the Library, my experiences were made the revitalization and restoration of the broadened by serving on the Boards of a num- Library a model for libraries across the country. ber of nonprofi ts. I joined the Boards of only As I refl ected on all this, I recalled a saying those nonprofi ts that I felt I could contribute to that was then in circulation: “When you are and that, in turn, would advance my learn- on a journey and you reach the station called ing process: I was eager to understand all I Success, get off.” could about both the superstructure and the I felt that at the Library, we had reached infrastructure of our society. I was especially that station. It was time to move on. I received interested in serving those nonprofi t groups the concurrence and approval of the Board for 18 that interacted with local government so that my decision, and we worked together to pave I could get a real bird’s-eye view of how state the way for transition. Under the leadership of and municipal governments work. Of course, Elizabeth Rohatyn, Marshall Rose and Samuel I also learned a great deal about how federal Butler, the Library was strong enough to at- agencies such as the National Endowment for tract new leaders, fi rst the late Father Timothy the Arts, the National Science Foundation and Healy and later, Paul LeClerc.25 the National Endowment for the Humanities relate to and work with institutions such as the Elsewhere,26 I have discussed the oppor- Library. In a sense, then, The New York Public tunities and challenges that I faced in moving Library proved to be the best real-world civic, ahead. Naturally, when one had been the pres- political and institutional education I could ident of any major national institution—in have ever gotten, because at every level—city, my case, The New York Public Library—one state and federal—there were organizations or faces serious problems when seeking a new agencies that had an impact on how effective career. In particular, in this age of leaks and the Library could be on both a day-to-day and gossip, when confi dentiality and privacy seem long-term basis, and to what extent it could to have lost any meaning, it is important to carry out its mission. be very careful about reacting to job “of- fers” where one’s name has really just been By 1988, after more than eight years of speculated about to fi ll a particular position. intense work, I felt that the Library’s renewal One does not want to be perceived as having was on track by the measures of progress we been “turned down” for job or to have been had undertaken on its behalf. Its fund-raising considering an offer that was subsequently efforts were a success; the Library had a great withdrawn. This has nothing at all to do with administrative team in place and a great Board

of Trustees. Its relationships with the city, the 25 In 1989, the late Father Timothy Healy became state and federal agencies were exemplary and president of The New York Public Library. He was succeeded by Paul LeClerc in 1993. the Library’s physical infrastructure had been 26 The Road to Home, op cit. ego or self-protection but with the reputation the state. Federal dollars, philanthropic gifts, of the institution one is leaving; its former alumni giving and steep tuition fees had or soon-to-be-former president must not be helped the University of Michigan become perceived as somehow being a lesser light than a formidable public/private university. What any other candidate for a new post. If an insti- was at stake, I thought, was to see how much tution is not serious about a job offer or signals of the “public” component could be preserved that “the fi t” is not right, the candidate should in this public university. I was honored to be given ample opportunity to withdraw his or learn that according to the search committee’s her name. Otherwise, one’s position in one’s opinion, my experience at the University of institution becomes untenable, not to mention Pennsylvania, but more importantly, at The the danger to one’s reputation. In my case, my New York Public Library, had given me the candidacy for new positions was put forward credentials to be a defender of the rights of by others, which is my recommendation for public institutions and I was eager to do so. how to proceed in such instances. That way, The University of Michigan faced tremendous if a particular position is not offered, it is challenges, and when they offered me the the individual proposing the candidate who, presidency, I was excited and ready to take in effect, is turned down, not the candidate them on. 19 him/herself. As for Brown, the third oldest college in I was eager to return to academia and to New England and the seventh oldest in the teaching. I felt that I had a renewed sense of U.S., it, too, faced enormous challenges: it had purpose: I wanted to participate in helping the lowest endowment in the Ivy League, was to prepare the next generation of American roughly the size of the Faculty of the Arts and leaders. In that connection, three outstanding Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, opportunities arose: the presidency of the John and was struggling to maintain a proper bal- D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ance between its undergraduate and graduate as well as the presidencies of two great universi- programs, its academics and its athletics, and ties—one public and one private: the Universi- the preservation of a historic campus while ty of Michigan and Brown University. Having meeting the needs for renovation and mod- spent over eight years as the president of The ernization. Those who advised me to accept New York Public Library, I was leaning toward the Brown presidency, including Richard another major public institution—the Univer- Salomon, who was chancellor of the university, sity of Michigan, with its three campuses: Ann believed that I could help to take Brown to Arbor, Flint and Dearborn. the next level of excellence. For that reason, as well as other professional and personal family Since I did yearn to teach, the choice was considerations, I made the decision to accept between the two universities, but I agonized the presidency of Brown University.27 Over over which to choose. I engaged in an intense the next nine years, I had a chance to see if my debate with myself. In regard to the Univer- decision was right. sity of Michigan, it seemed to me that the land-grant institutions were gradually being transformed into “semi-public” universities. For example, in the late 1980s, less than fi fty 27 For a further discussion of the reasons for choosing percent of the university’s funding came from Brown University, see The Road to Home, op cit. tion and will of its population, as well as their work ethic and dedication to education—has made itself into an economic giant and a real player on the world stage. That same kind of self-confi dence, imagination and daring seemed to me to be the hallmark of Brown.

What I also loved about Brown was that it was a university where every professor actually taught. They did justice to their title, profes- sor: they professed. And they didn’t approach teaching as a “load”—it was a responsibility and a privilege. Brown did not have a research faculty, a graduate faculty and an undergradu- ate faculty, but just one faculty for one cohesive student body. Professors were certainly devoted to their research but also to the depth and 20 quality of their teaching. This true dedication to teaching students fi t with my vision of a uni- versity, which was—and is—that the faculty is Brown University the heart and soul, the bone marrow and blood of the university that shapes the character and When I arrived at Brown, it was no secret that strengthens the foundations of the institution. in terms of its fi nances, it was the weakest of the Ivy League institutions. I wasn’t too worried The students, faculty and staff seemed about this because The New York Public Li- almost sassy to me, and I knew that the brary, and the University of Pennsylvania, had university had the qualities of imagination prepared me not to dwell on fi nancial weak- and daring to be great. Yes, its resources were nesses and perceived limitations but on pos- limited, but in terms of human talent, imagi- sibilities and potentialities. I was eager to tackle nation, dedication, and work ethic on the part Brown’s problems, just as I had at The New of students and faculty, it seemed to me that York Public Library. I quickly came to love Brown excelled. During my time at the univer- Brown the way I loved the story of David and sity (1989-1997), I often thought of the saying Goliath, because it was competing with some that a great tradition can be inherited, but of the best higher education institutions in the greatness itself must be won. In that same vein, United States, and attempting to keep pace the mantle of excellence must also be earned, with them. Even though Brown had limited again and again, over time. In other words, resources, it had unlimited human aspirations. as Andrew Carnegie once said, no person or At the time, I likened Brown to the nation of institution should rest on the accomplishments Japan, which is slightly smaller in area than the of their ancestors alone because then “the most state of California and has few natural resources fruitful part of [your] family, like the potato, 28 other than its proximity to the sea—and yet, lies underground.”

because of its human talent and the imagina- 28 The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie (Northeastern University Press; Reissue edition, 1986). Brown had been in the “earning” busi- in his famous Report to the Corporation [of ness for almost two-and-a-half centuries. Brown University] on Changes in the System of Upon assuming the presidency, I was deeply Collegiate Education, was much discussed by aware that Brown owed much of its success contemporary educators and has been a key to a handful of great leaders in the past, such source for twentieth century historians. Aim- as Francis Wayland, who was the fourth ing to extend education to others than those president of the university, serving from 1827 entering the learned professions, the report to 1855. At that time, the institution had proposed changes in the curriculum through three professors, two tutors and only ninety which, by adopting “a system of equivalents, students. Brown’s property consisted of two we may confer degrees upon a given amount college buildings, used as lecture rooms and of knowledge, though the kind of knowledge dormitories for students. In 1850, President which makes up this amount may differ in dif- Wayland wrote that “the college has not for ferent instances,” and offer education to “the more than forty years received a dollar from agriculturist, the manufacturer, the mechanic, public or private benevolence. We have a or the merchant.”29 tolerable college not actually starved but in For me, Francis Wayland embodied the salutary fear of starvation.” proof that needs don’t present opportunities: 21 Wayland, I should note, was a man of ideas do. Every institution has needs. What many accomplishments: he wrote the fi rst distinguishes one institution from another is textbook on economics and was among the the leadership’s vision as well as the will, pa- early curriculum reformers. In fact, Brown tience and courage to fi ght for and implement remained small and impoverished until the needed reforms or new directions that will decade after the Civil War. But Wayland serve the institution’s core ideals. recognized early on the need for fundamental Following the example of Francis Wayland, change. The college had a rigid curriculum; 119 years later—in 1969—Brown University memorization, tested through daily recita- unveiled a new curriculum. Known as “The tions, was the prevailing form of instruction. Brown Curriculum,” it gave Brown University Like other American colleges of the period, an advantage over other Ivies: by encouraging Brown relied on pedagogic principles and students “to study broadly by choosing courses disciplinary rules thought to be appropriate according to their developing interests,”30 for keeping adolescent boys—by far the largest the curriculum attracted bright, self-reliant group of individuals attending the nation’s students from across the nation who wanted colleges—in order. Seeking to rescue Brown to take courses in different fi elds for the fi rst from its educational doldrums and at the same two years of college, even some with a pass/fail time make the institution more useful to the grade, because it was important to them to city, state and nation, Wayland urged major acquire a broad spectrum of knowledge before changes that, in time, came to include a place they majored in any given subject. Brown’s in the curriculum for science and technol- curriculum was controversial because there ogy, allowed for student choice in the subjects were those who felt that it gave students an studied, and established courses in English literature and modern languages. The “New 29 http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/ exhibits/education/baptist.html System” he championed, which was detailed 30 http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Dean_of_the_ College/curriculum/. opportunity to avoid taking core courses in very important to me. After all, debate, discus- math, science, English, history, etc. Since I was sion, even controversy, including the struggle a product of Stanford’s core curriculum and between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, have been believed in intellectual cohesion and “high at the heart of intellectual movements for standards,” my appointment was welcomed by centuries. Students had to become comfort- those commentators who said they were sure able with the idea that controversy cannot be that I would “revisit” the curriculum. I did, by avoided; debate cannot be silenced: to do either instituting a major curricular review, which is to abandon the advancement of knowledge. resulted in measures aimed at improving the The pursuit of knowledge, above all else, is the guidelines for students and advisors to enable mission of the university, and not all lessons them to choose wisely from the university’s are confi ned to formal study. Brown’s student broad offerings and other requirements that body was so diverse that in and of itself, it helped to strengthen the rigor, structure and presented an opportunity for learning, mean- philosophical foundation of the curriculum ing that if one’s heart and mind were open, it while retaining its fl exibility. As part of the was possible to develop a deep understanding review we carried out—though I was assured of other people, other customs, other beliefs and 22 that the curriculum was balanced—I asked to other ways of looking at life, religion, culture, see a record of the courses that an entire class human relationships, politics, etc. If that can had taken over four years. To the great surprise be done, the path to real tolerance is open: the of many, it turned out that the students had ability to accept and respect humanity’s mul- chosen to take math, science and other courses titude of differences, not because this or that one would have predicted that they would law says you must, but because knowledge has shun. That gave me confi dence that Brown’s helped you to understand universal values and curriculum was not designed to help students to build a bridge between yourself and the rest avoid certain courses but to provide guidance of the world. That notion—of tolerance based about their choices. on real understanding, and on knowledge, rather than on the more shifting sands of some In the meantime, however, I thought it was concept of “political correctness”—was one important to clarify my educational philoso- that I focused on throughout my presidency at phy and modus operandi at the beginning of Brown and urged the faculty and students to my presidency rather than reveal it piecemeal pursue, as well. throughout my tenure. In that regard, there were two main points I wanted to make: It was not just different points of view in fi rst, that as far as I was concerned, academic the realm of politics that I wanted heard on freedom cannot, and would not, be violated. campus, but also those of religious and ethnic Second, that I did not accept demands: diversity. Toward that end, in 1996, Brown petitions, yes; comments, yes; criticism, yes; invited the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of but not demands, especially nonnegotiable Ismaili Muslims, to be the fi rst Muslim to demands, which had been part of the “spring give a baccalaureate address at any American rites” at many universities. But while making higher education institution. I encouraged these points, I also wanted to be clear that public readings of the Bible, the Talmud and creating an environment where real debate and the Koran as well as readings from Hindu discussion were welcomed and encouraged was and other texts that refl ected the makeup of Brown’s student body and supported the many stressed the fact that over the next century, religious groups on campus as well as the vari- the university and society faced awesome ous chaplaincies. and complex problems. I highlighted three of them. First, the integration of knowledge: Nurturing an environment where diversity “The greatest challenge facing modern society and integration are the norm is an important and civilization,” I noted, “is how to cope role for a university. In the past, it seems to with and how to transform information into me, there were three areas of society where knowledge.” Second, rededication to the people from different ethnic groups, classes, liberal arts: referring to a remark of Justice religions, races and regions of the world had Felix Frankfurter that “the mark of a truly the opportunity to meet. One was the army, civilized man is confi dence in the strength another was the workplace and the third was and security to be derived from an inquir- in public institutions, especially public schools. ing mind,” I explained that is why I believe Since the draft is gone, and both public in the importance of a liberal arts education. schools and the workplace are increasingly Third, mutualism: “More than ever,” I told reluctant to discuss issues of race, religion, and my audience, “we need to recover a sense of ethnicity (except in terms of adhering to laws the wholeness of human life and understand and regulations), that leaves the university as 23 the human condition. Every human being a critical venue not only for education and needs direct personal contact with the great learning but also for acculturation encounters stories, myths and fi ction of the human race, of many sorts. It is also important, in view an encounter with history in order to begin to of the U.S. role as a world power with many know oneself and to sense the potentialities international obligations, that the university that lie within one’s reach and the reach of help to build bridges between the many diver- other human beings.” gent groups that comprise our own campus communities before we try to build bridges I concluded by reaffi rming my conviction with others abroad. After all, the United States that ignorance is a sin; it deprives the individual and its universities represent microcosms of of knowledge and autonomy and dignity. Edu- humanity, the very essence of the concept cation, learning and scholarship constitute acts e pluribus unum, and must provide models for of faith in the continuity of humanity. They other multinational, multiethnic and multire- honor the past and serve as a witness to the ligious societies. future. After all, the business of education is the creation of the future. It was with all these In preparation for my inauguration as ideas in mind that I began my tenure at Brown. the sixteenth president of Brown University, I had the opportunity to collaborate with the What Makes a University a University? faculty, staff and students to put my ideas into It probably goes without saying that a univer- action, I worked for several months on my sity is an extraordinarily complex organization. inaugural speech, which I delivered on April An apt analogy is to think of the university as 9, 1989. The inauguration seemed to me to be a kind of mini city-state which, as was long ago like a wedding, a ceremony where you’re mak- elucidated by Aristotle, was the most complete ing your vows to the institution instead of to community, because it was supposed to be a person, to its values, its past, its present and self-suffi cient and existed for the benefi t of its future—and to its possibilities. My address its citizens.31 The comparison remains timely to take a stand on, one way or another (as was because universities, like city-states, have their often the case during the Vietnam era or with own governance, structure, organization, respect to apartheid in South Africa or civil autonomy, regulations, culture and mores, rights in the U.S., not to mention, currently, and their own history and identity. Both also the war in Iraq). have streets, roads and buildings to maintain; Clearly, then, since the university is such a they have an entertainment “industry” to complex organization, the presidency is among operate—with dozens of sports teams, choirs, the most complicated tasks an individual can orchestras, theaters, magazines, performances, ever take on. Those who have accepted the and the like—and they have newspapers, radio challenge have had some interesting things to and television stations, publishing enterprises, say about it. Among them was Henry Wriston, “propaganda” machinery, security forces, who served as president of Brown University unions, governing bodies, revenue systems, from 1937 to 1955. In portraying the presi- “taxation” in the form of tuition hikes and fees, dent’s job, he wrote: “The president is expected housing, health and career services, artists, to be an educator, to have been at some time scientists in labs making discoveries, devel- a scholar, to have judgment about fi nance, to opment offi cers in the business of “revenue 24 know something about construction, main- enhancement,” bookstores—the analogies tenance, and labor policy, to speak virtually can go on and on. They even have their own continuously in words that charm and never judicial processes, which often are at variance offend, to take bold positions with which no with the established legal system of a city, state one will disagree, to consult everyone, and to or country. An example of this is the student follow all proffered advice, and do everything handbook of Plymouth State University in through committees, but with great speed and New Hampshire, which describes this quite without error.” clearly: A University’s judicial system is not a court of law. The two systems are independent, These expectations, it should be noted, are have a different purpose, process, standard used to not limited to the leaders of private universities. determine responsibility, and sanctioning philoso- Clark Kerr, who was president of the Univer- phy. While some procedural elements may seem sity of California from 1958 to 1967, gave a similar the University judicial system is founded similar description: “The American university on educational philosophies.32 And, like a city- president is expected to be a friend of the stu- state, universities are subject to demonstrations, dents, a colleague of the faculty, a good fellow strikes and protests about everything from the with the alumni, a sound administrator with salaries of workers to national and international the Trustees, a good speaker with the public, issues that students may want the university an astute bargainer with the foundations and the federal agencies, a politician with the state 31 “ Since we see that every city-state is a sort of community and that every community is established legislature, a friend of industry, labor and for the sake of some good (for everyone does everything for the sake of what they believe to be good), it is clear agriculture, a persuasive diplomat with donors, that every community aims at some good, and the a champion of education, generally…a spokes- community which has the most authority of all and includes all the others aims highest, that is, at the good man to the press, a scholar in his own right, a with the most authority.” Aristotle. Politics. Books I and II. Clarendon Aristotle Series (Oxford University Press public servant at the state and national levels, a 1995). I.1.1252a1-7. devotee of opera and football equally, a decent 32 Plymouth State University Student Handbook, http:// www.plymouth.edu/stulife/handbook/judicial/. human being, a good husband and father…He should be fi rm, yet gentle, sensitive to others, from the institution for one reason or another, insensitive to himself; look to the past and the he or she takes responsibility for its future and future, yet be fi rmly planted in the present; he its well-being. Equally important is that goals should be both visionary and sound, affable, established for the university must be achiev- yet refl ective…a good American but ready to able, and that plans to achieve them must be criticize the status quo fearlessly; a seeker of realistic; otherwise these will remain only pipe truth, where the truth may not hurt too much; dreams. What’s more, plans should have well- a source of public policy pronouncements thought-out implementation provisions and when they do not refl ect on his own institu- timetables; if one goes forward without a good tion.” What can happen to a president who set of blueprints at the ready, progress will be seeks to fi ll every role that everyone on campus sporadic and failure may result, thus contrib- and off wishes to see him or her play is a meta- uting to cynicism about the university’s goals morphosis into a kind of glad-hander who is and the administration’s ability to ever reach not fully in charge of the university’s direction them. In fact, being able to manage cynicism or directing its mission. That does nobody is one of the hallmarks of leadership. That any good and diminishes the offi ce holder. In is why great visions have to be accompanied the words of John Silber, president of Boston by achievable benchmarks and measurable 25 University from 1971 to 1996, “Presidents who accomplishments. This can be diffi cult for turn the most important and most diffi cult many reasons, but particularly because change tasks of university administration over [to oth- of any kind often generates confl ict. Some ers] are unworthy of the title of president.”33 university presidents decide they want to avoid confl ict at any cost. But risks must be taken, For the president of a university as well as even those that involve a president staking his other administrators, one of the most critical or her reputation—and job—on the outcome. challenges is fi nding ways to rise above the In such cases, if one believes in one’s vision daily problems and routine in order to keep and the soundness of the plan of action that working toward the ultimate goal of fulfi ll- has been decided upon, then no other course ing the university’s mission without being can, or should, be followed. After all, it is easy bogged down by the mechanics of how things to be mediocre. Excellence, on the other hand, will get done. Not only must a successful exacts a steep price in the form of time, dedica- university president understand and identify tion, patience and hard work—and sometimes what the essential issues and tasks are, he or in the face of organized opposition. she must be able to mobilize all the university stakeholders—students, faculty, alumni and Naturally, these issues can be further staff, not to mention Trustees—around these complicated by the fact that universities don’t common concerns and a shared vision of the exist in a vacuum. Universities are part of a university and the goals to be achieved. First, larger community and they both affect and of course, the president has to help promote are affected by the politics, culture, people and a university culture in which each member of environs with which they interact. In some the community considers him or herself to be a regions, as manufacturing declines, colleges stakeholder, so that more than just benefi ting and universities become even more socially and economically important. Hence, it’s necessary 33 “The Transformation of the Modern President,” by for universities and their leadership to be con- David Sherfi nski, The Yale Herald, April 24, 2006. stantly and appropriately sensitive about how to for? How can it serve the university’s overall coexist with and be supportive of their urban mission and its goals? How can it help to and rural communities. It is, in part, for these defi ne the unique contributions that a particu- reasons that universities like Yale, Columbia, lar university is able to make, not only to its Clark, and the University of Pennsylvania students and faculty, but to the wider com- (which is the largest employer in the Phila- munity, as well? That last question is critical, delphia area) have embarked upon economic, because the diversity of our higher education social and educational programs that connect system is one factor that gives it great strength. them with and serve their communities in Individual institutions have traditionally em- order to maintain the kind of positive relation- phasized different functions and have comple- ships that are necessary for both the university mented each other by meeting different local, and the community to thrive. Brown, for regional, national and international needs—by example, has been integrally involved in the providing educational opportunities to a Providence Plan, which was established in diverse population, by expanding scientifi c and 1992 to contribute to urban renewal and eco- technical knowledge, and by offering pathways nomic and cultural development in Providence, for continuing education. Rhode Island, improve the city’s public schools, 26 In the years to come, however, competi- and contribute to local development. tion in terms of higher education may not Competition with other higher education be simply a matter of American colleges and institutions also infl uences many elements of universities jostling for position on a “best how a university functions, how it perceives colleges and universities” list. The specter of itself and is perceived by others, even what its international competition looms on the hori- policies and educational offerings are—indeed, zon—particularly in our post-9/11 era, where almost every area of university life may be af- security concerns, along with increased tension fected by concerns about competition. The in- between many countries around the globe and fl uence of market forces on a higher education the United States, as well as the immigration community that is part public, part private, issues that have made it diffi cult for foreign and includes both nonprofi t and profi t-making students to obtain visas, have fed a decline in institutions, only continue to grow. Colleges foreign student enrollment, down nearly 3 per- and universities compete for students, faculty, cent since the 2001-2002 academic year.35 The athletic titles, revenue, rankings and prestige,34 number of undergraduate students enrolled a process that in some instances may distort in 2003-2004 actually fell by some 5 percent, the true public aim of higher education, which according to the Open Doors 2004 report, pub- is to produce educated citizens whose lives will lished by the Institute of International Educa- be productive and rewarding, for themselves tion.36 Graduate enrollment is also suffering. certainly, but also for the larger society. A survey by the Council of Graduate Schools, released in March 2006, reported that while in For a university and its leaders, therefore, it’s important to put competition into perspec- 35 “USA losing its advantage drawing foreign students,” tive: what is its aim? What is the competition USA Today, January 5, 2006. 36 One hopes that the 2006 survey by the Institute 34 The Future of Higher Education: Rhetoric, Reality, indicates a possible reversal of this trend: the number and the Risks of the Market, by Frank Newman, Lara of new foreign students at American colleges and Couturier and Jamie Scurry (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., universities increased eight percent in fall 2006 published by Jossey-Bass, 2004). compared to fall 2005. the 2006 academic year the number of foreign they desire. Furthermore, many private colleges students who applied to American graduate are emerging that have little or no academic programs increased by 11 percent from the history behind them; modeled on profi t more year before, reversing two years of decline, that than intellectual or academic excellence, they number is still lower than in the years before are essentially educational franchises offering 2003. In 2003-2004, for example, the number teaching and learning that, in many cases, may of foreign students applying to U.S. graduate be of dubious quality. programs decreased by 28 percent and by an To meet these international challenges, additional 5 percent in the following academic American colleges and universities have re- year.37 At the same time, however, another re- sponded in a variety of ways, perhaps most no- port, again from the Institute of International tably by initiating or expanding collaborative Education, notes that the number of American educational ventures, some of which have been students studying in foreign countries totaled in existence for many years, such as the Ameri- nearly 206,000 in 2004-2005, an eight percent can University of Beirut, which was founded increase over the previous year. While in 2002- in 1866 as a private, independent, non-sectar- 2003 about two-thirds of those U.S. students ian institution of higher learning, function- attended universities in Europe, enrollments ing under a charter from the State of New 27 in Latin American universities increased by York; the American College of Thessaloniki 14 percent to 27,000. Enrollments in Africa (formerly Anatolia College), founded in 1886 (nearly 5,000) and Oceania—mainly Australia and incorporated under the laws of the State and New Zealand—rose some 16 percent to of Massachusetts in 1984; and the American nearly 13,000.38 University in Cairo, founded in 1919. More One also should not overlook the impact recently, a number of new universities have of rising tuitions at American colleges and uni- been established such as the American Univer- versities, along with the reluctance of some na- sity in Bulgaria, the American University in tions to “invest” in American higher education Kyrgyzstan, Kazakh-American University, and without a guarantee of a return on their invest- the American University of Armenia. Other ment when their students eventually come strategies include building extensions of Ameri- home and contribute to national development. can university campuses abroad. Perhaps one In addition, as English increasingly becomes of the best examples of this is Education City the lingua franca of the world, American uni- in Qatar, where Cornell University has become versities now face increasing competition from the fi rst American university to offer its M.D. England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand degree outside the U.S.; Carnegie Mellon offers and other nations with quality educational undergraduate business and computer science programs that can be delivered seamlessly to degree programs, and other universities such foreign students fl uent enough in English to as Georgetown University and Texas A&M plunge right into working on whatever degrees have also established programs. In other ex- amples, the Hopkins Nanjing Center, located 37 Findings from 2006 CGS International Graduate on the campus of China’s Nanjing University Admissions Survey, Phase I: Applications, Council of Graduate Schools, March 2006. and jointly administered by both the Johns 38 “Foreign Students Enrollment Decline for First Time Hopkins and Nanjing universities, offers both in Generation,” by Jim Lobe, Commondreams.org NewsCenter, http://www.commondreams.org/ certifi cate and degree programs. Stanford Uni- headlines04/1116-21.htm. versity has established itself in Japan; France’s foreign university may be seen in the U.S. as a graduate business school, INSEAD, has a cam- prestigious development, but for an American pus in Singapore, a Regional Research Centre university to create similar partnerships with in Israel and is creating a Dual Degree Execu- other American universities is more the excep- tive MBA program in conjunction with Tsing- tion than the norm, as at home, it is often seen hua University in China focused on “building as a sign of weakness, or at least an indication global mindsets” for “transcultural executives.” of defi ciencies. This is surprising because, in The United Nations University has thirteen the United States, cooperation has been one research and training centers around the world; of the hallmarks of our civic society. The late its International Institute for Software Tech- management guru Peter Drucker often noted nology has plans to expand throughout Africa that the concept of management—which re- and Latin America. (In a related effort, MIT, quires cooperation at all levels of an institution through its OpenCourseWare program, plans or enterprise—originated in our universities to publish the materials from virtually all of and municipal sector. More often, however, as MIT’s undergraduate and graduate courses a fellow university president once remarked, online so they are available to the world.) “collaboration among universities is an unnatu- ral act performed by non-consenting adults.” 28 These welcome alliances are further This is most unfortunate because competition strengthened by joint research projects carried in the short-term can obscure the long-term out by American universities and institutions benefi ts to be reaped from cooperation. abroad, efforts which are in turn reinforced by cooperation among national academies. I have always believed strongly in the For example, TWAS (known as the Third need for institutions to cooperate in order to World Academy of Sciences until 2004), which strengthen their ability to do the work they is based in Trieste, partners with the Afri- were designed to carry out. At the University can Academy of Sciences, and the National of Pennsylvania, when I was both dean and Academy of Sciences in the United States, provost, we attempted to form alliances with among others, uniting more than 800 scientists other universities both within and beyond the from some 90 countries. As is well known, Ivy League. But for the most part, those ef- many foreign leaders have attended American forts were not successful because while during universities, which provides additional incen- times of recession or other types of fi scal or tives to partner with U.S. academic institu- operational distress, inter-institutional coopera- tions, especially for nations struggling to “catch tion may seem like a light at the end of some up” in terms of science and technology or to otherwise endless tunnel, that desire to work recover from declines in those areas, as well together seems to vanish when the pressure as economic downslides that occurred during is lessened and/or prosperity returns. Why times of political repression or upheaval. is that? In part, I suppose, because so many institutions—particularly universities—have In an unfortunate corollary, it’s interesting the same needs in terms of capacity building, to note that this same cooperative spirit, which human resources and infrastructure, and often promotes alliances between American uni- fi nd themselves turning to the same sources of versities and international partners, does not support. But perhaps an even larger obstacle seem to thrive domestically. For an American is institutional pride: the sense that being the university to establish a partnership with a initiator of a cooperative effort might signal there are ways to lift the performance of our weakness. Also, the notion often arises that institutions of higher learning to new and one institution might be benefi ting more than higher levels.”39 the other, and that a relationship that appears symbiotic might actually be parasitic, instead. The Fragmentation of Knowledge Or perhaps it is just human nature to band Despite all the challenges they face, America’s together when the going gets tough and then colleges and universities remain, unquestion- to go one’s own way when things get better. I ably, the most democratic higher education am reminded, for example, of how we quickly institutions in the world. The American formed carpools during the energy crisis of the university is popular in the best sense of the 1970s when gasoline was hard to come by at term, admitting and educating unprecedented any price, but quickly fell back on our habit numbers of men and women of every race, age of relying on our own cars and driving alone and social class. Students from every imagin- when the pipelines began fl owing again. able background—and here I speak from personal experience—have found a place in Both at the University of Pennsylvania and this nation’s incredible variety of colleges and later, at Brown University, it was diffi cult to universities, public or private, large or small, understand why we could not, for instance, 29 secular or sectarian. Today, there are approxi- work with other colleges and universities to mately 4,000 colleges and universities in our invite speakers to address our various academic country, including some 1,200 public and communities. We might, for example, ask an private two-year institutions; they enroll more individual who students and faculty at many than 14.8 million students and annually grant different campuses would be interested in some two million degrees. hearing speak to tour for two or three weeks, while all the institutions shared the costs. American institutions of higher education On an even more practical level, colleges and continue to play a leadership role in the world, universities could also share expenses by jointly but, as we have seen, their international promi- ordering supplies such as paper, toner for print- nence can no longer be taken for granted. ers, even pens and pencils, in larger volume, America’s intellectual leadership—educators, which usually results in an overall savings. But scholars, scientists, social scientists, humanists, somehow, those proved to be mostly insur- and others—must also become leaders in the mountable challenges in terms of both major area of curricular development and reform. issues and minor ones, as well. If attention is not paid to the current state of affairs on many American campuses, our Clearly, given all these factors, the time is nation’s colleges and universities will continue right to assess and reevaluate the health—and to drift in the direction of becoming a “Home strength—of American higher education Depot” of educational offerings. At the present without simply assuming that because it has time, for example, many major research uni- been the best in the past, it will continue to be versities often offer up to 1,800 undergradu- the best education available in the future. As ate courses. Following this approach, there is Derek Bok has noted, “[U]niversities need to no differentiation between consumption and recognize the risks of complacency and use the emerging worldwide challenge as an occasion 39 Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look At How Much Students Learn And Why They Should Be Learning for a candid reappraisal to discover whether More, Princeton University Press (2006). digestion, no difference between information the continuing fragmentation of knowledge. and learning, and often no guidance. Higher For the higher education community, this is a education should not be allowed to become an particularly serious crisis because the constant, academic superstore of courses that are stacked rapid—some say onslaught—of informa- up like sinks and lumber for do-it-yourselfers tion has, by necessity, also brought about the to fi gure out and assemble on their own into triumph of an age of increasing specialization something meaningful. that has fractured the commonwealth of learn- ing into isolated, silo-like disciplines, which in Of course, the fact that this is a problem turn, have splintered into sub-disciplines and for our colleges and universities is a refl ection sub-sub disciplines and specialties. of the Information Revolution that may, in the eyes of history, turn out to parallel, even This is not a new phenomenon—but its outdo, the impact of the Industrial Revolu- magnitude is new. The process of both growth tion. The info-glut has inundated all of us in and fragmentation of knowledge underway America, but its most telling effects are on our since the seventeenth century has only ac- universities. On campus, the daunting arrival celerated. Writing about the fragmentation of of information in the form of books, mono- knowledge in the early years of the twentieth 30 graphs, periodicals, fi lms, videos, CDs, DVDs century, Max Weber criticized the desiccated and MP3s has been compounded, in recent narrowness and the absence of spirit of the years, by an accelerating electronic torrent modern intellectual specialist.42 It was also from millions of web sites and their attendant this phenomenon of the modern specialist that hyperlinks and databases that exist everywhere prompted Dostoevsky to lament in The Broth- at once—at least, everywhere that the Internet ers Karamazov about the scholars who “…have can be accessed, which is fast becoming almost only analyzed the parts and overlooked the every single place on earth. In this regard, it is whole and, indeed, their blindness is marvel- perhaps interesting to note that J.C.R. Lick- ous!” And it was this phenomenon that led José lider, the head of ARPANET,40 the precursor Ortega y Gasset, in his Revolt of the Masses, as to the modern Internet, termed the group of early as in the 1930s, to decry the “barbarism computer specialists he gathered to work on of specialization.” In modern times, he wrote, the nascent Net his “intergalactic network,”41 we have more scientists, scholars and profes- suggesting his belief that the World Wide Web, sional men and women than ever before, but when it was fi nally born, would forge connec- fewer cultivated ones. tions beyond and above anything then imagin- Today, the scope and the intensity of able. Well, he may have been right, because as specialization is such that scholars and scien- more and more of us go online, we are witness tists have great diffi culty in keeping up with to an unprecedented democratization of access the important yet overwhelming amount of to information; hopefully, even to knowledge. scholarly literature of their own sub-specialties, While the web of connectivity that the pio- not to mention their general disciplines. In neers of the Internet anticipated has indeed de- effect, the university, which our society thinks veloped, it has spawned a troubling corollary: of as embodying the unity of knowledge, in 40 Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) of the U.S. Department of Defense. reality has become an intellectual multiversity 41 ARPANET Completion Report, published jointly in 1978 by Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) of 42 The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Cambridge, Mass. and ARPA. Weber (Routledge Classics, 2001). where students often learn to frame only those alienate human beings. “Social relations…are questions that can be addressed through the reduced to political relations, to the interplay specialized methodologies of their particular of competitive and often antagonistic groups. disciplines and sub-disciplines. Of course, Specialized education makes our students into this is not the direction that the founders of instruments to serve the specialized needs of a American higher education envisaged. One of society of specialists.”44 the earliest promotional pamphlets about edu- Of course, the same information technolo- cation ever published on the North American gies that have been the driving force behind continent, a 1643 brochure, stated that the the explosion of information, growth of purpose of Harvard College was “To advance knowledge and its fragmentation, and hence, Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity.” Now, the age of specialization, also present us with however, there is a trend toward what the late profoundly integrative tools for meeting the educator and cultural critic Neil Postman challenge of that fragmentation. When we are called “technopoly,” namely, “the submis- not shuddering at the challenge of coping with sion of all forms of cultural life to the sover- the info-glut, we must marvel at the way the eignty of technique and technology,”43 wherein world’s store of information is increasingly at knowledge often recedes and marketable skills our fi ngertips, thanks to such advances as voice 31 become paramount. Postman bemoaned the recognition software and translation software fact that living in a technopoly has made us that automatically translates one language into a society of technicians and experts, heavily another. Information scientists—including our dependent on technology, and we have thereby high-tech librarians—are also making greater lost the transcendent sense of the unifying use of digitization, turning information writ- principles and ultimate purpose of knowledge. ten on paper or recorded in other media into At the same time, we are also losing the ability electronic form, and of artifi cial intelligence to partake of learning and education to the to automate information management tasks, fullest possible extent. including “data mining,” the practice of having It’s not surprising, therefore, that today, a computer continuously monitor and fi lter the faculties of our universities are confronted information according to set objectives. with the diffi cult choices of balancing not This is an exciting age because for the fi rst only analysis and synthesis but also methodol- time in history, individual citizens can gain ac- ogy and the relevant value of course content, cess to much of the world’s store of knowledge. thus placing more and more responsibility on They can use their desktop, lap-top or hand- students to form the synthesis. “Specializa- held computers to access the Internet, which tion,” as noted the late scholar and professor has become an electronic version of the Library William Bouwsma put it, “instead of uniting of Alexandria, which was founded in the third human beings into a general community of century B.C. by Ptolemy 1st. That was the fi rst values and discourse, by necessity has divided institution based on the premise that all the them into small and exclusive categories/co- world’s knowledge could be gathered under teries, narrow in outlook and interest.” This, one roof—and for nine centuries it was a place in turn, in his opinion, tends to isolate and of inspiration and scholarship.

43 Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, by 44 William J. Bouwsma, “Models of the Educated Man,” Neil Postman (Alfred A. Knopf, 1992). The American Scholar, vol. 44, Number 2, Spring 1975. Today, technology is radically modifying they are constantly exposed. Thematic semi- the space/time constraints of communications nars and interdisciplinary team teaching are channels and offering great opportunities for two ideas; others include examples such as an making connections among disciplines and integrated course on the origin of the cosmos across disciplines. Online communications, for that might involve a geologist, an astrophysi- example (web sites, e-mail and the like), have cist, a mathematician, a philosopher, an expert provided new tools and opportunities for the on religion, and so forth, providing a multi- scholarly community to share resources, though dimensional view of the subject. Such a course we must not forget that while the Internet, might introduce students to the Ptolemaic, satellites and fi ber optics have advanced com- Copernican and Einsteinian views of the earth munication, the raw input is still human speech and the universe, allowing students to become and human ideas. The university remains at acquainted with critical elements of science, the nexus of these developments—the public philosophy, history and religion. Another ex- commons where ideas and technology meet ample might be exploring the concept of agape and interact. Thus, the process of assimilating and eros in several literary traditions including new information technologies can help us think Western, Islamic, Buddhist, and others, which 32 hard and deeply about the nature of knowledge would mean learning about three or more dif- and even about the mission of higher educa- ferent cultures. One could teach a nuanced and tion itself. But progress in using technology to multifaceted sense of how recent events have integrate disciplines on campus has often been impacted regions around the globe, bringing disappointingly slow. Unless higher education together scholars from different disciplines to does a better job of teaching students how to explore comparative and competing ideas and synthesize and systematize information, our so- theories about both recent and historic events. ciety faces many problems. In his book, 1984, The above are examples of how one may George Orwell described a world in which in- develop a deeper understanding of certain formation and true knowledge were denied and ideas, topics, and disciplines. This means that propaganda substituted for both. In the twenty- colleges and universities must teach students fi rst century, citizens can be denied knowledge not only what we should know, but also what by being inundated with mountains of raw and we don’t know, and also discuss what the unconnected data. Our faith in computers may limitations of knowledge are. This is not a new also tend to deceive us into thinking that what- challenge—it goes way back to the Socratic ever is not in the computer or data bank does notion that true knowledge is knowing what not exist. If that were to happen, we would be you know and what you don’t know. So while in danger of being disconnected from archival the computer allows us to access more infor- material, unrecorded oral traditions, un-digi- mation—faster and in a more usable form—we tized manuscripts and anything else not placed must keep in mind another of Neil Postman’s on the Internet. warnings: “The computer cannot provide an Many concerned educators are attempting organizing moral framework. It cannot tell to fi nd solutions to this dilemma. There are, us what questions are worth asking”45 or even for example, numerous models for how univer- why they should be asked. sities might help students bring some structure 45 “Informing Ourselves to Death,” speech by Neil to the vast amount of information to which Postman given at a meeting of the German Informatics Society on October 11, 1990, in Stuttgart. Leadership of an Evolving Institution professions but the “ordinary citizen” student While dealing with the many issues—such as as well—what do they need to know about those addressed above—that the leadership of history, about their society, about their culture, a university must confront, it’s still essential about the culture of others; about values, to keep in mind that the main purpose of social mores, not to mention about compet- a university is to be an educational institu- ing spiritual and religious schools of thought, tion. This does not mean that the university’s competing economic theories and systems, and administration is not also preoccupied with about the evolving global context of just about the task of dealing with the many business, everything they will be learning during their economic, legal, social, political and cultural years in school? aspects of university life and of the university’s While he was president of Princeton Uni- interactions with its many constituencies, but versity, Woodrow Wilson is supposed to have these efforts must never overshadow the focus observed, “It is easier to transfer an entire cem- on education. That’s why a university exists: etery than to change a university curriculum,” to educate people, and in carrying out that and in my experience, he has certainly proven mission, the faculty is still its raison d’etre and to be correct. Proposed academic changes its curriculum is its compact with the current are not seen by faculty as abstract intellectual 33 generation of students, and with future genera- arguments or discussions but as vehicles for re- tions, as well. distributing the university’s resources. They are The university curriculum is not a menu seen as zero-sum games in which there will be that can be changed from day to day. In some winners and losers because curriculum chang- instances, it has centuries of tradition behind es, for example, may dictate “faculty slots,” it, and the courses that comprise the cur- and hence will engender competition among riculum are taught by individuals who are departments, schools, and many other realms constantly researching and enriching their of the university. So, there is great reluctance knowledge of their fi elds, so their teaching is, to accept change unless it is benefi cial—in and should be, the very essence of the evolution this order—to one’s department, one’s school, of thought and learning. As a result, there are the allies of one’s school, one’s profession, and always times when every university has to reex- then, fi nally, to the university. amine the nature, scope, character and content Though curricular leadership is, ultimately, of its curriculum. Sometimes, of course, cur- vested in the faculty and is also the responsi- ricular changes can’t wait; in the case of profes- bility of the university president or his or her sional or business schools, for example, courses provost, the quality of the president’s leader- may have to be adapted to the demands of the ship will not be judged by performance in this marketplace and the expectation of the profes- one area alone. Many factors will contribute to sions that students are preparing to enter. In how the president is perceived both inside the other instances, especially in regard to under- university and outside, including what type of graduate general education, there are compet- leadership route he or she follows. There are, ing philosophical and methodological schools in fact, many different types of leaders: some of thought. There always has been and always people choose to lead by persuasion or by win- will be debate as to what should be taught in ning the confi dence of different constituencies. order to train not only those going into specifi c There are other leaders who temporize, follow the fl ow and try to keep everyone and every- The specter of failure—as well as of thing on an even keel, walking gingerly among potential confl ict—can hang over any leader’s competing factions on campus while trying administration, especially if one has opted to to maintain peace. Focusing on “tranquil- emphasize “peace at any price” rather than a ity,” however, is almost never in the long-term healthy respect for unavoidable confl ict and interest of the university. While following such its equitable resolution. What my experience a course of action, the president may ignore has taught me is that any source of tension serious problems, leaving them for his or her carries with it the potential to isolate those in successor to deal with, and may rationalize leadership positions, but that doesn’t have to doing so by suggesting that since the faculty be the case. When I was a teacher and later, as and trustees approved of the presidential ac- a university administrator, I believed it was a tions—or inactions, as the case may be—then normal aspect of university life for there always the president is not at fault if future adminis- to be confl ict—between “old” views and “new” trations have to deal with issues that have been views; between students’ ideas and those of “left behind.” their professors; between the beliefs and ideolo- gies espoused by some and those cherished by Other presidents may become overly others. And why not? A university, after all, is 34 concerned with their own popularity or legacy, a center of debate and discussion about every which is also counterproductive for the uni- conceivable issue that may come up in the versity. In that connection, I remember that, classroom, from racism, to immigration, to years ago, I read that one should not be like a ethics, to civil rights, to religion, to secularism, fl ag whose direction is governed by the wind to the validity of scientifi c theories, to war and but like the fl agpole that provides stability. peace, nationalism and internationalism, and When presidents go in accordance “with the everything in-between. In the midst of all this, wind,” trying to gauge the external, internal, it would be naïve to think that tensions could or political currents at a university without be avoided, or that confl icts were an aberra- having a clear educational philosophy or a plan tion. By their very nature, universities thrive of action, they are following a potentially di- on the energy of ideas, theories and notions sastrous course. The integrity of the president’s rubbing up against and challenging each other, leadership may suffer and again, the long-term and the fact that the university environment interests of the university are unlikely to be encourages students and faculty to pursue served. I believe it is critical that a university’s these different ideas and different pathways various constituencies understand that both is something to be celebrated, to be grateful the institution’s long- and short-term interests for. And it’s not just academic and ideological are being taken seriously by those in charge tussles that the university and its leadership get and addressed with great care, honesty, and drawn into; add to the mix the town-and-gown dedication. This means that the president and confl icts that often come up along with other the university’s leadership must be in agree- disputes and problems that may arise between ment about the fact that they are accountable the university community and its neighbors, for the decisions, actions and policies of their and it’s clear that a president can’t simply sit administration. They must also be willing to comfortably at the top of the heap and hope recognize when mistakes have been made and that everything always goes well. It won’t. So similarly unwilling to rationalize failure. one cannot bury one’s head in the sand nor can one view isolationism as a secure option. One not-for-profi t enterprise in which teachers and has to take positions. One must speak about educators predominate and are expected to his or her ideas and convictions, and stand up both exemplify and represent the values and for one’s principles—otherwise, what is the traditions of the university.) Traveling fi rst point of having any? class on airplanes instead of economy, driving an expensive car, staying in top hotels or din- With that said, however, it must be noted ing in pricey restaurants, all these actions will that all of the utterances of a president—even be noted and measured against what others those individuals who have turned themselves in the community do—especially in a small inside out to be popular and to “maintain town where everyone knows what everyone tranquility”—will be scrutinized, and any in- else is doing. Leaders’ “perks” might be con- consistencies exploited. It is important that the sidered irrelevant—at least to some extent—in rhetoric used in addressing issues and problems the corporate world, but they can easily be- be consistent with reality. All of a president’s come a matter of heated public discussion and life is constantly placed under a microscope debate and used as weapons in the university and examined to determine whether in both context. One must always remember that per- his or her professional and private life, the ceptions that go unchallenged many become president is acting in concert with the values of 35 substitutes for reality. the university and considers him/herself part of the community, subject to the same rules and Let me provide an illustration from regulations as everyone else. experience. Right after arriving at Brown, I asked one of the union stewards, Bill Bell, the A president’s behavior can come in for par- simple question, “How are your families?” He ticular scrutiny during those times when there said, “Funny you should ask—our families are labor, faculty or student strikes affecting have never been on campus except when they the campus. If presidents’ salaries are too high, have walked the picket line with us.” I asked their amenities too plentiful, these matters him what he would do about that if he were will surely become an issue. And if a president president of Brown, and he said he’d give a big himself or herself becomes a source of contro- annual party for the families of all the work- versy, dealing with that will also consume a lot ers so that everyone felt included as part of the of time and energy and distract from the prog- Brown community. I thought that was a bril- ress of the university. It will also likely cause liant idea, so I decided to do that. Every year at many in the community—including the fac- Brown, we held a campus-wide holiday party ulty—to feel that the president is not “sharing for two days, inviting the staff, faculty, their their burden,” particularly if his or her salary is families, and students. Thousands of people raised and theirs is not. (That is not to say that came and there was skating, students singing, university presidents don’t deserve to be paid bands playing, games, food, refreshments—a well; indeed, until recently, most only served grand celebration of Brown and all the mem- an average of three-and-a-half years because of bers of its extended family. burnout. It is a lonely job, because it’s diffi cult for a president to form friendships with faculty During my tenure at Brown, we made it or administrators since that leaves him or her a point to emphasize the importance of the open to charges of favoritism. This has to be campus community and the signifi cance balanced against the fact that a university is a of ceremonies and special occasions to the various constituencies because they helped ments. The faculty and other constituencies to strengthen ties between all the different then don’t have to compare notes in order to segments of the university. Commencement divine presidential pronouncements or analyze ceremonies, honors awards, parents week, discrepancies between practice and rhetoric. special concerts or readings to celebrate a One of the unique characteristics of the particular event—even special days to honor presidency of a university is that every gesture, secretaries and staff—were all important. every action, big or small on the president’s When unfortunate occasions arose, I attended part contributes to how well he or she is able funerals and memorial services for retired to bring the community together and how the professors and staff, or helped to plant trees in community will support the president, the remembrance of students and faculty who had institution—and each other—in times of dif- died, because these were ways of strengthening fi culty. The test often comes when a genuine the university’s bonds and honoring its past. To crisis arises because it is then that leadership celebrate the present, Brown instituted prac- can make all the difference in how an institu- tices such as fl ying the fl ags of all the nations tion and those who are responsible for it are from which our students came and inviting the viewed not only during the crisis, but long ambassadors of their countries to be present at 36 after. In an essay on “Presidential Leadership ceremonies or even speak at the university. And in a Time of Crisis,”46 Philip L. Dubois, then to welcome the future, we continued to open president of the University of Wyoming, who, Brown’s famous Van Wickle Gate each year in the fi rst seven years of his tenure led his for the opening convocation of freshmen and university through crises that he calls “notable greet them as they marched through. We also by their number and scope”—including the inaugurated a dinner in honor of the freshmen murder of Matthew Shephard,47—makes the and gave another dinner in honor of the senior point that “there is no substitute in times of class. By the time of the senior dinner, I had community trauma for one comforting voice. come to know many of the individual students And although every rule probably holds its who I had welcomed as freshmen very well. own exception, that voice at a university must Such efforts take a lot of time and a lot of be the president’s.” In that same vein, it is also work, but they are enormously rewarding and useful to remember that, for a university presi- they are necessary if a university president is dent, “while good deeds often go unnoticed, committed to being the kind of leader who crises never do. This is because your stakehold- stands for the values of the university and ers…are measuring your conduct during the represents everybody on campus. They also crisis. They know that a crisis does not make do away, symbolically, with any kind of visible change—it reveals character.”48 “upstairs/downstairs” hierarchy and highlight the unity of the entire university community.

46 University Presidents as Moral Leaders, edited by David It is always valuable to address the entire G. Brown (American Council on Education/Praeger university community about challenges to series on higher education, 2005). 47 Shephard was a gay student at the University of the institution rather than speak separately to Wyoming. In 1998 he was severely beaten and subsequently died, an incident that drew both different constituencies. In that way, only one national and international attention. message is being delivered and that helps lead 48 Murphy, Sean K. “Crisis Management Demystifi ed: Here’s How to Prevent a Crisis from Ruining Your Institution’s to confi dence in the president’s public state- Reputation.” University Business, February 2003. Immediate crises notwithstanding, Hence, every year the university com- confrontations with the possibility of failure munity is again faced with the challenge of and looming sources of confl ict and tension educating, acculturating and absorbing into are hardly phenomena that will be forever the larger community a whole new popula- frozen in time. Just as the future can be seen tion of individuals who are variously anxious, as a moving target, so, too, are the diffi culties excited, tentative, competitive, confused, shy, that can seem most pressing on any given day, outgoing, brilliant, moody, average-, over- and because problems change and evolve, just like under-achievers—and sometimes, a little bit of everything else that affects the life of an insti- all those things and more. For me, seeing this tution. This is particularly true at a university, ebb and fl ow every year always made me think where elements of the community, such as of what Margaret Mead called “the whole faculty and alumni, tend to remain stable, but gamut of human potentialities” that connects where at least one major constituency changes us all and of the duty of each generation to the every single year (sometimes, every semester)— ones that follow after and those that have gone I mean, of course, the great waves of students before. This is a profoundly important concept who come and go, over time. Every year, a class for both the faculty and administration of graduates and a whole new class arrives, its an educational institution, since part of their 37 members bringing with them new ambitions, responsibility is to help students not only craft new goals, new ideas about how to live their a vision and a plan for the path that their own own lives and interact with the world around lives will follow, but also to make them under- them, plus new groups of parents and often stand that they have an indispensable role to new social and cultural issues—both national play in the future of our nation and our soci- and international in scope. These students, in ety. In essence, educating an individual centers essence, are the new citizens of the university around imparting knowledge, but in a larger community—or at least, citizens in the making sense, it is also about preparing that individual who are seeing their society and themselves in to be a good ancestor—someone who, by being completely new ways. They are both observers educated, will be able to both honor the past and participants, working out in their minds and improve the future. For Brown, that meant and in their lives how they will approach their that our students would use the education they futures. They often have idealized what the worked so hard to acquire not only for their university experience will be, not realizing own benefi t but also to contribute to strength- that, like life itself, the university environment ening the institutions of our democracy and and even the educational experience is always to embody, throughout their lives and careers, in fl ux. The gap that may arise between the the values of a free society. These include the expectation and the reality of the university freedom to follow one’s conscience, freedom of experience (and by extension, that of society thought, respect for the rights and responsibili- at large)—supportive of cultural experiments, ties of individuals as well as the rights of the socially responsible, laboratories of change minority and the majority—even the freedom, and idealism—can itself sow seeds of confl ict simply, to follow one’s dreams. and tension. Existing inconsistencies are often The president’s role, however, is not con- perceived as institutional hypocrisy, so students fi ned to the university alone. The responsibili- have to be engaged on that front and their ties of the offi ce extend beyond the campus. As concerns dealt with directly and honestly. Albert Yates, president emeritus of Colorado to justify its existence, but it did need to articu- State University has written, “The challenges late its mission and central role in the higher facing college and university presidents are not education fi rmament, it did need to get the materially different from those in charge of any attention of those who took it for granted and other large organization, but the responsibil- didn’t understand or appreciate the integral role ity for leading with virtue is greater because that Brown plays not only in the civic, cultural of the role that our institutions play in soci- and educational life of Providence and Rhode ety…higher education remains our society’s Island, but the nation, as well. It was important conscience—institutions that are empowered to me, fi rst at the Library and then at Brown, to question and challenge, that are expected that these institutions not be seen as some sort to instill values and character, and that are of cultural relics or historical dinosaurs but perceived as standing for more than the pursuit as dynamic, evolving institutions determined of a healthy bottom line.”49 I absolutely agree. to cope not only with the requirements of the present but the challenges of the future, too. Mobilizing Resources: For that to happen, we needed to implement Alumni and Trustees bold, even audacious efforts that were nonethe- 38 Whether they admit it or not, universities are less consistent with Brown’s mission, history in a perpetual fundraising mode. As dean of and unique character. We also needed the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and as provost participation and support of the entire campus of the University of Pennsylvania and later, as community. It was equally important to ac- president of The New York Public Library, I knowledge the progress that had been achieved had been involved with two major and very in the past by giving credit where it was due, successful fundraising campaigns. Penn’s keeping the engagement of those who had been campaign, launched in the fall of 1975, was loyal supporters of Brown while mobilizing called the Campaign for the Eighties and was those who, before, had not been invited into or designed to raise $255 million to maintain its felt truly a part of the Brown community. fi scal stability, improve its physical infrastruc- All this, in fact, is what happened: in 1992, ture, and to implement some of its ambitious the university embarked on the most ambitious academic goals—this in a time when both the capital campaign in Brown’s history, a fi ve- nation’s economy and the university’s fi nances year project called the Campaign for the Rising were suffering. We met our target. For the Generation. At fi rst, the university’s Trustees Library, a public/private partnership not only approached the campaign with trepidation raised over $327 million, as noted earlier, thinking that our aspirations were unrealistic, but also helped the institution to reclaim its but that soon turned into fi erce determination preeminent position as a national treasure. to achieve the high goals we had agreed upon. The experience of these campaigns gave me the ingredients—and the inspiration—to be The majority of our faculty participated in daring on behalf of Brown and its future when the campaign, as did parents, students, staff, I became the university’s president. alumni and friends of Brown, all of whom responded with astonishing generosity, demon- Like the Library and the University of strating just how committed the entire Brown Pennsylvania, I knew that Brown did not have extended family was to the university. The 49 David G. Brown, op cit. validity of our “daring” plan was confi rmed at the campaign’s midpoint when Brown alumni and non-alumni—who will give not only their and alumnae, parents and friends, responding time and expertise but also fi nancial support. to a survey from the development offi ce, ex- These goals were also accomplished. pressed their support for the campaign’s goals Mobilizing the alumni is certainly impor- and endorsed their importance. This commit- tant in terms of fundraising, but it is absolutely ment was highlighted by such acts as the Class essential in rallying support for any signifi cant of 1945 giving $1 million to the campaign to university initiative or reform. After all, it is mark their fi ftieth reunion, the largest fi ftieth these individuals who invested a good part of reunion gift in Brown’s history. The ultimate their youth in the university and staked their goal of the campaign was to raise $450 mil- future on the education it provided them. They lion; by the time the effort was concluded in hope to take pride in their alma mater and to 1996, we had raised $534 million from 55,000 see real evidence that it has a regional, national individuals, foundations and corporations. and even international impact. They expect For many universities, campaigns are not their university to continue to do justice to its only about money—they are a metaphor for traditions, adhere to standards of excellence telling or retelling the history of the institu- and uphold its values—and they are not afraid tion. Such was the case with Brown, which to let the administration know if they feel let 39 relied not on a fi nancial legacy but on the down in any of these areas… depth and breadth of talent, hard work, deter- In their capacity as members of governing mination, innovation and academic excellence. boards, Trustees are a major infl uence on our It allowed us to connect—or reconnect—the universities. The critical role they can play in people of Rhode Island and indeed, people enriching the quality of an institution’s work across the nation, with the importance and at all levels was brought home to me when I contributions of Brown to the United States. It was dean, and later provost, at the University also helped us to reach out to the alumni, not of Pennsylvania. At that time, I came to know just of Brown but also of Pembroke College, Henry Salvatori, a very interesting, well-read, the women’s college founded at Brown in 1891, cultured, conservative businessman who had which had merged with the university in 1971. helped to launch Ronald Reagan’s political It was a way to educate parents and students career. Salvatori, who graduated from the Uni- about the institution they had chosen over versity of Pennsylvania, Class of 1937, had a other universities by providing the historical critical mind. Whenever I went to Los Angeles, context of Brown’s academic development as where he lived, I made it a point to see him. I well as highlighting the direction of its future. remember that he always castigated the short- In addition, the campaign served to remind comings of Communists, socialists, liberals, foundations and corporations about the libertarians, Democrats, and even some conser- university as a source of invention, research, vatives and Republicans. One day, I asked him innovation, education, experimentation, what he thought was the greatest weakness of imagination, creativity and of course, scholar- capitalism and he replied that the corporate ship. Campaigns are also a means to commit, world often gathers together tremendous talent or recommit an institution’s governing Board for the purpose of legitimizing their actions to their stewardship of the institution and to rather than for providing expertise and enlight- recruit new Board members—both alumni enment. His words made a tremendous impres- sion on me, and from then on, whether at The the legacy of these men and women? There New York Public Library, at Brown University are any number of different motivations for or at Carnegie Corporation of New York, I becoming a trustee of such institutions: among have made a conscious effort to engage the them are those who are carrying on a fam- talents of Trustees and, when possible, tap their ily tradition (in some cases, more than one or expertise on behalf of the institutions I have two generations may succeed each other on a headed rather than expecting them to merely board); those self-made men and women who legitimize institutional decision making—and take pride in the fact that they can return to in doing so, the Library, the university and the their university as a Trustee; those who join foundation have been the benefi ciaries. out of a wish to serve or to learn, or to enter into a community of ideas. In particular, I In that connection, I was fortunate at the have always found the commitment of those Library and at Brown University—and now, at college and university Trustees who are serv- Carnegie Corporation—to have worked with ing their alma mater to be a moving and even extraordinary Trustees who have focused on inspirational combination of duty, pride, and a contributing to the formulation of institutional commitment to public service. priorities without imposing their own personal 40 biases or giving in to the temptation to mi- Many parents of foreign students and the cromanage. After all, managers can always be students themselves, who receive no fi nancial hired. The role of Trustees is to provide long- aid and pay full tuition to attend American term policy guidelines for an institution and universities, fi nd it diffi cult to understand ensure accountability for how the institution’s this kind of dedication, and especially the fact leadership implements those policies. This is that Trustees often make substantial dona- particularly true for Trustees of institutions tions to their university—as, of course, do such as libraries, universities and foundations, many alumni. This combination of service and which are obviously fundamentally different philanthropy is unheard of in many societies than for-profi t business enterprises. They are outside the United States. In fact, America’s extremely complex enterprises with a historical public and private institutions are extremely identity, a particular culture and many differ- fortunate that the tradition of service in our ent constituencies with many different expecta- nation is so deeply ingrained in its citizens, tions of them and for them. They require the including so many prominent individuals who time and attention of very special individuals feel a moral obligation to use whatever social, with deep insight into the indispensability of political or business-related platform they have these institutions to America’s national life. earned through their own success—as well as, often, their private wealth—for the benefi t of It would be fascinating, I think, for future generations. someone to do a study of the people who serve on the Boards of the 4,000 public and private In the process of serving, some Trustees colleges and universities in the United States. get extremely attached to their organization or Who are the individuals who accept the role institution, not only intellectually but also vis- and responsibility of being a Trustee? What cerally. For universities, one of the challenges motivates them to serve in the tradition of in these situations is to ensure that Trustees’ in- voluntarism that is one of our nation’s great terests—even devotion—are not “captured” by contributions to the world? What has been certain special interests at the university for the benefi t of a particular school, a particular de- A common denominator for Trustees of all partment, or a particular professor’s (or group nonprofi ts, especially colleges and universities, of professors’) specifi c research interests. Board is their role as symbols of institutional integrity, members have an obligation to see themselves, accountability, fi duciary responsibility, and and conduct themselves, as Trustees of the oversight of the course and direction of the entire university and must be sure that, even institution. One of the most important roles a inadvertently, their loyalties, their personal Trustee will ever carry out is helping to select a philosophies and their preferences are never leader who is worthy of the institution that the mobilized against fellow Trustees, or against Trustees have dedicated themselves to and em- the university administration or the president. powering that individual to help fulfi ll all the Such situations can lead to paralyzing faction- institutional potential that the Board, as well as alization that is always harmful to the univer- previous Trustees and presidents, have set out to sity, and will be particularly damaging during achieve. Having served on more than forty dif- times of crisis. A university is not an extension ferent nonprofi t and institutional Boards during of the Trustees; their job is not to cast their the course of my career, I was able to acquire shadows over the institution but to ensure that fi rst-hand knowledge of the culture of Boards of the legacy of past generations as well as the Trustees, their different styles and different mo- 41 accomplishments of the present continue to dus operandi. Based on this experience, it seems provide for continually deeper and richer edu- clear to me that in the case of universities, where cational opportunities for tomorrow’s students. there are always endemic tensions coupled John Gardner, Carnegie Corporation’s former with the awesome responsibility to oversee not president (1955 to 1967), once said that uni- only the quality of education provided by the versities have always had both their lovers and institution but also the physical well-being of their critics, but the critics have seldom been thousands of students, there are always going to loving, and the lovers have seldom been criti- be problems—some of them very serious—that cal. “On the one side,” he warned, “those who will thrust the institution into a spotlight for loved their institutions tended to smother them which it may not have been prepared. The in an embrace of death, loving their rigidities political utterances of faculty members; exhibi- more than their promise, shielding them from tions of “offensive” art; the “unruly” behavior life-giving criticism. On the other side, there of young men and women; student newspapers arose a breed of critics without love, skilled in publishing “tasteless” articles; the perfor- demolition but untutored in the arts by which mance—or “nonperformance”—of athletic human institutions are nurtured and strength- teams; and dozens of other issues and actions ened and made to fl ourish. Between the two, on the part of any individual or segment of the the institutions perished.”50 I would add that “city-state” I previously alluded to can prompt yet another danger is being meddlesome. Well- anything from a minor uproar to a full-fl edged meaning individuals who can’t stop themselves crisis that can be devastating for all involved. from inappropriately or repeatedly comment- When this happens, not only the president but ing on or trying to intervene in institutional the Trustees will fi nd themselves in the eye of affairs can wreak havoc. I’ve seen it happen. the hurricane. How well the storm is weath- ered will depend in large part on the insight, 50 “Uncritical Lovers, Unloving Critics.” Commencement sensitivity, experience and cohesiveness of the address by John Gardner at Cornell University on June 12th, 1968, the 100th anniversary of Cornell. Board and its members’ relationship with the president. If the Trustees have chosen the right While many Trustees appreciate the individual for the job of leading the institution, complexity of universities and their academic then chances are that after the crisis has been culture, nevertheless, their language, their terms dealt with, the university, its leadership and its of reference and other touchstones are, by ne- students will be stronger and perhaps even more cessity and experience, corporate and manage- appreciative of each other than they were before. rial in nature. This is entirely natural, as Board members deal with the institution’s investments Delicate Balances and other fi nancial matters, with infrastructure, Throughout my years in academia, I came to contracts, management issues, legal obligations, appreciate not only that a university is extraor- etc., while also interacting with the develop- dinarily complex but that, in many instances, ment offi ce, through which Trustees not only it also has two separate cultures that coexist— help the university raise funds, but also deal sometimes uneasily. One is the academic cul- with alumni and governmental relations. ture, with its roots in medieval Europe and the One of a university president’s greatest Mediterranean. This culture is very proud of challenges is how to manage the delicate bal- the fact that even though it tolerates the notion ance between these two cultures—indeed, how that a university must have a vertical organiza- 42 to bridge the gap between them. Maintaining tion, it still thinks of itself, in essence, as having equilibrium can be particularly diffi cult if the a horizontal structure, where all the faculty president has joined corporate boards, which members, regardless of “rank or privilege” are pay very well.51 The chairs of those boards equal, because all are members of the com- sometimes also serve on the university’s board. monwealth of learning. (In practice of course, This is often justifi ed as “building bridges” the faculty is highly stratifi ed, with its own between the university and the business world, peculiar hierarchy. The university professor, the and as necessary for the university’s welfare. tenured or untenured professor, the holder of an The fact that a university president serves on endowed chair, the lecturer, adjunct profes- a corporate board may also be pointed to as sor—each knows who is “above” and who is an indicator of how much the corporate world “below.”) To these individuals, the president of respects the university president’s abilities as a the university is not really the boss: he or she is leader. Still, such arrangements may be fraught there to lead and serve them, and at the same with problems. The university community, for time to be the shield that will protect them example, may see confl ict-of-interest ques- and their privileges from the encroachment or tions arising if the university is doing business threat of outside forces. The president is also with the corporation of which the university expected to create and maintain the atmosphere president is a trustee. In such instances, merely and conditions conducive to the free exchange abstaining from votes or not participating in of ideas and the unfettered pursuit of knowl- business that involves the corporation and the edge, as well as protect academic freedom. In university may not be enough to eliminate the addition, the president must oversee a second appearance of confl ict-of-interest issues. In addi- culture—an actual corporate culture—that is tion, when a corporation faces a major legal or preoccupied not with academic issues but with ethical problem, the university president who is all the fi nancial, legal and fi duciary issues that governance entails and hence, is essential for 51 University presidents joining corporate boards is a relatively new phenomenon; the practice became more the functioning of the university. common beginning in the 1970s and 1980s. a member of their board may get dragged into of them are not even “good teachers” or have the situation even if he or she has nothing to not fulfi lled their potential as scholars. This do with it—and, by extension, that may also same president, in dealing with the faculty, refl ect poorly on the university itself. Further- may complain “in confi dence” about how more, for a president to belong to many corpo- Trustees are meddlesome; have no appreciation rate boards may result in yet another dilemma: of the intrinsic values of a rarifi ed educational how not to be perceived as tilting towards the institution like a university; do not understand corporate culture in terms of maintaining the or cherish the principle of academic freedom; delicate balance between the worlds of busi- and he may imply that some of the Trustees ness and academia that, as we have seen, is one are well-meaning philistines who are only on of the university president’s responsibilities. If the Board by virtue of their money and their a president has to belong to corporate boards success in the business world. for the purposes of income or reputation or This kind of doublespeak is dangerous, and infl uence, it is advisable for him or her to give as a strategy, it’s destined to fail because instead equal time to service on nonprofi t boards in of closing the divide between the two groups, order to balance both worlds. Of course, serv- it ends up making it even wider and in the ing on any board should not prevent a president process, undermines the president’s authority 43 who is paid a full-time salary from devoting with both camps. What often happens when a all the time, energy and attention necessary problem or crisis arises is that the two formerly to the university that expects and deserves the opposing sides close ranks, leaving the presi- president’s best efforts. And he or she needs to dent out in the cold. The two sides may even be aware that a president who “moonlights” work together to facilitate the president’s exit. cannot apply strict rules to faculty not to do This was not an uncommon scenario during the same and hence, create a situation where the era of protests over the Vietnam war and both the president and faculty members are so civil rights, when there were many instanc- engaged elsewhere that they are not serving the es—too many—of university presidents who university to the best of their ability promised to follow contradictory policies. We The tension between the academic and have certainly seen instances of the same thing corporate cultures creates all kinds of dilem- happening in recent memory. mas. I’ve witnessed situations, for instance, Still, it’s very diffi cult for the president not where the president of a university tried to to be pulled in at least two different directions please both constituencies by telling each what at once. For instance, while university Trustees it expected to hear. In this instance, the presi- will certainly support the president’s commit- dent of a university may commiserate with the ment to excellence and his or her dedication to governing board—most of whom are from a maintaining high standards, especially in the corporate culture—by decrying the diffi culties case of the best universities, at the same time it he or she has in dealing with tenured profes- is natural for them to want the university to be sors (which nowadays some refer to as “tenured well run and well managed, be fi scally sound, radicals”) who have never met a payroll, don’t and have a strategic plan in place with bench- know anything about the need to keep an eye marks for judging progress. They also want on the bottom line, make impossible demands, their institution to more than measure up to sis- have unrealistic expectations even though some ter institutions in every category, both academic and administrative. Trustees are also concerned nounced—a plus for the university with no with cost-effectiveness, as of course they must downside—which often leads many involved be—as should the president be—since the long- to forget that accepting money means making term well-being of the institution is very much a real commitment to do what the money was in their hands. But in this regard, problems of- intended for, such as build a facility or endow ten arise in times of economic downturn when a professorship. So, in the long run, the gift hard questions have to be asked such as, where could actually end up adding to the overall should economies be made? defi cit. When a professorship is endowed, for example, and an individual is hired, the In terms of “making economies,” one faculty probably sees only salary; the depart- phrase that resonated throughout my experi- ment chair sees salary plus offi ce space and ences at the University of Pennsylvania, The secretarial help; but someone in the university New York Public Library and at Brown Univer- administration has to take all that into account sity was “deferred maintenance.” I learned that along with benefi ts, health care, pension, new you can always have a balanced budget through computer equipment, a parking space, etc.—in deferred maintenance, but deferred mainte- other words, all the costs involved need to be nance, unless you have specifi cally planned for totaled and that, over time, may amount to 44 it, quickly becomes planned neglect. When I signifi cantly more than the original gift. arrived at Brown, there was a huge backlog of such “deferred” projects, including buildings At Brown, during my tenure, the universi- and facilities that were in desperate need of ren- ty’s priorities were the faculty, the library and ovation. Sometimes, I used humor to deal with fi nancial aid for students, but it was impossible situations in which this kind of neglect was a to fully meet the funding requirements they factor. For example, the dormitories at Brown all generated. If one was hoping to realize all had been built shortly after World War II and of the above priorities equally, there were only many of these had not been kept up since—but three choices: invade the endowment, rely on I joked that we charged a lot for students to live annual giving as if it was an always-reliable in the dormitories because they were carrying and steady source of income, or borrow from out a historical reenactment! Eventually, of federal authorities to pay for capital improve- course, we did address their restoration, issuing ments. I did none of these things because I $33.5 million in bonds, when interest rates felt that to do so would entail mortgaging the were very favorable. future of the university.

Sometimes, when rehabilitation was not Other potentially dangerous plans involve suffi cient, and a new building was needed, the quietly increasing the size of the student body university naturally sought a donor or donors and enlarging class size in order to bring in to secure the necessary funds. Such instances additional revenue; spending a higher percent- taught me an important lesson: that accepting age of the endowment return than has been the money for construction of a building without usual practice; cutting staff and faculty travel; securing the funding to maintain it is a way of even delaying fi lling needed faculty positions. contributing to “deferred maintenance.” In recent years, the pressure on the budgets The lure of a major gift for any purpose of institutions of higher education has only is enticing; it’s viewed as a coup when it’s an- grown more severe because of a new factor: technology. I have touched on many of the have excellent Egyptology departments. Both challenges technology presents to the modern are well endowed, but since there aren’t a huge university, but perhaps one that looms largest number of individuals who want to train to is the price tag for these advances. When you become Egyptologists, these departments, in analyze the costs involved in acquiring and comparison to others, don’t enroll all that many maintaining all the technology required by the students. So, how do you justify the continua- present-day university, including hardware, soft- tion of such expensive programs on a cost-ben- ware, new staff, maintenance costs, bandwidth, efi t basis? For Trustees steeped in free-market even new facilities, the enormity of the ongoing economics, where there is a clear-cut relation- investments that will have to be made becomes ship between demand and profi t, there may be apparent. It is not just the sciences or other tech- real questions about the sustainability of excel- nology-related disciplines that require more and lence that cannot at least pay for itself. But for more resources. Our Cultural Commonwealth, academics, there is an equal sense of incompre- a recent report from the American Council of hensibility at the idea of trying to measure their Learned Societies, notes that the humanities accomplishments or their educative success on and social sciences will also have to make larger the basis of Wall Street-type “quarterly” results. investments in the systems, personnel and prac- Egyptology may not be central to a 45 tices that support the digital infrastructure that university’s core undergraduate curriculum, is now essential to academia. In times of auster- but it is essential—in the case of both Brown ity—which most higher education institutions and Penn, for instance—to maintain the must face once in a while—the balance between universities’ century-long tradition of excel- the pressures to keep the university academically lent scholarship and research in an area critical excellent and on the cutting edge of technology, to our understanding of the development of while also maintaining its infrastructure in top civilization. When, as at any university, there condition, may be hard to achieve. What Trust- is virtually day-to-day competition for funding ees want to see happen in terms of dealing with and resources, where do you strike the balance rising costs are either economies that can be between support of long-standing and proven imposed over the long-run and result in contin- excellence, with new needs and new opportu- ued savings or new revenue-enhancing measures nities? It is a continually vexing question. that are equally forward looking. But if these measures—as well as short-term solutions that Some institutions rely on the “each tub may be imposed in an emergency such as hiring on its own bottom” idea, where each school part-time or adjunct faculty with lower pay, no establishes its own priorities and has to fi nd benefi ts and often, no offi ce space—are seen by ways of paying for them. Some areas of study, the faculty and students as interfering with the of course, attract more students—and thus culture and mission of the university, or with its more funding in terms of tuition, alumni educational (or even social and cultural) offer- giving, etc.—than others, so even at “rich” ings, the two groups may fi nd themselves on a universities, schools such as those of divinity, collision course. social work, education, and architecture will almost always be working from a much smaller Let me illustrate this point with a specifi c fi nancial base than their counterparts (such example. Two of the universities I’ve served, as business, law, and medicine, for example). Brown and the University of Pennsylvania, In such an environment, student enrollment and demand may well determine the educa- the very real needs and obligations of a univer- tional offerings of the university. But if you’re sity to maintain its fi nancial health and com- relying on that kind of measure, do you make petitiveness by offering programs and courses a purely mechanistic calculation and abandon that students will pay for and that donors will something like Egyptology, no matter how support. Another element in the mix is the important or valuable the department? Or do often divisive and frustrating debate that can go you set yourself and your institution the task of on among professional schools, the arts and sci- fi nding a way to continue to honor the seeds of ences, business schools, etc., where one argues excellence that were sown in the past and pre- that, well, our teacher-to-student ratio is sev- serve knowledge and scholarship for posterity? enty-fi ve to one, while Egyptology, for example, This is where presidential leadership is critical is two-to-one, so which one is clearly cost-ef- and where the values of the president, as well fective? The answer, for me, is that the question as his or her eloquence, intellectual acuity and is not relevant: each part of a university fulfi lls ability to make the “cost-plus” argument on its own role and has its own purpose, but taken behalf of knowledge and wisdom, are called together, they have an overall purpose that is upon and must win the day. more than a collection of courses—a univer- sity is the very defi nition of the saying that the 46 University presidents have an obligation whole is more than the sum of its parts. to explain to Trustees, policymakers and the public that not everything at the insti- Meeting all these kinds of challenges are tution—neither courses nor fi eldwork nor tasks that fall squarely into the lap of the uni- research nor any other of a hundred ways that versity president, because it is the president who knowledge is continually pursued and pre- is ultimately charged with rallying all of his served by human beings—can be measured in or her constituencies to go forward into their terms of cost-benefi t. Presidents often have to collective future, not by fi nessing them in some play the role of advocate for history, tradition way or trying to buy time by such expedients and scholarship that cannot be quantifi ed in as setting up committees “to study the matter” purely dollars-and-cents terms. Can you put a and so forth, but by leading them, by standing price on providing the world with a translation up for the institution’s core values and convinc- of the Gnostic bible or a decoded version of ing even warring factions that neither winning the Sumerian dictionary or revelations deci- a feud nor hiding tensions behind a façade of phered from Manichean literature or courses in tranquility should be anyone’s ultimate objec- medieval music, Icelandic sagas, ancient Arabic tive: the well-being of the entire university com- poetry and so forth? Not everything of value munity and the excellence of the education pro- to civilization exists in or was created to serve vided to students must always be paramount. only some conception of present-day reality. This is especially true of a lame-duck By that measure, objects in a museum that are president who may have announced his or her not frequently viewed or books not continually retirement or resignation. In that situation, the checked out of a library could be discarded as president should not put diffi cult or critical being of little or diminished value. issues on the back burner for a successor to sort There can be a very delicate balance out. Indeed, it is incumbent on an outgoing between what must be preserved for what one president to try to resolve as many vexing prob- might term the greater good of civilization and lems as possible so that the fi rst job of the new president is not to deal with the failures and system to carry students safely around campus unmet challenges of previous administrations. or between the university and its environs), That won’t do the university any good, nor will institutions of higher education continue to see it help the president’s reputation. themselves not primarily as for-profi t enter- prises but as sanctuaries of education, focused The Business of Education on providing the next generation with as much Universities do not exist in a realm apart or knowledge, experience and wisdom as pos- protected from the rest of society; they are an sible. Many universities, however, are in denial integral part of its social, intellectual, econom- about the business-oriented nature of much of ic, and cultural fabric. In fact, one can make what they do. They take great pride in their the case that they are even more than that: the dedication to their educative mission and their philosopher and intellectual historian Arthur nonprofi t status, and go to great lengths to O. Lovejoy’s assessment of how universities make clear that they are nonprofi t institutions serve humankind certainly qualifi es them as dedicated to altruistic goals. part of what he called the “Great Chain of Perhaps that’s why when scandals erupt Being”—an essential element of the linked at universities, they are often viewed as more hierarchy of ideas and principles that stretch shocking than in other sectors of our national 47 from the lowest manifestations of life to an as- life. We somehow expect scholars, educators yet unrealized perfection.52 As Lovejoy wrote, and university leaders to remain above the fray, “The university is not only a vehicle for trans- even though the same tensions, scandals and mitting to successive generations knowledge corruption inherent in everyday society cer- already gained; it is…the outpost of the intel- tainly exist on campus, as well. But as centers lectual life of a civilized society, the institution of learning and education, endeavors generally set up on the frontier of human knowledge to perceived as introspective in nature and objec- widen the dominion of man’s mind.”53 tive by defi nition, people expect universities to In other words, the past really is prologue. be better than that—in part, because their fo- Every day on the university campus, students cus is supposed to be not only on the past and and teachers are reaching back into the past the present, but also on the future. So, when for knowledge and wisdom, mixing them with it comes to issues concerning students—and the ideas of today and looking forward to what interestingly, labor unions as well—institutions may come in the future. Given this context, of higher education are expected to act as if it is not hard to see why, although universi- they belong only to the culture of academia, ties have almost every feature, concern and where, in theory, high-minded, ideal solutions responsibility of a business (including physical will always prevail over cold fi nancial realities plants, organized labor unions, bookstores, and where justice, meted out by student/fac- shops, dispensaries, hospitals, a security force, ulty “courts” is supposed to be more humane, maintenance staff, investments, purchasing more balanced and fair, than the courts of the departments, technology requirements and of- “real” world. It is as if universities are charged ten even their own bus or other transportation with coming up with model answers for all the ills that beset society: racism, sexism, religious 52 The Great Chain of Being: The Study of the History of an prejudice, inequality, the income gap and just Idea, by Arthur O. Lovejoy (Harvard University Press, 2005; Harper Torchbooks, 1960). about anything else you can name. What the 53 Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1930. entire K-12 education system could not accom- of this mix of modalities, because these days, plish, the democratic city-state that is the uni- universities are actively seeking business part- versity is expected to handle with infi nite sagac- ners to make up for cuts in public funds and to ity. In effect, universities are expected to be meet the ever-increasing costs of both pure and utopias of a sort, built upon the loftiest values, applied research and even graduate education, inculcated with the most irreproachable ideals where universities may subsidize the arts and and possessed of a vision that allows them to sciences in order to remain competitive. see everyone as equal along with the ability to This is especially true nowadays, when the provide parity to everyone, including all those line between “public” and “private” universities who have in any way been disenfranchised by is increasingly blurred. In “the good old times,” economic circumstances, physical disability, public universities in the U.S. relied almost sexual, racial or religious intolerance, or any entirely on public funds while private universi- other social, cultural or political infraction. ties were supported by tuition fees, alumni This is a terrible burden. Every social and giving and research funding. This division, cultural ill that can beset a human being and however, is no longer clear cut. Johns Hopkins that has not been erased or at least modifi ed University, for example, receives more federal 48 through twelve years of elementary and middle funding for its research activities than any school education, through the loving offi ces of other American university,54 but it is only one family life or the intervention of a whole host of of many, many private institutions compet- public and private institutions dedicated to im- ing for state and federal support, while public proving the welfare of American citizens, some- universities increasingly are turning to private how becomes the responsibility of the university foundations, individuals, and corporations for to deal with in order to produce the next genera- funding infusions. On the other side of the tion of America’s professionals and achievers. equation, the University of Virginia, a public Since universities cannot meet these extraordi- institution founded by Thomas Jefferson in nary expectations, everyone involved experiences 1819, today receives less than 10 percent of its a sense of letdown—even betrayal. University funding from the state of Virginia. An example leaders, therefore, must moderate their rhetoric of a public university that does continue to and not over-promise what they can deliver as receive a substantial amount of its support part of the process of educating adults. While from the state—22 percent—is the University education is an invaluable foundation for intel- of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which was lectual and even emotional and psychological also recently included in a list of the top 50 development, it cannot solve every problem that global universities compiled by Newsweek, everyone who walks through a university’s gates a remarkable achievement.55 Notably, in an may have, nor was it designed to. era of mass higher education, this mixture of support will only continue to be seen on an Education and enlightenment are, of international scale: since no nation-state can course, not the only considerations that the uni- afford to fi nance the entire cost of its citizens’ versity community is concerned about. Avoid- higher education, government, private-sector ing the fact that business is part of the academic 54 Anne K. Walters, “Industry Support for Academic environment as well as university operations Research Falls, but Federal Aid Rises,” The Chronicle of and functions is not productive. What is re- Higher Education, May 12, 2006. 55 Newsweek, International Edition, August 21, 2006/ quired is an understanding of the ramifi cations August 28, 2006. research support, alumni giving, and students nies that invest in university research programs? themselves, through tuition, will continue It should be noted that in this regard, corpora- to be among the sources of funding that will tions are not the only interested or infl uential increasingly have to be tapped. parties: in recent years, there has been increas- ing pressure from the public as well as from As universities and corporations continue local, state and federal government agencies to forge ever-closer partnerships, particularly in for research to produce quick, measurable and the area of research, these arrangements raise impactful results, particularly in the area of the specter of university research being pulled medicine and health care. And are university- out of its orbit of free inquiry, its transpar- based research agendas being compromised ency muddied by exclusive contracts entered by pressure from external commercial forces? into with industry and business. In addition When businesses hold the purse strings and to presenting potential challenges to academic dictate the timetable by which research is to freedom, other critical questions arise from be conducted, outcomes may be infl uenced these associations such as, to what extent do as well as ownership of research products. In public universities engaging in corporation-sup- some cases, the governance of a university may ported research actually serve the public good also be affected if quality standards are set by by helping to create drugs or contributing to 49 corporations instead of by the university itself. inventions that belong, fi rst, to the companies These issues may be particularly diffi cult to that paid for their development? In Britain, for address for some states still resisting the need to example, the push toward “technology transfer” respect academic freedom and transparency in has kicked into high gear, with both govern- government and business dealings. Sooner or ment and corporate pressure being brought later, however, they will have to be confronted to bear on universities to fi nd more ways of by even the most closed societies. turning research into saleable products. Argu- ing against that trend are those such as Nobel In terms of the United States, the increas- laureate Arthur Kornberg, who has noted that ing loss of public funding for higher educa- multi-million-dollar support from NIH en- tion prompted Mark Yudof, president of the abled him to carry out research on DNA for 30 University of Minnesota, to write an article years, “without any promise or expectation that with the bleak title, “Is the Public Research this research would lead to marketable prod- University in America Dead?”56 Between 1986 ucts or procedures.” Public funding led to the and 1996, he notes, state spending on higher development of the fi rst computers; the Internet education fell 14 percent, with universities is an outgrowth of network communications losing budget share to other priorities, includ- created by the Defense Advanced Research ing prisons and health care. And while the Projects Agency, the most academic arm of rate of growth in federal support for university the Pentagon. It is unlikely that the long-term, research continues to soften, over the last three basic research that led to these world-changing decades, funds provided to U.S. universities by inventions would be a priority for the outcome- the industrial sector grew faster than fund- oriented budgets of companies in the U.S. or ing from any other source. Industry spent $2 abroad. So another question that must be raised billion on scientifi c research and development is, to what extent is basic research unnecessarily speeded up or bent to the needs of the compa- 56 Mark G. Yudof, “Is the Public Research University in America Dead?” July 2001 (unpublished article.). at U.S. universities and colleges in 1999, ac- Institute reported that leading universities that cording to the National Science Foundation;57 spend money on helping academics turn their in 2001 (the latest year for which such fi gures research into commercial ventures see a sixfold are available), industry provided 6.8 percent of return on their investment,60 which is certainly funding for academic research, a slight decline an impressive incentive. On the other hand, from a high of 7.4 percent in 1999.58 says Ross De Vol, lead author of the report,61 commercialization should not be seen as a solu- As the nation’s pioneer in basic research, tion for general funding shortfalls in higher the university faces a diffi cult challenge. How education but as a means to recoup some of the can it maintain leadership in pure research if costs of research.62 distracted by research for the marketplace? In the past, the university’s challenge was main- One of the most controversial examples taining independence from federal regulators; of a university-corporation relationship is the the current challenge to academic freedom in fi ve-year alliance that was created between research is to keep some degree of well-defi ned Novartis, the life-sciences company based in independence from industry and business. For Switzerland, and the University of Califor- as James Bryant Conant, one of Harvard’s il- nia at Berkeley’s Department of Plant and 50 lustrious presidents, once wrote, “There is only Microbial Biology. Since 1999, the company one proved method of assisting the advance- had been paying the department $5 million a ment of pure science—that of picking men of year for the right to license a portion of what genius, backing them heavily and leaving them the researchers discover. Some said it would to direct themselves.”59 strengthen the department; others worried that research with less commercial potential Clearly, the increasing commercialization would inevitably be phased out. When the of university research has the potential to be arrangement ended, it was not renewed, and in a corrupting infl uence if economic necessi- 2004, reviewers at the University of Michigan ties force faculty to surrender some of their Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards prerogatives. When industry sponsors univer- issued a report critical of the $25 million sity research, it may affect the faculty’s research research deal, saying that while no commercial agenda in ways that directly and indirectly discoveries came from the agreement and the discourage pure research in favor of research Berkeley researchers say they weren’t unduly with commercial applications. The challenge is infl uenced by Novartis, the Michigan review- to balance theoretical and practical research— ers asserted that the questions of perception and to protect the individual rights of the raised by the arrangement had cast the Univer- faculty, the collective rights of the university sity of California at Berkeley in a bad light and and the integrity of research. caused undue controversy and ill will.63 Of course, there are two sides to the argu- 60 “Top Universities See Sixfold Return on Technology ment about commercializing research that Transfer,” Financial Times, September 20, 2006. comes out of universities. In 2006, the Milken 61 Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization (Milken Institute, 2006). 57 “Science in Class,” by Daniel Zoll, The San Francisco 62 “Top Universities,” op cit. Bay Guardian, March 21, 2001. 63 External Review of the Collaborative Research Agreement 58 “Bioscience Warfare,” by Alison Pierce, SF Weekly, between Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute, Inc. June 2, 2004. and the Regents of the University of California, Institute 59 James Bryant Conant, “National Research Argued,” Letter for Food and Agricultural Standards, Michigan State to the Editor, The New York Times, August 13, 1945. University, July 13, 2004. The University of California at Berkeley interdependent. Perhaps in this day and age is hardly the only university that has tried to one cannot live without the other, but we must parlay its reputation and its expertise into hard be watchful to ensure that the independence of dollars. MIT’s Industrial Liaison Program, for universities and the objectivity of their research example, charges corporations membership fees is not compromised. that have ranged from $50,000 to $70,000 for services that their web site describes in purely The Rights and Responsibilities commercial terms: “MIT’s Industrial Liaison of the Faculty Program (ILP) is your one-stop shop for MIT Today, it is not just the academic integrity of the expertise. The vast resources of MIT—one university that is sometimes under assault but of the world’s outstanding research universi- also the vitality of the faculty. If the faculty is ties—can provide a rich vein of technologi- the core of the university, as I fi rmly believe it is, cal and managerial innovation that will help then it follows that the university is as strong, or sustain your competitive advantage for decades as weak, as its faculty. Anything that fragments to come.”64 Today, quite a few universities are or diminishes the faculty also fragments and following these examples—and in my view are diminishes the university. Hence, I view the right to charge corporations for their work. Af- widespread trend toward part-time faculty as a 51 ter all, many corporations have for years been major factor that may eventually undermine the the benefi ciaries of university research—isn’t it faculty and the strength of the university. only fi tting that they now return the favor? In recent years we’ve reached the point Still, the question must be raised of wheth- where most teachers are part-timers, adjuncts er there is a danger that education will become and graduate students. In fact, the growth of a well-defi ned business ruled by the law of part-time faculty has been phenomenal, nearly supply and demand. Adrianna Kezar, associ- doubling between 1970 and 2003, from 22 ate professor for higher education, University percent of the faculty to 44.66 Unfortunately, of Southern California, suggests it is, writing administrators rely on these part-timers to in a recent research report, “With most of the reduce class sizes and to teach more subjects at observable trends in higher education moving more times, including nights and weekends. In in the direction of responding to the demands doing so, the major motivation seems to be to of business, new technology, distance education reduce university costs by paying part-timers a and building partnerships with nonacademic small fraction of what tenured faculty earn for communities, the humanities and the centrality a similar amount of work. of classroom teaching are being side-stepped.”65 A report released by the Coalition on the Given these concerns, it seems evident that Academic Workforce,67 an association of the a major challenge for universities, both in the leaders of disciplinary societies, confi rms the United States and increasingly, abroad, is how growing dependency by higher education insti- to maintain their independence as their rela- tutions on part-timers. After surveying depart- tionships with the business sector grow more ments in ten social science and humanities fi elds to discover which types of faculty members 64 http://ilp-www.mit.edu/display_page.a4d?key=H1 65 Adrianna J. Kezar, “Faculty: ERIC Trends 1999- 2000,” ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, 66 http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005172.pdf (p. 7). U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education 67 Who Is Teaching In U.S. College Classrooms? A Policy Studies, ERIC #ED-446652, 2000. Collaborative Study of Undergraduate Faculty, Fall 1999. teach what courses, and what kinds of pay and The increasing shift to a part-time faculty benefi ts the professors receive, the coalition also poses a major threat to academic freedom. made these fi ndings: Freestanding composition As was noted in the The Chronicle of Higher programs have by far the highest proportion of Education:70 “Here’s a news fl ash for people classes taught by part-time and graduate-student who care about academic freedom: Half the instructors (31 and 34 percent, respectively) and professoriate does not have it. Adjuncts are get- the lowest taught by tenure-track instructors (15 ting dumped for things tenure-track scholars percent). Except in history and art history, full- do with impunity—teaching controversial time tenure-track professors teach fewer than material, fi ghting grade changes, organizing half of the introductory undergraduate courses unions. One part-timer was dropped after offered. In English, composition, foreign lan- trying to talk about pornography in an ethics guages, and philosophy, full-time tenure-track class. Another was ditched after racist words instructors teach only a fraction of such courses, came up in a communications course. Then ranging from 7 percent to 34 percent. In dif- there was the professor who got fi red for ha- ferent disciplines, graduate-student instructors rassment after he mentioned tampons and anal teach anywhere from 7 percent to 34 percent of sex in a pathology class.” all undergraduate classes, and up to 42 percent 52 In this type of situation, of course, the of introductory courses.68 controversial statement or research project is Let’s face reality: more and more, part-tim- not mentioned in the letter of dismissal. The ers resemble piece workers, comprising a grow- offending part-time instructor is simply told ing underclass in the ranks of the faculty. Their that his or her contract isn’t being renewed status is refl ected in their pay and the absence because of declining enrollment, a schedul- of benefi ts: in recent years, only 23 percent of ing confl ict or lack of budget or some other history departments have offered any benefi ts administrative excuse. We all know tenure is to part-timers, while in other disciplines, only not a perfect system. Many things are wrong about 40 percent offered benefi ts. As for salary, with it, but, on the whole, it has protected even teaching four courses a term, part-time academic freedom. Without it, inadequate job faculty members are paid at a rate—less than security and related concerns about income $3,000 per course on average—that puts them and professional advancement may nurture in an equivalent salary range to fast-food work- the worst kind of censorship—self-censorship. ers and baggage porters.69 Additionally, if a class And that, in fact, may be why we hear so little should be canceled for lack of enrollment, which publicly from faculty members about national can occur a few weeks into the semester, the and international issues confronting the United adjunct instructor may not be paid at all. They States and the world. typically do not have the use of a computer or The lack of job security and academic offi ce and, in some places, aren’t even allowed to freedom inevitably takes its toll on the qual- buy an on-campus parking permit or have their ity of teaching by part-timers. P.D. Lesko, the names listed in the campus phone directory. head of the National Adjunct Faculty Guild, has said that part-timers “are terrifi ed of being

68 “Report Details Colleges’ Heavy Reliance on Part-Time Instructors,” by Ana Marie Cox, The Chronicle of Higher 70 Alison Schneider, “To Many Adjunct Professors, Education, November 22, 2000. Academic Freedom Is a Myth,” The Chronicle of Higher 69 ibid. Education, December 10, 1999, p. A18. rigorous graders, terrifi ed to deal with com- and the fi rst World War as one in which the plaints about the course materials, terrifi ed to faculty suffered a great deal of interference deal with plagiarists. A lot of them are working from businesses, donors, Trustees, government as robots. They go in, they teach, they leave. and religious organizations. Levine writes, “At No muss, no fuss.” But Lesko adds: “If you’re universities across the country from Stanford afraid to give an honest grade or an honest to Yale and Vanderbilt to Wisconsin, profes- opinion, you’re not teaching.”71 sors were fi red or threatened with discharge for taking what were judged the wrong sides of Essentially, the challenge posed by the controversial issues such as Darwinism, public trend toward part-time faculty is the erosion of ownership of railroads, immigration, alcohol quality in institutions of higher education. Aca- prohibition, bimetallism and U.S. entry into demic freedom cannot thrive in a setting where World War I. The academic remedy for these half the faculty do not have secure jobs, and intrusions,” Levine notes, “was the creation universities cannot easily separate economic of tenure, a mechanism designed to insure security from academic freedom and autonomy. professors academic freedom by granting them In that connection, it is useful to revisit the permanent appointments or lifelong employ- concept of academic freedom as well as how ment after a probationary period.”74 53 and why it took hold in the United States. A In any event, it was not until the early seminal model of academic freedom developed twentieth century that the idea of shared in Germany in the eighteenth and nineteenth governance, the centrality of the faculty and centuries, where such academic leaders as academic freedom prevailed in the American Nicholas Gundling, Rector of the University of university. A major player in this struggle Halle, and Wilhelm von Humboldt defended was the American Association of University the freedom to teach and the freedom to Professors, and especially its Committee on learn.72 Indeed, Humboldt cited academic Academic Freedom and Tenure. A signifi cant freedom as one of the essential principles of landmark was the committee’s fi rst report, in the modern university when he founded the 1915, which was very infl uential in promoting renowned University of Berlin in 1812.73 The academic freedom as an essential prerequisite position of professors in Germany after the for research, instruction and the development reunifi cation of the country in 1870 under of leaders and experts in the service of the Chancellor Bismarck, however, was protected public. Essentially, the committee maintained by their status as civil servants and hence, that professors should be accountable primarily they could only be removed from a post for to the public and to their profession, and that due cause. There were also more traditionally university governance should recognize those American antecedents to academic freedom. priorities. In one of its more colorful passages Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow arguing for the right of free inquiry, the report Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, asserted that “Such freedom is the breath in has described the period between the 1870s the nostrils of all scientifi c activity.”75

71 ibid. 72 Paulsen, F. (1919). Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts. 74 Arthur Levine, “The Soul of the University,” 2000 Erster Band (pp. 534-535). Leipzig: Verlag von Veit. Annual Report, Teachers College, Columbia University. 73 Fallon, D. (1980). The German university: A heroic ideal 75 Richard Hofstadter and Walter P. Metzger, The in confl ict with the modern world (pp. 28-29). Boulder, Development of Academic Freedom in the United States CO: Colorado Associated University Press. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955). Academic freedom has emerged and sur- view about a subject or an issue and to express vived in America, but we all know that freedom that point of view. It is, in fact, the professor’s is always tested. During the nation’s wars and responsibility to be honest about such leanings the Cold War, there were many assaults against with his or her students. It is also the profes- academic freedom—usually under the banner sor’s responsibility to provide students with a of nationalism, patriotism, or national secu- bibliography or other means of learning about rity. Thankfully, these assaults have generally confl icting ideas and opinions.) Freedom of been thwarted, and the setbacks have been speech, academic freedom, cannot be rationed temporary. Academic freedom has become an and cannot be dispensed piecemeal; it is a integral part of the fabric of our university and single entity belonging to all. The hallmark of our democracy. It has become intertwined with a university cannot be the presence of a little bit the First Amendment protection of free speech. of intellectual freedom, or freedom just behind The First Amendment and academic freedom closed doors, or freedom just for liberals, or go hand in hand, but academic freedom may be just for conservatives or just for radicals, or the more powerful because the university provides exclusive domain of certain organized groups. an institutional context for collective as well as No, academic freedom must defend the most 54 individual exercise of free speech—the uni- outspoken, principled and controversial of versity, in essence, provides a public forum for views—even those held by “a minority of one.” free inquiry and speech. Academic freedom has Here, the name Bertrand Russell comes been the hallmark of our democracy, repeat- to mind. A philosopher and a mathematician, edly supported by our courts. In a 1957 United Russell was an early supporter of women’s States Supreme Court decision, the Court suffrage, advocated free love, and labor’s right stated: “To impose any straight jacket upon the to strike; he was also a pacifi st who oddly, also intellectual leaders in our colleges and universi- defended the use of violence. As we know, ties would imperil the future of our nation… he suffered job losses and imprisonment for Teachers and students must always remain free spreading his views.78 On one occasion, he was to inquire, to study, and to evaluate, to gain offered and then denied a professorship at the maturity and understanding; otherwise our civ- College of the City of New York following crit- ilization will stagnate and die.”76 And ten years icism and a lawsuit opposing his appointment. later, the Court called academic freedom “of Among other things, the lawsuit described him transcendent value to all of us,” and described as being “lecherous, salacious, libidinous, lust- the classroom as the “marketplace of ideas.”77 ful, erotomaniac…irreverent, narrow-minded, People have criticized academic freedom untruthful, and bereft of moral fi bre” and de- for allowing cynics, radicals, and even racists scribed his philosophy as, “just cheap, tawdry, and all kinds of people to express all kinds of worn-out, patched-up fetishes, devised for the opinions. But a suppressed opinion, I believe, purpose of misleading the people.” The New is worse than an offensive one. (In a classroom, York Supreme Court agreed, ruling in 1940 for example, a professor should be free to admit that it was unprepared to create a “chair of in- a particular bias towards a particular point of decency” at the university. Russell’s irreverent

76 United States Supreme Court, Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234 (1957). 78 Spartacus Educational, Teaching History Online, 77 United States Supreme Court, Keyishian v. Board of http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUrussell.htm. Regents of the State University of New York, 385 U.S. See also, Current Biography: Who’s News and Why, ed. 589 (1967). Maxine Block (The H.W. Wilson Company, 1941.) response was to cite the court ruling with other the defi nitions of freedom and of the communi- degrees and honors on the title page of one of ty entitled to enjoy it are never fi xed or fi nal.”81 his books. It read, “Judiciously pronounced To many people, academic freedom is unworthy to be Professor of Philosophy at the the nutty stuff that goes on inside the Ivory College of the City of New York (1940).”79 Tower. On some past occasions, the late Sena- Such censorship is no laughing matter, of tor William Proxmire, perhaps unwittingly, course. And we know that the alternatives to promoted this stereotype with his Golden academic freedom and free speech are ulti- Fleece awards that publicized apparent exam- mately Orwellian and, therefore, unacceptable. ples of what he called the “wasteful, ridiculous At our universities we want to know, and we or ironic use of the taxpayers’ money.”82 He need to know, what everyone thinks. To think gave one of his awards for a federal research without prejudice and to teach without fear are grant entitled, “The Sexual Behavior of the central to the mission of our universities. Screw-worm Fly.” That, of course, targeted the university for ridicule, which Proxmire sub- Just as important, academic freedom pro- sequently regretted. Years later, at a seminar vides a venue for scholars to be wildly creative on biological methods of pest control, he gave in their research, to investigate anything of special praise to the study on the screw-worm 55 interest without being constrained by market- fl y for having advanced knowledge in the criti- place concerns. This is essential. After all, de- cal fi eld of pest control.83 veloping theory is as important as developing practical knowledge. And big ideas generally I believe that if our houses of intellect evolve from small ideas, and small ideas, from become timid, defensive or apathetic about smaller ones, still. There really is no such thing academic freedom, freedom of inquiry and as useless knowledge, as the legendary educator freedom of speech, the effect on society, in gen- Abraham Flexner argued in an essay, appro- eral, and democracy, in particular, will be dev- priately entitled, “The Usefulness of Useless astating. It is the university’s role to preserve Knowledge.” He also noted the paradox that individual rights and to respect individual dig- we must live with: namely, that human curios- nity, as it is equally the university’s obligation ity—and not societal need—has been the to cultivate in the individual a fi delity to the driving force behind most of the really great transcendent principles that defi ne the institu- discoveries benefi ting mankind.80 tion and nurture the community. The univer- sity’s most compelling challenge is to achieve So the campus venue for academic freedom a fruitful balance between respecting the right is, I believe, a societal necessity. Unfortunately, of its individual members and organizations much of society doesn’t appreciate this, and so to operate freely—and fostering a climate for it remains vulnerable. In his book, The Story of constructive engagement and honest exchange American Freedom, Eric Foner writes: “Ameri- cans have sometimes believed they enjoy the 81 Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom (New York: greatest freedom of all—freedom from his- W.W. Norton & Company, 1998). 82 Taxpayers for Common Sense, “Senator William tory…But if history teaches anything, it is that Proxmire and the History of the Golden Fleece Award, web site: http://www.taxpayer.net/awards/goldenfl eece/ about.htm#original. 79 Christopher J. Lucas, American Higher Education: A 83 Richard C. Atkinson, “The Golden Fleece, Science History (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffi n, 1994). Education, and U.S. Science Policy.” (Lecture delivered 80 Abraham Flexner, “The Usefulness of Useless at the University of California at Berkeley November Knowledge,” Harper’s Magazine, October, 1939. 10, 1997.) of ideas. In such an atmosphere the university argument to tilt in the direction of what they should be able to educate leaders who will help believe. In my view, this is a growing problem solve some of our vexing political, social and in society at large, but especially so on the economic problems—not only in this country nation’s campuses. Let me cite an example: but also around the world. the web site www.noindoctrination.org, which describes itself as having been created by those Fair and Balanced? “who are disturbed that sociopolitical agendas The debate around academic freedom will be have been allowed to permeate college courses with us as long as there are universities, a free and orientation programs.”85 On this web site, press and—at least in the United States—the there were recently 170 postings complain- First Amendment remains sacrosanct. How- ing about lectures and professors that were ever, it remains a constant item of discussion “objectionable,” “biased,” or even “excessively” for academics and others, and is certainly never biased. One can only conclude that what some far from the thoughts of university leaders. In students found “biased” must fi t snugly into June 2005, in fact, 21 presidents, vice-chancel- the political, social or cultural belief systems lors and rectors of American and international of others. Another manifestation of the move 56 universities signed their names to the Report of toward institutionalizing political correctness is the First Global Colloquium of University Presi- the trend, on some campuses, of creating “free dents, which was held at Columbia University.84 speech zones,” where anyone can declaim any One section of the report describes academic position they want—which will be objection- freedom this way: “At its simplest, academic able to some, supported by others—as long as freedom may be defi ned as the freedom to con- they do so within a designated area.86 duct research, teach, speak, and publish, subject One problem about this emphasis on “cor- to the norms and standards of scholarly inquiry, rect” or “objectionable” speech is the focus on without interference or penalty, wherever the language, on words. All the effort spent on search for truth and understanding may lead.” rooting out the way things are said seems to me In theory, the above defi nition seems clear- an easy way to avoid dealing with social, politi- cut enough to build a university upon, but in cal and cultural issues of such depth and impli- practice as the twenty-fi rst century rolls on into cation for our national life that they defy simple its fi rst full decade, modern times have proven linguistic calisthenics. It is often diffi cult to that the quest for knowledge and understand- separate the fi ne lines that divide communica- ing often fi nds itself in a losing battle when it tion from insult and the process of trying to do bumps up against political correctness. The so can be paralyzing to the point of inhibiting idea of being fair and balanced may have not only speech but also independent thought. become a cliché, but it is often, nowadays, That is why I welcomed each new class of almost a challenge, because everybody seems students to Brown University by citing Richard to have a different idea of what “fair and bal- Sheridan, whose 1779 play, The Critic, has anced” means. In many cases, what people one of my favorite lines about the paucity of actually mean by the balanced part of that independent thinkers. He wrote, “The number equation is really that they want a particular 85 http://www.noindoctrination.org/aboutus.shtml 86 There have been instances, such as in 2005 at Texas 84 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/president/ Tech University, where courts have declared such zones communications%20fi les/globalcolloquium.htm illegal, as they restrict free speech. of those who go through the fatigue of judging the ultimate court of appeal, to make what for themselves is very small indeed!”87 I urged may seem to be Solomonic decisions. As each class of students to undergo this necessary diffi cult as such episodes may be, presidents fatigue and to resist pressures to conform from should use them, along with other confl icts teachers, peers or those with simplistic political and crises that arise to uphold institutional or religious catechisms promising to provide values and principles. Even in those instances instant solutions to complex problems. I told when a controversy becomes a cause célèbre, students that their own thoughts, convictions, it can be an opportunity for the president, the beliefs, ideas and principles—their identities deans and other educators and administrators and their characters—are their most precious at the university to use the occasion to teach, to possessions. Change them, if you must, I said, educate, to start important discussions about but do not abdicate your intellectual preroga- the truly defi nitive issues of our times such as tives, your independent thought, and free will. balancing rights and responsibility, questions And do not become victims of cynicism and about ethics, about the individual’s relationship nihilism, nor passive adherents of so-called to the community—even about the concept of “political correctness” because doing so trivial- what really are “fi ghting words.” Here, I should izes, marginalizes and ignores our society’s note that I am not talking about an abstrac- 57 real issues and challenges, including poverty, tion: in 1991, I faced a major crisis when a stu- racism, sexism, discrimination and injustice. dent, already on probation for misconduct, was The use of the right lingo and jargon is not a brought before the student-faculty disciplinary substitute for thorough analysis, sound public committee for shouting racial and religious epi- policy and passionate commitment to action thets in a student courtyard at two a.m., while and social change. It is often a way of avoiding intoxicated. The incident was troubling for taking any action at all. everyone because it involved many important issues. Had the student not already been on The pressures on campus to try to hit the probation, one could have perhaps rationalized constantly moving target of “political cor- putting him on probation if this had been a fi rst rectness” adds more layers of diffi culty to the incident of misconduct, but it was not, so the already complex task of trying to distinguish disciplinary committee recommended that the between, for example, free speech and offensive student be expelled. The decision was appealed behavior or between students’ individual rights to me, and I backed the committee’s decision and the rights of the community, in those because if I had not, it would have brought the instances when these may be in confl ict. Many validity of our student code of conduct into universities have a code of conduct and, upon question as well as the legitimacy or authority admission, new students knowingly and will- of the disciplinary committee itself. ingly agree to respect and abide by that code. However, getting such consent from students is Though my decision was accepted on not a guaranteed recipe for preventing subse- campus, it sparked a major national debate. quent confl icts. Attacks came both from the left and the right; some said it was the hallmark of a “brown-shirt When such confl icts do arise, it occasion- fascist,” and others that it smacked of Puritan- ally falls to the president of the university, as ism or even Communism. The editorial pages

87 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic (New York: of many newspapers weighed in on the subject. W. W. Norton, 1779), p. 37. The episode also created a fascinating coali- In commenting on the incident and my tion of supporters and opponents. Those in remarks, a New York Times editorial from May favor of my decision ranged from Bill Buckley 12, 1991, stated, “When the hate is egregious, to Pat Buchanan to Richard Cohen of The a university owes itself a fi rm, principled Washington Post to Clarence Page of the Chi- response.” The Brown Daily Herald on April cago Tribune. Those who disagreed included 12, 1991, further emphasized this distinction Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice and both the between speech and action. “[The student] was Rhode Island and national ACLU. not expelled for his opinions, or for his argu- ments,” wrote editor-in-chief James Kaplan. As a historian, I was interested to see how “He was expelled from Brown for verbally abus- the distortion of facts provided ideological ing other students.” The Herald revisited the weapons for both proponents and opponents arguments surrounding the expulsion in 1997, of my decision. Some of those who argued writing that, “Many arguments for speech re- with my decision, for example, characterized strictions deny that hateful speech is protected the incident as having taken place in “the early by the Constitution. Such arguments are based morning” without specifying that it was two on the fact that hate speech does not advance a.m., or said it involved “shouting in the air” the spirit of free speech. An essay written by 58 without stressing the fact that the courtyard judge and lawyer Simon Rifkind emphasizes in which the incident took place—unlike this point. ‘Fighting words are unprotected Harvard Yard, for example—was very small, because they do not advance the civil discourse with student-occupied dormitories all around, which the First Amendment is designed to or explaining that students were awakened promote,’ Rifkind said. ‘A university is a very without also adding that one of the students special community. Speech which is not civil is who witnessed the incident had recorded all the at odds with the purpose of the campus.’”88 epithets and threats on tape. On the other end of the spectrum, there were those who pointed Another issue that came up in the context out that awakening students and then insulting of student and community rights at both the and threatening them—even attempting to hit University of Pennsylvania and later at Brown, them, only to be restrained by others—went be- was expanding the university’s nondiscrimina- yond the limits of “free speech” into the realm tion code to include sexual orientation. The of behavior. In regard to both sets of opinions, I University of Pennsylvania’s Code of Student was surprised by how many reporters and edito- Conduct includes “the right to be free from rialists never bothered to talk to me about what discrimination on the basis of …sexual orienta- happened but wrote about it anyway. tion….”89 Similarly, Brown’s Standards of Student Conduct states, “All members of the This compelled me to make my position Brown University community are also entitled about the situation very clear in an op-ed to live in an environment free from harassment published in The Washington Post on April 3, on the basis of such characteristics as…sexual 1991, in which I said, “There is a difference orientation…”90 In years past, there were times between unpopular ideas expressed in a public context and epithets delivered in the context 88 “Speech or Harassment? U. Fights Speech That ‘Sets People Down,’” by Gregory Cooper, Brown Daily of harassing, intimidating or demeaning be- Herald, October 3, 1997. havior. At Brown, we expect students to know 89 http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/osl/conduct.html 90 http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Offi ce_of_ the difference.” Student_Life/randr/conduct/index.html when this issue dominated the agenda at both policies and all their representatives? What did institutions. Several years ago, the problem of that mean, for example, in regard to a group of protecting rights relating to sexual orientation Cuban poets who were expected to visit Brown, in the university community came to the fore a great cultural breakthrough promoted by again in regard to allowing military recruiters some of the same students who protested against on campus. The issue lay in the fact that the the military’s anti-gay policies—should we even Pentagon does not allow openly gay individuals allow them on campus? And was the university to serve in the armed forces. How, then, can a ready to forego federal funding over this issue? university that bans discrimination on the basis Where would all of this end? of sexual orientation square its own code of I concluded that I could not ban mili- conduct with one that many on campus view as tary recruiters from the Brown campus nor discriminatory? In March 2006, the U.S. Su- “ban” students from exercising their right to preme Court answered that question, at least in be interviewed by military recruiters, though part, by ruling in the case of Rumsfeld v. FAIR I did point out that students could certainly that colleges and universities that received continue to protest against them or boycott the federal funds must allow military recruiters military. For me personally, this was an ironic on campus. (Now-retired Justice Sandra Day situation because I had helped to make nondis- 59 O’Connor did point out, however, that there crimination on the basis of sexual orientation was nothing in the ruling stopping school an offi cial policy not only at the University of personnel and students from making their Pennsylvania but at Brown, as well…. objections about military recruiting known by posting disclaimers or openly protesting.91) In many ways, the legacy of the 1960s was still with us on campus in terms of sit-ins, the In one specifi c case I dealt with, I had re- occupation of campus buildings, protest march- ceived letters and petitions from students asking es and so on, which continued to take place at that Brown ban military recruiters from campus universities around the nation in the 1990s— because the armed forces discriminate against including Brown—over issues ranging from homosexuals. I decided to research the issue and the Gulf War to racism, to tuition hikes, to the release a statement about it. Looking into the rights of campus workers, to fi nancial aid, to issue, I discovered that Communist countries disinvestment, etc. In general, I welcomed the (China, Cuba, Vietnam and so forth) had anti- fact that many students cared deeply enough gay legislation, as did some Muslim countries, as about issues to mobilize in protest (or support) well as others. If we were going to discriminate of an issue, but many of them acted in the against the United States government for its belief that their activities should be without any policies, such as those that adversely affected adverse consequences. Often—and this seemed homosexuals, then wouldn’t we have to discrim- to be a continuing routine—what happened inate against all governments that had similar was that students would organize a demonstra- 91 A handful of educational institutions have chosen to do more than protest. The case of Rumsfeld v. tion; present “nonnegotiable” demands; then FAIR was brought by the Forum for Academic and seize a building that they considered a symbol Institutional Rights (FAIR), a group of law schools and professors. Before the Supreme Court ruling, the New of university authority; after that they would be York Law School, William Mitchell College of Law in Minnesota, and Vermont Law School, for example—all arrested; and then they would ask for amnesty. independent of larger universities—had adopted a Such a building takeover happened only once policy of foregoing federal funding in order to continue to ban military recruiters. during my tenure at Brown, when students occupied a university building, demanding political infi ghting. But a close runner-up in that the university declare itself a “need-blind” terms of what causes anger, tension, anxiety institution. Over 400 or so students, mostly and controversy on- and off-campus is the is- freshmen, participated in this action. sue of admissions. Most universities go to great lengths to explain their admissions policies to Rhode Island state law prohibits the oc- potential students and their parents, but the cupation of school buildings, so a judge issued process of applying to and being accepted—or an injunction ordering the students to leave rejected—by a particular college or university the building. The students refused to obey the still seems mysterious to many, and often, judge’s order. They wanted to be and were ar- fraught with inconsistencies. As one who has rested for having violated that and several other dealt with the issue at close hand, let me offer state laws (and because they had also violated some observations. university regulations). Following tradition, the students asked for amnesty. I refused to grant Both private and public universities, it, angering both the students and their parents. especially the most distinguished of them, I praised the students for their convictions, want to be national—even international—in even their actions, but since they had invoked the composition of their student body. Hence, 60 the names of Martin Luther King, Mahatma their common goal is to be as representative Gandhi—some even Lenin, Marx, and Che of the nation and the world as possible. They Guevara—I pointed out that the above indi- try to attract a widely diverse pool of interna- viduals had never asked for amnesty for their tional students, which is considered by many actions but used even their arrests “to educate” universities not only to be a kind of badge of their respective publics about the causes for honor in this age of globalization, but also an which they were risking their freedom. Further- important way of exposing American students more, I would not “punish” the students with to the rest of the world while at the same time community service, as some suggested, because acquainting people from different regions of I considered the performance of community the globe with the best of the United States. service to be an honor, not a punishment. In the Universities also try to admit students from as end, the students received sanctions and proba- many states of the union as possible. It’s always tion, and apologized to the staff members in the diffi cult to enroll students from the smallest building at the time they occupied it, because states, especially places like North and South some of these staffers had been threatened and Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, etc. In frightened. My point, of course, was once again that connection, whenever someone asks me to seize the occasion for teaching—to remind about how to get their child into a prominent us all that actions have consequences. So do Ivy League university, I tell them that in ad- principles, and acting on behalf of a belief or a dition to having good grades, try to have your principle also means accepting the responsibility child graduate from high school in someplace of taking a stand on behalf of what you believe. like North Dakota and have an unusual extra- curricular activity, like playing the tuba or the Admissions harp, and his or her chances of being accepted In my forty-plus years of working in academia, wherever they want will increase tenfold. I’ve seen more fi gurative blood spilled over In truth, prominent colleges and universi- academic politics than in the “real world” of ties could fi ll all their freshman classes by admitting only students from a few dozen prep mainstream advertising. According to a recent schools and excellent, elite public schools—but article in The Wall Street Journal, the Daily they don’t do this. All universities make an Texan, in fact, with a circulation of 28,000 and effort to truly be representative of the nation a web site that attracts 10,600 daily users, “is and the world by actively recruiting the best, the core of what has evolved into a $2.3 million brightest and most talented students they can multimedia operation which also includes radio fi nd from every walk of life, every ethnicity, ev- and TV stations, a humor magazine, and an ery class, race, background and income group. online search tool for apartments. ‘We’re not just selling a newspaper anymore,’ says Brian Initially, after the race and class barriers Tschoepe, student ad director of Texas Student were fi rst torn down by legal decisions such Media.”92 In essence, some of these newspapers as Brown v. Board of Education and Regents of are no longer amateur publications. the University of California v. Bakke, the focus was on making all levels of education, includ- With everything universities seek in ing colleges and universities, more accessible recruitment of students, there remains a to African Americans, but that effort soon perennial competition with peer institutions. expanded to include Hispanics, Native Ameri- That means, ironically enough, that the fewer cans, Asians and other minority groups, as well students you accept, the better you look, be- 61 as women. Nowadays, most universities also cause it means you’re being selective—in terms attempt to accommodate the disabled as well, of student measures of excellence. Of course, by making classrooms, dormitories and other a university’s choices must be affi rmed later campus facilities and services accessible to the by an impressive graduation rate and graduate physically challenged. institutions they may choose for their advanced academic work, as well as where they end up But to return to our earlier metaphor of the on the ladder of success. city-state, universities have other needs in terms of the students they want, or need, to admit: Universities must also deal with “legacies”— they need athletes to fi ll out dozens of athletic the expectation on the part of families whose teams; actors, actresses and dancers to perform young men and women have been attending a in campus productions; musicians to join the certain institution for generations and have not orchestra; singers for the choir; writers to staff only entrusted their youngsters’ education to the the institution’s literary journals; and of course, school but also rewarded it by being fi nancially students who want to pursue a particular aca- generous. In my experience at Brown, legacy demic direction so that one can match a college admissions were often considered a slam-dunk or university’s academic majors with requisite by parents and grandparents, and when this talent. Institutions of higher education also need was not the case, these individuals were often journalists for the student newspapers, which— extremely angry with the university. I certainly in a trend that defi es national statistics indicat- always heard about it. I explained many times ing that newspaper reading among all audienc- that admission to Brown was not a birthright es, especially the young, is on the decline—are and that more than an “inherited” legacy was at thriving. In fact, they are doing so well that issue: the university was committed to striv- some, like the University of Texas at Austin’s ing for a diverse student body, and that meant Daily Texan and the University of Georgia’s 92 “Big Media on Campus,” by Emily Steel, The Wall Red and Black, have been able to attract major Street Journal Online, August 9, 2006. not only racial and ethnic but also geographic When it comes to admissions, there is no diversity, as well as diversity across disciplines way to satisfy everyone or to be absolutely just, and areas of study. There is another catch to the because it is a very complex process. There is issue of legacy admissions: the university is ex- no “scientifi c” method that guarantees com- pected to accept legacy students, but these stu- plete automatic objectivity or some perfect dents are themselves free to choose not to come, balance. For example, there are those who sug- which may cause parents to feel chagrined after gest that the percentage of men and women at they have made great efforts to get their child a university should be equal. At Brown, we did admitted. The problem of future generations of not attempt to create any ratio like that even these same families may also arise: if the child though it would have helped us in dealing with of an alumnus chooses not to attend the alum’s various aspects of Title IX of the Education university, what about the children of that Amendments of 1972. Having more women child, and so on? How far into the future does than men, ironically, triggered a crisis under the expected “pact” between the university and Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based its graduates extend? At many universities, the on gender in athletics programs of educational whole spectrum of issues surrounding legacy institutions that receive government funds. We 62 admissions continues to be contentious. were proud of the fact that we had a wide array of varsity teams for both men and women— Until recently, a main focus of resentment one of the largest programs in the nation—so about admissions was on race, and whether mi- the fact that we were sued under Title IX came norities were getting, or should get, “preferen- as quite a surprise. tial treatment”—and if so, how much? By what formula? Now, one often hears allegations that What actually happened was based on a women, or athletes, or those who can pay their budgetary decision: in 1991, the Department own way without any fi nancial aid, are given of Athletics changed the standing and fi nancial special consideration for admission to certain status of four small varsity teams—two men’s colleges and universities. In the past, quotas teams (water polo and golf) and two women’s existed to keep certain categories of students teams (gymnastics and volleyball)—from out of certain institutions, or at least, to keep university-funded status to donor-funded club their numbers down. A number of studies have status. The U.S. district court ruled against revealed exclusionary practices aimed at Jews Brown in 1995, saying that the university had and Catholics—which had spread to African to ensure not only equal opportunity but also Americans and Asians—that were carried out equal participation. The judge said that Brown by, among others, Harvard University.93 Other was not in compliance because its female barriers to racial and ethnic minorities were sports participation rate, almost 42 percent, also deployed. was not proportionate to the female student population, which was 51 percent. But as an 93 The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, by Jerome Ivy League school that couldn’t give athletic Karabel (Houghton Miffl in, 2005). Similarly, The scholarships to build or maintain sports teams, Qualifi ed Student: A History of Selective College Admission in America by Harold Wechsler (1977), The Brown had little control over women’s partici- Half-Opened Door: Discrimination and Admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900-1970 by Marcia pation other than offering many opportunities Graham Synnott (1979), Joining the Club: A History of to women athletes, which we did: only Har- Jews and Yale by Dan A. Oren (1986), and The American College and the Culture of Aspiration, 1915-1940 by vard had more women’s athletic teams. The David O. Levine (1986). decision, which made the front page of The and I challenged his authority to the provost, New York Times, sent shock waves across the and the young woman was admitted. I was country, igniting a national debate that con- wrong. The diplomat’s daughter was an average tinues to this day. Clearly, admissions policies student who, under normal circumstances, and practices—long a source of friction and a would not have been admitted. Chastened target of criticism in the past, will continue to by this experience, I was very careful, when I be so for years to come. became president of Brown, to distance myself from the actual process of admissions and to Still, no matter what the pressures— protect the dean of admissions’ authority. whether from the alumni, the development offi ce (who are, for example, eager to maintain Naturally, there were still many Trustees, alumni loyalty to ensure a steady source of giv- faculty, and donors who wrote letters to me on ing and are therefore sometimes too inclined to behalf of candidates but, as a rule, I did not lobby on behalf of alumni-related applicants), act on them. As I recently told a reporter who or from any other source, inside or outside the wrote a book about these issues, during my university—the president cannot afford to have time at Brown—and since I left—over 100 a laissez faire attitude about the admissions Armenians applied to the university, but very practices of his or her institution because that few were accepted. As I am myself Armenian, 63 can lead to a slippery slope. There may be the I joked that being Armenian was an important occasional violation of established rules, but if criteria for being rejected by Brown… No “looking the other way” becomes an acceptable, less than the spiritual leader of the Armenian if unspoken policy, it will eventually be harmful Apostolic Church, who had been my teacher, to the institution’s reputation, and increase cyn- wrote to me about a candidate from England icism, and worse, the students admitted because and I had to inform him that the student had of “preferential treatment” will be burdened not been accepted. I was also asked, on occa- with knowing—as others will know—that they sion, whether—as the former head of The New did not gain admission on their own merit but York Public Library—I “rewarded” the bene- because of someone’s generational loyalty, purse factors of the Library and their offspring who strings or political intervention. wanted to attend Brown. My simple answer was that even if I had wanted to, I could not, At the University of Pennsylvania, as a and if I had tried, I would have left a legion of general rule, I did not intervene in the admis- alienated people behind me. sions process in any way. The one time I did become involved, the situation devolved into At most universities, the greatest pressure on a case of the dean of admissions versus the the admissions offi ce comes from athletes and dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. When their supporters. Advocates for athletic pro- I had recommended the daughter of a foreign grams want winning teams. They want the best diplomat for admission to Penn, I assumed athletes to be recruited. Supporters of athletics that the dean of admissions would have the often become ardent promoters of candidates for courtesy to notify me beforehand of the fate all men’s and women’s sports. This is especially of the nominee. Instead, the fi rst I heard was true at big universities with multi-million-dol- from the diplomat that his daughter had been lar sports programs, where sports is important turned down. I considered this a breach of for the fi nancial support of the university and a etiquette on the part of the dean of admissions signifi cant source of recruiting for the student body. Brown was no exception. Lovers of leaders or successful businessmen and women, Brown’s athletic programs had formed a sports had endowed the dean of admissions position foundation incorporated outside of the univer- as a sign of their gratitude. Frankly, I think it’s sity to support and promote athletics at Brown a good idea to allow the admissions dean fi ve or and to recruit scholar/athletes. The university ten positions on which to take a chance. had no direct authority over this foundation. The issue of admissions is further compli- Eventually, the chancellor and I made a joint de- cated by the fact that all universities want to cision to bring the foundation and its indepen- claim that they are need-blind—namely, that dent Board under the authority of the president regardless of who a student is, where that stu- in order to prevent possible circumventions dent comes from, or what his or her needs are, of the university’s admissions policies and to the university will fi rst look at the applicant’s protect the dean of admissions from devoted, ar- academic record and then admit the student ticulate, and powerful alumni sports advocates. without considering whether he or she can pay I gave instructions that I must be informed of or not. But it is an unfortunate fact that many any interventions or attempted interventions in universities simply cannot afford the amount the admission process, because I wanted it to be of fi nancial aid required to provide admission absolutely clear that the dean of admissions was 64 based on a completely need-blind system. (To the fi nal and ultimate authority on these mat- provide additional context for that observation, ters. I also instructed the dean of admissions to one should note that the National Center for bring to my attention all direct interventions on Education Statistics estimates that approxi- the part of Trustees in the admissions process in mately two-thirds of undergraduates rely on order to insulate the process. fi nancial aid.) It’s also a fact that in terms of I welcomed the fact that Brown had a com- Pell Grants, which were meant to equalize mittee of faculty and Trustees overseeing the the fi eld, the loan component of a student’s admissions process in order to ensure its integ- aid package usually far outweighs the grant rity. I once encouraged them to review a selec- amount. Indeed, at the federal level, the major tion of admissions applications with names and growth in fi nancial aid has been in loans and other identifying information removed to see tax credits for college attendance, not increases which applicants they’d accept or reject if they in the level of Pell Grant awards.94 On top were the admissions offi ce. They all said it was a of all this, parents have a legitimate right to sobering experience because of the diffi culty of complain about the privacy issues involved in making such choices. For example, how do you applying for fi nancial aid, since they have to weigh the importance of actual accomplish- supply their tax returns and reveal the value of ments against the potential you may see in a their home, savings, and other holdings. particular candidate? During a previous Brown During my tenure as president of Brown, administration, the dean of admissions was we doubled the undergraduate scholarship fund, allowed to admit a number of “Tom Sawyers,” but how to provide tuition assistance to students taking a chance on them because they had the who needed it while at the same time maintain- kind of potential that made them stand out ing adequate support for all the other needs of from the crowd. During Brown’s Campaign for the Rising Generation, it was rewarding to fi nd 94 “The Perfect Storm and the Privatization of Public Higher Education,” by Ronald G. Ehrenberg, The that several of these “Tom Sawyers,” now civic Social Science Research Council, August 17, 2006. (Also Change, Jan/Feb. 2006. Vol. 38, No. 1.) the university was a perpetual balancing act. I entering class was on fi nancial aid. In 2000, addressed these issues head on in 1992 when I the percentage receiving scholarships was closer formed the Ad Hoc Committee on Financial to 38 percent. The fi nancial aid budget had an Aid to review the status and future of fi nancial average annual increase of 9.7 percent during aid at Brown. That committee issued a report the same period, while total student charges in September 1993. Even before that, in 1986, averaged a 5.4 percent increase annually.97 In a special committee of the Brown Corporation recent years Brown has revamped its fi nancial had studied undergraduate fi nancial aid and aid program and, beginning with the Class of reaffi rmed Brown’s commitment to it. The 1986 2007, the university implemented a need-blind committee noted the same challenges that con- admissions policy.98 Brown also eliminated a fronted the 1992 committee when they wrote: work-study requirement for fi rst-year students beginning with the Class of 2006, and replaced “…we share the deeply-held conviction of the those funds with additional scholarships.99 President…that we can not devote more than the current proportion of unrestricted annual income Of course, in addition to the majority of without an unacceptable confl ict with other students who need some form of fi nancial aid, claims on the same limited resources for other there are families who can afford to pay tuition critical University needs—most notably, adequate and other fees. This situation caused tensions 65 compensation for our faculty and staff; adequately on campus because these students often felt supported libraries, laboratories, and classrooms; that their families were “subsidizing” fi nancial and adequately maintained facilities.95 aid for others, such as minorities. Sometimes non-minority students who were on fi nancial In 1990, in response to these concerns— aid also felt resentment in their belief that namely that the amount of institutional grant tuition assistance was targeted on the basis of aid funded from unrestricted university reve- race, not on fi nancial need. In order to combat nue was rising more rapidly than either tuition these attitudes, I made a point of conveying the income or other university expenses—Brown message to the alumni that no one pays their instituted a new funding model for fi nancial full fare at Brown because tuition only covers a aid, which specifi ed that: 1) Annual increases portion of the real costs of getting an education in the base budget for undergraduate fi nancial at the university. The rest of the money comes aid would be indexed to the increase in total from the endowment, annual giving, research student charges, thereby guaranteeing an an- overhead, etc., and as a result, everybody in the nual increase for the fi nancial aid budget to university is being supported, in one way or ensure that fi nancial assistance was not eroded another, by a whole variety of funding sources. over time; and 2) Income from new gifts of en- Given all these issues, I have always thought dowment earmarked for fi nancial aid would be that the tensions they cause would be eased an enhancement to the base budget, increasing if the term “fi nancial aid” were changed to the funding available for fi nancial aid.96 “scholarship,” so that one could say that just The result of these policy changes was a about everyone who attends a university is “on signifi cant increase in the number of students scholarship,” not just “the needy.” on aid. In 1988, less than 30 percent of the 97 ibid. 95 Brown University, Alper Committee on Financial Aid, 98 http://fi nancialaid.brown.edu/Cmx_Content. Final Report, May 5, 2000. aspx?cpId=58 96 ibid. 99 Black Issues in Higher Education, October 7, 2004. Because as a student I was the benefi ciary the weight of this expectation because they were of scholarships from Stanford and other insti- conceived as public trusts to provide not only tutions, it was natural for me to have a strong practical, utilitarian training and education but partiality about securing as much fi nancial aid excellence as well, in all aspects of the teaching as possible for American students. For example, and learning that takes place on their campuses. while I was at Brown, I was advised that if I We must not forget that there was a time in admitted three or four percent more foreign our country when one did not need to fi ght for students, I would be able to declare need-blind recognition of the fact that excellence, democ- admissions because these students paid full racy and public service are compatible—that tuition. I couldn’t embark on such an expedi- they are, in fact, supportive of one another. ency because that would mean fewer places Indeed, some public universities—such as at the university for American students and I the City University of New York and the thought that they (and their parents) deserved University of California, Berkeley—were for the opportunity to attend Brown and to get as decades considered to be “public Harvards” much fi nancial assistance as possible. and to represent the epitome of excellence as a In retrospect, I think that Stanford’s system public trust. Unfortunately, for the past several 66 for providing a student’s scholarship money was decades, the public has been led to believe that very wise: you didn’t just get a letter saying Con- excellence, as a rule, pertains primarily to the gratulations, but you actually received a check, private sector, a view that may have contrib- with your name on it, which you had to go to an uted to diminished support for public educa- offi ce at Stanford to cash. When I was a student, tion. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Irving M. Ives handing over that check really made me realize Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and that I had actually merited a scholarship, not Economics at Cornell University and director just a loan or fi nancial aid, and that had a deep of the Cornell Higher Education Research In- psychological impact on me. It made me aware stitute, provides some insight into the econom- that I had earned my place at the university but ics of the situation, noting that at a time when also that I had a responsibility to live up to the enrollments in public higher education institu- trust that the institution had put in me—and tions are on the rise, soaring from less than 8 my future—by awarding the scholarship. million in 1974 to more than 12 million in 2004, “it is perhaps remarkable that average Excellence as a Public Trust state appropriations per full-time equivalent Once a student has gone through what many student at public higher education institu- consider to be the “torture” of fi lling out tions have increased, on average, at an annual applications—often to many different universi- rate that has exceeded the rate of increase in ties—and fi nally being accepted, there is an consumer prices by about 0.6 percent a year expectation on their part, and on the part of (or remained almost fl at if infl ation is calcu- their parents, that all their years of hard work lated not by the Consumer Price Index but in elementary, middle and high school, along according to the more realistic Higher Educa- with the fi nancial sacrifi ce that many families tion Price Index). Given that state support for have to make to afford higher education, are public higher education is one of the few real now going to pay off in terms of an excellent discretionary categories in state budgets and education. Public universities, in particular, feel higher education is one of the few state agen- cies that charges for its services, policymakers elitism. I explained that in my view, that just seem to have concluded that fl at funding is all wasn’t true. An orchestra, for instance, needs that public higher education can expect from a conductor—a person skilled and committed the state.”100 John D. Wiley, chancellor of the enough to be the conductor, and who has put University of Wisconsin-Madison, recently in an enormous amount of work and effort to noted the effect of this phenomenon on public develop the knowledge and ability necessary to colleges and universities in his state, lament- be the leader of the other musicians. The fi rst ing that, “More than a decade of state budget violinist, also, has to work hard to achieve that cuts…have left the base operating budgets of fi rst chair. Effort, excellence, skill and dedica- Wisconsin’s public higher education systems tion are the hallmark of leaders, and, along in the worst condition since the Great Depres- with that orchestra I’ve used as an example, sion.”101 Across the country, the situation is our society, our democracy, and our civiliza- the same, so it doesn’t seem likely that public tion needs talented, visionary leaders. higher education can expect any real funding The late Pulitzer Prize winning cultural increases in the foreseeable future. Educators critic William A. Henry suggested that the will always try to do more with less, but we are “wrath directed at elitism”—such as that evi- clearly running out of less. denced by my student—has to do with a kind 67 As a result, while Americans’ right of access of populist suspicion about intellectualism. to higher education remains intact, support for Americans would be better off, he explains, if public higher education continues to deterio- we understood elitism, instead, as character- rate, forcing higher education institutions to ized by “…respect toward leadership…esteem sometimes sacrifi ce quality in order to make for accomplishment, especially when achieved access as easy and widely available as possible. through long labor and rigorous education… Even while bearing this burden, most public commitment to rationalism and scientifi c colleges and universities still strive to balance investigation; upholding of objective standards; both their obligation to admit students from most important, the willingness to assert that all walks of life and economic strata with the one idea, contribution or attainment is better need to raise private monies in order to com- than another.”102 pensate for continuing funding cuts. To have an independent mind is not to Today in the United States we have devel- be antisocial. Independent thinking is not an oped the notion that “elitist” is always a pejora- antisocial or elitist act, and indeed, universi- tive term, and always bears the stigma of class ties need more people—students, faculty, and rather than the proud banner of achievement. administrators—who welcome new ideas, I vividly remember a time when, addressing celebrate the courage to be imaginative and en- my students, I quoted Thomas Jefferson’s courage independence of mind. Without such remark that, “Nature has wisely provided an people, the university community will become aristocracy of virtue and talent for the direc- a stale and deadly place, and surrounded by tion of the interest of society…” One of the such timid company, the president may not students objected to the statement, saying it be able to rise to the occasion when it comes was offensive because it favored the idea of to taking a stand about a particular issue, or

100 Ehrenberg, op. cit. 102 In Defense of Elitism, by William A. Henry 101 Madison magazine, November 2003. (Anchor, 1995). speaking out in support of—or against—one in Davos, and I am frequently interviewed side or another of a debate. by the Chinese media on aspects of China’s economic development, even from my offi ce in This became particularly apparent to me New Haven.”104 some years ago when the Boston Globe invited the presidents of New England-based universi- Levin may be right that the press is indeed ties to write an occasional column that would looking for incendiary remarks rather than appear periodically and in which they could thoughtful analysis, but I don’t think that voice their opinions about major issues of the excuses us, as higher education leaders, from day. Only a handful of presidents ever took on entering into the national conversation about the challenge, and their reluctance to make important issues. (One particularly interested public statements about their position on vari- audience would certainly be the vast number ous issues—unless somehow forced by circum- of alumni who keep track of news about their stances to do so—continues to be the norm school and its administration.) For example, among higher education leaders today, which before a federal judge’s landmark ruling in worries me. The reluctance of these individu- December 2005 against a Pennsylvania school als to speak publicly is not a sign of shyness or board that wanted to include teaching intel- 68 modesty. It arises from a self-induced fear of ligent design in a public school biology class, offending any possible constituency that might I am aware of only one university president harm the university politically or fi nancially. who felt that the potential impact “of the challenge to science posed by religiously based Decades ago, university presidents—along opposition to evolution”105 was so signifi cant with the CEOs of major American corpora- that he was compelled to discuss it publicly. tions—were expected to be national opinion That was Hunter R. Rawlings III, president of leaders and take sides on various issues, even Cornell University, who was interim president when they were controversial, but that is not on October 21, 2005 when he gave the State the case today. Richard C. Levin, the president of the University Address and said, “I want to of Yale, thinks that may be the fault of the suggest that universities like Cornell can make press itself, at least in the U.S. He says, “Today, a valuable contribution to the nation’s cultural the press has little interest in what a univer- and intellectual discourse. With a breadth of sity president has to say, unless the president’s expertise that embraces the humanities and the views are highly controversial. I have had a social sciences as well as science and technol- number of op-ed pieces rejected because they ogy, we need to be engaging issues like evolu- weren’t suffi ciently controversial.”103 On the tion and intelligent design both internally, in other hand, he notes, “On my visits to China, the classroom…and in campus-wide debates, India, Korea, and Mexico, I have given scores and also externally by making our voices heard of interviews concerning my views on the in the spheres of public policy and politics.” global economy, international trade negotia- While also asserting that intelligent design is tions, intellectual property, and other topics not valid “as science,”106 he called for efforts on related to my expertise as an economist. I have the part of Cornell task forces to understand expressed my views on such subjects annually

at the meetings of the World Economic Forum 104 ibid. 105 http://www.cornell.edu/president/announcement_ 2005_1021.cfm 103 Yale Alumni Magazine, March/April 2005. 106 ibid. “how to separate information from knowledge faculty, students and other members of the and knowledge from ideology; how to under- university community interact from a number stand and address the ethical dilemmas and of different perspectives. Having that kind of anxieties that scientifi c discovery has produced; experience makes a president less likely to ap- and how to assess the infl uence of secular proach the stewardship of a university based on humanism on culture and society.”107 what he or she has learned from management manuals but instead, from real encounters with It is true that when university presidents do real issues, real people and real problems that speak out on national, or even local issues, they can then be built on in a larger context. are likely to be attacked by groups and indi- viduals from all over the political spectrum. My “management education” began at But when a university president is silent about Stanford when, in addition to receiving partial issues that affect the nation, and hence, the scholarship funds, as did many other students, future of his or her students, that silence itself I had a number of part-time jobs. I worked may be perceived as a resounding statement in the library and at the international stu- that can be easily misinterpreted as indiffer- dent center, and was also a ticket-taker at the ence. As leaders, presidents of universities have theater, a teaching assistant grading papers, an obligation to themselves, their students, and a program assistant, all jobs that gave me a 69 their faculty, alumni, and to the very traditions good grounding in how the university worked and values of the institutions they serve to have at its most basic levels. One job I remember the courage of their convictions, and speak out in particular was a stint at Stanford’s famous about them, with candor, honesty and confi - Cellar, the only nonresidential dining room dence. They must be true to their principles, open to students, faculty and visitors. There, otherwise, why bother having any? If presidents I learned that in America, working for one’s don’t publicly address important issues, they education was not shameful; indeed, it was certainly cannot then accuse their students of a badge of honor. What kind of job you had complacency or disinterest because, by remain- didn’t matter—the fact that you were working ing mute, they counter their own exhortations for your education and striving to reach a goal for students to be true to their principles. was what counted. Working meant that you were self-reliant, and had self-respect. The jobs The Pulse of the University: were only a means to an important end, and Work and Respect everyone understood that. People even bragged Intellectual honesty and the courage to stand about their jobs, no matter how menial they up for one’s principles are certainly required were or how low on the social scale. Even ingredients for successful leadership. But in my middle-class students worked, and were proud opinion, there is another element that is equally of that fact. essential, and that is having spent some time in However, this was a phenomenon that the trenches. What that means in a university foreign students didn’t understand. Most setting is that it’s helpful if the president has came from societies where there were rigid been exposed to or has some experience of how hierarchies of work, and caste, and hence, the the university functions “from below” as well nature of the work one did had class connota- as from the top, and has seen how the staff, tions. Low-level employment refl ected poorly 107 ibid. on one’s standing in society. Indeed, I knew foreign students who had to work to make in France,109 and called our students, “worker ends meet but would rather be inside a kitchen students.” At formal Brown honorary degree washing dishes than work outside, waiting dinners and other occasions where students tables (arguably, a better job), because as a worked as waiters, I always made a point of waiter or waitress they would be seen by others. introducing them to the guests, saying, “Here Their fear was that word would get back to are our wonderful student workers who are friends and family in their home country who working to help pay for their education.” would learn that they were employed as waiters Looking back again to my student worker while they went to college, and that would be days prompts me to reiterate how important an embarrassment. In other words, students those experiences were, because they help one new to the U.S.—including myself, I must realize that it’s not just the superstructure of confess—thought that one of the worst things a particular institution or organization that that could happen would be for someone back makes it successful but also the quality and home to think, “How come he went all the reliability of its infrastructure, down to the way to the United States just to work as a lowly seemingly smallest detail. In every position I waiter?” As we students became acculturated, have held at a university, it was immeasurably we overcame these preconceptions. 70 valuable to me to get to know everyone I could In that connection, one of the most who was a part of the university community, rewarding experiences I had was when Ayub from the workers to the students, to the fac- Khan, then president of Pakistan,108 visited ulty, to union representatives, to the librarians, Stanford. He addressed the issue of working the lab workers, the groundskeepers and the to help pay for one’s education by noting that administrative personnel. it would be revolutionary if students from Perhaps the most underrated people in the the Indian subcontinent who arrived at the university are the staff, especially secretaries, Stanford railway station unloaded and carried assistants and administrators who have wit- their own bags instead of waiting for porters to nessed the comings and goings of many deans, do the job, as would have been the case in their provosts and presidents. They serve as the cen- own countries where class and caste dictated tral nervous system of the university’s admin- that “menial work” such as carrying bags could istration and are often, themselves, a critical only be done by those on the lowest economic element of management, providing continuity rungs of society. as well as the effi ciency that comes with un- In later years, whether I was at San Francis- derstanding that can only be gained over time co State College or the University of Texas or of how an organization functions. Many in the University of Pennsylvania or Brown, these the university community perhaps look upon experiences gave me a deeper appreciation and these staff members as just cogs in the bigger respect for students and what they often had wheel of the bureaucracy and don’t understand to go through in order to earn their educa- that their work and their attention to an issue tion. Indeed, while at Brown, I drew on the can actually stoke the engines of change. A phenomenon of Catholic “worker priests” that successful university president does understand

prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly 109 “In 1944 the fi rst worker-priest missions were set up in Paris, and then in Lyons and Marseille [to share] the grime and toil of an often oppressed social class…” 108 Ayub Khan was president of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969. Uniya Newsletter: Autumn 1995. this about the structure of his or her institution the long run, being on good terms with all the and sees it not as hierarchical but horizontal, workers at an institution keeps the higher-up and takes care to deal with everyone in every managers alert and on their toes, because they position with the respect they deserve. There realize that they are not the only conduits to a should never be fi rst-, second- or third-class president who has all sorts of other avenues for citizens at a university. getting information and hearing opinions.

With this philosophy in mind, I was usu- In essence, these observations all circle ally able to take the pulse of the university. back to the notion that university presidents At the University of Pennsylvania and later, cannot treat different segments of the com- at Brown, I became better able to anticipate munity in different ways, because that creates when problems were looming on the horizon widely varying expectations on the part of dif- and diffuse impending problems and tensions ferent groups and individuals as well as actual that might be building in the community. or perceived divisions. Of course, this is more Such efforts pay off when a president learns to easily said than done, especially during labor steer everyone toward acceptance of each other strikes, which test all management theories and of the common educational mission that and challenge the nervous system of all parties is shared by faculty, students and administra- involved. At such times, the president of the 71 tors alike. university has to remember that strikes, no matter how bitter, and no matter what kind of The above observations come with a warn- diffi culties they create, are always temporary ing, however: what a president must not do is and that they are, and will continue to be, part feign interest in an issue or a person. People of the life of the university. Therefore, it is im- can often tell when someone is genuinely inter- portant to remember that post-strike relations ested in them or their cause or their work, and can often be traced back to how people be- they can tell when that is not the case. If you’re haved while the strike was in progress and how faking, they are likely to cut you right down to effectively the lines of communication were size, or retreat into a cocoon of cynicism. Un- kept open. At the conclusion of a strike, it may der these circumstances, they would interpret be tempting for a president to report to the overtures on the part of the administration as Trustees and the university community at large an attempt to manipulate them into doing or that the administration has “declared victory” saying something, or as a sign of misguided and “defeated” the union, but that’s a tempta- noblesse oblige. tion to be resisted. Strike leaders should not I am glad to see that these ideas have be denigrated nor should those who followed gradually been incorporated into “manage- their union leaders be admonished for doing ment theory,” whereby it is considered critical so. One has to remember that these situations for a leader to spend time getting to know and are always a zero-sum game: if your opponents understand his or her workforce as well as the feel that they’ve lost everything, and on top of inner workings of the institution or organiza- that are the victims of a lot of hurtful rhetoric tion they all serve. While this may seem to be and ad hominem remarks, they won’t forget a time-consuming pursuit, and dealing with it the next time problems arise. In fact, there the issues and problems that will turn up as a is much to be said for civility and face-saving, result may appear to present distractions, in not only in terms of institutional relationships but in national and international relations, as well. It is important not to alienate those with whom you are in an oppositional relationship because out of alienation and humiliation can come desperate acts, often with consequences that cannot be undone.

I consider myself lucky in that when the time came for me to leave an institution, I had followed my own advice and did not leave behind any “defeated enemies.” That had a lot to do with my cultural background: I was always aware that face-saving was important, and that it was important to allow people who had lost power in one way or another to retain their dignity and self-respect. A person who may have lost a position of power or infl uence 72 is most likely to remain in the community and you will continue to interact with that man or woman for as long as you remain a member of the community yourself. So I always made Philanthropy it a practice to do my best to understand what line I should not cross so that anyone in that I was president of Brown University for nine position could retreat, without my seeming to years, at which point I once again took an relish their defeat. inventory. The university had just successfully concluded the Campaign for the Rising Genera- When I left the University of Pennsylvania, tion, a historic milestone for Brown and for and later, when I left The New York Public Rhode Island in terms of fundraising. In addi- Library and Brown University, my measure of tion, the university’s endowment, despite 5½ success was not only whether or not I had fac- percent annual withdrawals, had almost trebled ulty and/or staff support, but also (in the case during the nine years, passing $1 billion for of the universities) that I also had the support the fi rst time. More than 15,000 students a and respect of students and workers who had year were applying for admission to Brown, the fought “pitched battles” with me. After all, we largest number of applications ever received by shared the same commitment to our institu- the university.110 As far as the university’s infra- tion, were part of one family—whether at The structure was concerned, several new buildings New York Public Library, the University of 110 There were numerous other signs of success such as Pennsylvania or Brown—and understood that U.S. News and World Report ranking Brown 8th on its annual best colleges list (up from 9th in 1995). We our disagreements were part of the democratic had increased the number of women and minorities in governance process. In the end, we were all faculty positions: of approximately 750 medical and non-medical faculty, about 100 were now members of passengers on the same ship, and the fact that minority groups and 217 were women. Ninety-seven percent of the goals set out in a 1992 report entitled the ship would be able to sail on, stronger than Looking Toward the Year 2000: A Status Report on the before no matter what the resolution of our Long-Term Planning Process at Brown University, which provided a blueprint for the university’s fi nancial and problems, was what really mattered. academic planning, had been met. had gone up, a new dormitory had been built, at The New York Public Library, I had often the campus was wired for the Internet, and nu- pointed to Andrew Carnegie as the guardian merous other long-overdue improvements had angel of libraries and learning, and here I was, been made, including upgrading the libraries. metaphorically about to step into his shoes. To Plans and fundraising for other new facilities top that, the Corporation also happened to be in had also been completed. With all this in New York City, which I loved, and where I had mind, I concluded that it was time to move on. spent some nine years. Unless you have lived in But I had to be sure where I was going next. and then left New York City, you do not realize what you will be missing. I was delighted to It was my great fortune that, in 1997, the return to a place that was also home to so many Board of Carnegie Corporation of New York great institutions: the UN, some of America’s offered me the opportunity to be the Corpo- most important colleges and universities, great ration’s twelfth president. It was an exciting museums, theaters, corporations, and centers possibility, but any notion of succeeding to of civic activity. Plus, New York is the natural a post once held by Andrew Carnegie111 was habitat of the world’s diasporas: people from all daunting, as well. I did not overlook the irony over the globe settle here and almost everyone is that, after him, I would be only the second im- eventually integrated into the life of this remark- migrant to head this august institution. I did 73 able, invigorating, beautiful, impossible city. have something else in common with Andrew Carnegie: as children, we both loved books As I had led institutions that were depen- but because of our poor circumstances, were dent on philanthropy, it was intriguing to enter mostly unable to get them. We also shared a the fi eld “from the other side,” especially at a love of libraries and of education. time when interest in philanthropy was blos- soming. The challenge of philanthropy is how Becoming president of the Corporation also to contribute to the public good while at the meant that one was being given the substantial same time assist both the American public and task of building on the record of outstanding policymakers in understanding the power of leaders who had previously served as president philanthropy to effect positive change both in of Carnegie Corporation such as John Gardner, our nation and abroad. Alan Pifer and David Hamburg. And it meant serving the mission that Andrew Carnegie For more than twenty years, like many of gave the Corporation, which is “to promote my colleagues in higher education, as well as the advancement and diffusion of knowledge at other nonprofi t institutions, I had been a and understanding.” This was an enormous frequent mendicant in the corridors of philan- responsibility, but one I looked forward to thropy. Indeed, sometimes in different capaci- because it gave me the opportunity to act as an ties, as dean, provost and later, president, I instrument of Carnegie’s legacy and to attempt had come to appreciate the depth, breadth and to meet his expectations that his wealth be used scope of American philanthropy. I had been for the public good. privileged to witness the operations of the Vin- cent Astor Foundation and was a Board mem- In short, joining Carnegie Corporation pre- ber of the Aaron Diamond and Bill & Melinda sented an extraordinary challenge. When I was Gates foundations, the J. Paul Getty Trust, and an advisor to the Annenberg Foundation. 111 Andrew Carnegie was president of Carnegie Corporation of New York 1911-1919. In fact, in writing this essay, I realized that, through the years, I had served on the Boards should do everything possible to learn about of over three dozen different nonprofi t orga- their institution’s history, mission, complexi- nizations and institutions. These experiences ties, accomplishments, reach—and limitations. had led me to an understanding of some of the I had read extensively about the University of mechanics of grantmaking. I also understood Pennsylvania, The New York Public Library, how potential grant recipients translate their and Brown University, so, as a prelude to ideas into funding proposals and how grant- joining Carnegie Corporation of New York, making decisions are made on the donor side. I extended my readings to include not only Extensive reading about U.S. democracy, par- Andrew Carnegie himself, but also the mis- ticularly such a seminal work as Democracy in sion, work and history of the Corporation. I America by Alexis de Tocqueville, had given me learned everything I could. I read about my a historical basis for understanding the unique immediate predecessor, David Hamburg, who characteristics of Americans, their altruism, had already demonstrated to me that Carnegie and philanthropic impulses. By coincidence, Corporation was not a rigid, infl exible orga- one of the last courses I taught at Brown, nization: although the Corporation did not which I co-taught with Stephen Graubard, a have a formal program focused on support 74 noted author who for more than 30 years was of libraries in the United States, when Dr. the editor of Daedalus, was about Tocqueville’s Hamburg was president of the Corporation, Democracy in America. Rereading Tocqueville’s he made an exception and gave The New York description of the American character, I real- Public Library a $500,000 grant towards its ized that it fi t perfectly with the character of 75th Anniversary Fund. The Ford Foundation, Andrew Carnegie, the immigrant, businessman I learned—through its distinguished president and philanthropist. Carnegie’s name was one of and a great friend, Frank Thomas—also made a handful of names that I had encountered in such exceptions in exceptional situations. 113 Tabriz, Iran, when, as a youngster, I read about In general, the whole concept of philan- the lives of self-made men—not only those who thropy, and of American philanthropy in par- had become rich, but also writers, inventors, ticular, interested me deeply. It was a revelation and others—from Robert Fulton to Andrew to me, and I’m sure to many others, that people Carnegie. As president of The New York would voluntarily part from their fortunes to Public Library, where I had inherited Andrew give to a cause, not out of pity or charity, but Carnegie’s legacy of “Carnegie libraries,”112 it out of a belief in that cause. The concept that was natural for me to read Carnegie’s famous these individuals were contributing to build- 1889 essay, The Gospel of Wealth, in which he ing something rather than just providing for asserted that all personal wealth beyond that immediate charitable needs was compelling, required to meet the needs of one’s family as was the fact that some people in control of should be regarded as a trust fund to be admin- great wealth would put societal well-being on istered for the benefi t of society. a par with their devotion to providing for their Throughout my professional career, I had believed, practiced and preached that anyone 113 Though the Ford Foundation does not have a program devoted to supporting libraries, they did provide who joins an institution, especially presidents, signifi cant funding to The New York Public Library. Frank Thomas, who was the president of Ford at that 112 Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of 39 time, jokingly told me that rules are important but branch libraries in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten so are exceptions, and Andrew Carnegie’s legacy was Island. There are still 31 of them in operation today. always an exception. own children or grandchildren. This brings a time of transition, institutional leadership to mind an important distinction between must take care to see that the public’s percep- charity and philanthropy that has eroded over tion of their institution is not diminished, that time, but should be noted because it highlights it does not seem rattled by change or judged the different concerns that donors may have: to be fl oundering in any way. The institution charity, which is derived from the Latin word must always be seen to be on the ascendancy; caritas, meaning dear, has a long religious its momentum must not be slowed or checked. history; for Jews, Christians, and Muslims, for Its built-in energy must be tapped to keep it example, it has meant giving immediate relief moving forward without hesitancy or doubt. to human suffering without passing judgment The emphasis must always be on continuities on those who suffer. Philanthropy has a more rather than discontinuities, on traditions as well secular history and comes from the Greek word as how to accommodate change. philanthropos, meaning love of mankind. The Nonetheless, installing a new president is, Greek meaning carried over to English and, for by necessity, always going to be accompanied the longest time, philanthropy referred only to by a period of adjustment for the institution a caring disposition toward one’s fellow man. and its staff. Such transitions, however, can Now the word is used to describe generosity also provide the opportunity for refl ection, 75 that promotes human progress in any fi eld. self-analysis, and renewal because one neces- Being a historian carries its own particular sarily takes stock of personal and institutional burden: in my case, I could not help but be strengths and weaknesses that will lead to suc- mindful of the fact that I was assuming the cess or, if unrecognized, prove to be stumbling presidency not only as an administrator but blocks. For my part, as the new president of also as a steward of Andrew Carnegie’s trust, the Corporation, I was aware that there were and therefore, that I had a historical and moral, pluses and minuses to be tallied. On the posi- not to mention fi duciary, duty to do justice to tive side, my years at several major American Carnegie’s vision and legacy. After all, this was universities had certainly familiarized me with a man who had even entered into a prenuptial the workings of institutions like Carnegie agreement with his wife-to-be that declared Corporation that were focused on research and their joint intentions to devote the bulk of his education and other national and international wealth to the public good.114 challenges. After all, by their very nature, the educational mission of universities incorporates As a historian, I was also aware of the many a focus on the major issues confronting our issues that may arise during times of transition nation and the world. The Corporation’s man- in leadership. One must always be aware of how date to help create and disseminate knowledge important transitions are and cognizant of how was a direct parallel to the mission of universi- much work they require. Transitions have to be ties; both met universal needs. smooth. They have to be planned. They have to be orchestrated—not simply for the sake of The minuses included the fact that I knew the departing or incoming individual, but for little about the inner workings of a foundation the health of the institution involved. During and its staff, the process of decision making at a foundation and setting of priorities. I had 114 Carnegie and his intended bride, Louise Whitfi eld, no fi rsthand knowledge of the diffi culties signed the document on April 22, 1887, the same day that the Carnegies were married. involved in what Andrew Carnegie had termed “scientifi c philanthropy,” namely that money is importance, naturally, were my meetings with not simply given away; monies are invested in my immediate predecessors, David Ham- ideas, institutions, organizations, programs and burg115 and Alan Pifer.116 individuals with vision and strong leadership, To mark the symbolic continuity of the and with strategic plans in place. But I was as Corporation’s presidential administrations, my eager to learn as much as I could and so it was, fi rst task was to help launch the fi nal report therefore, with both joy and trepidation that I of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing took up my new position, which came with the Deadly Confl ict,117 the culmination of three legacy built on the work of my predecessors. years’ work by Dr. Hamburg. He had chaired Carnegie Corporation of New York the Commission, along with Cyrus Vance, and their efforts were aided by a number of As I studied the work and history of the other distinguished national and international foundation, I began to assess its resources and commissioners and scholars. The Corporation personnel, not to mention its programmatic had established the Commission in 1994 to priorities, both past and present. In the process, address “the looming threats to world peace of I worked out some basic questions about the intergroup violence and to advance new ideas Corporation that were in keeping with the 76 for the prevention and resolution of deadly kinds of questions I have always asked about confl ict.” During the course of its work the institutions I have led, such as, What are we do- Commission produced more than forty schol- ing? Why are we doing what we’re doing? How do arly and policy relevant publications covering we know that what we’re doing, we’re doing well? an astonishing range of issues.118 Who else does what we do, but does it better? To aid in the transition between admin- There are two ways to get answers to such istrations, I sought the pro bono services of questions. First, rely on consultants to help fi nd McKinsey & Company, which had helped answers. Second, devote the time necessary to me both at the Library and at Brown, to carry gathering the information fi rsthand. I chose to out an in-depth study of the organization follow the second course, engaging in in-depth and structure of Carnegie Corporation and conversations with a multitude of scholars, to provide an assessment of the foundation’s diplomats, university presidents and educa- strengths and weaknesses, as well as its po- tors, heads of nonprofi t organizations, other tential. One thing that soon became clear in foundation leaders, policymakers, present and studying Carnegie Corporation’s evolution and former Corporation grantees, and many other its current standing was that while, in the past, individuals. In due time, I also interviewed the Corporation used to be one of the wealthi- every member of the Corporation’s staff. My est foundations in the United States in terms intent was to gain some real understanding of their experiences at the Corporation and their

vision of what our mission entailed in order to 115 Dr. David Hamburg was president of Carnegie Corp- acquire as much knowledge as I could about oration of New York from 1982 to 1997. 116 Alan Pifer was acting president of Carnegie Corporation the foundation’s work, its grantees and its part- of New York from 1965 to 1967; he served as president from 1967 to 1982. ners. Furthermore, it was important to avoid 117 Preventing Deadly Confl ict, Final Report (Carnegie discontinuity with work that had already taken Corporation of New York, 1997). 118 Although the Commission ceased operations in place and to maintain continuity. Of particular December 1999, its publications remain available online at www.ccpdc.org. of endowment, that was no longer the case.119 Carnegie, and later Carnegie Corporation, in Today, the Corporation’s reputation far exceeds its early years, collectively spent $56 million to its resources. The same can be said of the create 1,681 public libraries in nearly as many Rockefeller Foundation, which was founded in U.S. communities and 828 libraries in other 1913 and is committed to “fostering knowl- parts of the world.121 edge and innovation to enrich and sustain But more than that, Andrew Carnegie’s the lives and livelihood of poor and excluded personal philanthropy was remarkably wide- people throughout the world.”120 ranging. He founded more than 20 different in- In its nearly one hundred years of grant- stitutions and organizations in the United States making, the Corporation’s focus has been on and elsewhere, devoted to advancing causes advancing education and knowledge and on such as international peace, ethics in interna- international peace, but by necessity, it has tional affairs, and scientifi c research as well as to also worked in related areas. Andrew Carnegie improving teaching and education, supporting mandated that the Corporation should benefi t Scottish universities, and recognizing heroism. the people of the United States, although up He created Carnegie Hall and funded the estab- to 7.4 percent of the funds could be used for lishment of the Peace Palace in The Hague.122 the same purpose in countries that are or have Perhaps less well known than his dedication 77 been members of the British Dominions, to building libraries for the general public was subsequently, the Commonwealth. In recent his dedication to the cause of international years, the “Commonwealth” aspect of the peace and the prevention of deadly confl ict. In Corporation’s funding has focused on sub-Sa- Carnegie’s view, capitalism provided no moral haran Africa. Carnegie’s charge to his founda- justifi cation for war. Reason was the source men tion was also remarkable in that he did not and women should look to in order to fi nd solu- intend to hold the future hostage to the past, tions for confl ict, and competition was the best declaring that since, “Conditions upon the erth substitute for going to war. As a rationalist, he [sic] inevitably change; hence, no wise man will believed in these principles; as a philanthropist, bind Trustees forever to certain paths, causes he thought he could act on them. or institutions…I give my Trustees full author- ity to change policy or causes hitherto aided, 121 For the past quarter century, the Corporation has not had a program of support for domestic libraries, with from time to time, when this, in their opinion, the exception of a few grants for specifi c purposes. The foundation’s recent library-related efforts have focused has become necessary or desirable. They shall on sub-Saharan Africa with the goal of developing best conform to my wishes by using their own national libraries, revitalizing selected public libraries and aiding development of university libraries judgment…” Carnegie’s prescient and gener- in countries and institutions that have strategic intervention programs funded by the Corporation. ous intentions have allowed the Corporation to 122 The institutions founded by Andrew Carnegie include have an impact in a wide range of areas. Carnegie Hall, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, The Carnegie Trust for the Universities Andrew Carnegie left behind a fascinating of Scotland, Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Carnegie Foundation (Netherlands), The Carnegie history. First and foremost, Carnegie’s name is Dunfermline Trust, The Carnegie Hero Fund synonymous with libraries. Beginning in 1886, Commission (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), The Carnegie Hero Fund Trust (Dunfermline, Scotland), various Carnegie Hero Funds in Europe, The Carnegie 119 As of 2004, Carnegie Corporation of New York Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, was ranked 24th, by assets, among U.S. foundations the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, according to Foundation Yearbook 2006, published by Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Carnegie The Foundation Center. United Kingdom Trust and the Carnegie Council for 120 http://www.rockfound.org/. Ethics in International Affairs. Carnegie became a tireless promoter of ways Corporation,123 Andrew Carnegie established to further the cause of peace. In a 1907 speech, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Associa- ultimately translated into 13 languages, he tion of America (TIAA). The story of how argued that war might be eliminated if a global TIAA originated is actually one that points out organization, which he later proposed calling the extraordinary effect that Andrew Carn- a “league of nations,” was established with au- egie’s philanthropy has had on the quality of thority to settle international disputes through American higher education. While serving as arbitration and the use of economic sanctions. a Trustee at Cornell University, Carnegie was After World War I, President Woodrow Wil- shocked to discover that teachers, “one of the son’s proposal for the League of Nations had highest professions,” in his words, earned less much in common with Carnegie’s ideas, as did than his clerks and lacked retirement benefi ts. subsequent proposals for the United Nations. It In 1905, he established the Carnegie Teachers is therefore no surprise that Andrew Carnegie’s Pension Fund—which later received a national interest in the pursuit of peace has informed the charter by Act of Congress and became The Corporation’s work throughout the past century Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of and into the present day. For example, since the Teaching124—with a $10 million endowment to 78 advent of the Cold War, and now in the post- provide free pensions to college and university Soviet era, the Corporation has maintained a teachers. But there were strings attached, and focus on efforts to reduce the proliferation of one requirement was that participating institu- nuclear and biological weapons. The relation- tions had to have the highest academic admis- ship between the United States and Russia is a sion standards of the day. As a result, colleges current concern, now further complicated by and universities across the nation raised their the emerging importance of post-Soviet Eurasia academic standards in order to join the pension and the threat to global stability of states at risk. system. Carnegie’s biographer, Joseph Frazier Similar concerns led the Corporation to create Wall wrote, “With his pension plan, [he] had its Scholars Program in 1999 to give individual done more in a year to advance the standards scholars the ability to explore their vision of is- of higher education within the United States sues relating to the Corporation’s work, includ- than probably any carefully conceived program ing international peace and security, with a cur- to accomplish that goal could ever have done.” rent focus on Islam. It is our hope that Carnegie However, Carnegie eventually realized that Scholars will increase our understanding of the even his personal wealth could not support the fact that Islam is not a monolithic religion but pension system’s growth. Therefore, through one that is nuanced in how it is practiced and Carnegie Corporation of New York, he made interpreted, and that scholarship can also help a $1 million gift to establish TIAA.125 The bring about a deeper understanding of how Islam has infl uenced—and has been affected 123 [Carnegie Corporation of New York] Reports of Offi cers for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 1946. by—the current process of globalization. 124 For much of their history, Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Carnegie Foundation for the Over the decades, the work that Andrew Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) shared their offi cers and Board members. CFAT was reorganized under a Carnegie began has led to landmark efforts separate president and Board in 1979. 125 According to Andrew Carnegie, by Joseph Frazier that continue to infl uence the progress of Wall (Oxford University Press, 1970; University of society. Let me sketch some of them for you: in Pittsburgh Press, 1980): the stock of TIAA “was owned by the Carnegie Corporation until 1938, at which time 1917, with capital and initial subsidies from the it was transferred to the Trustees of TIAA, making it a totally independent nonprofi t insurance company.” association managed the retirement accounts the role of Carnegie libraries involved in social that were jointly funded by teachers and their work with immigrants.130 It is not surprising, employers. In his recent book, The Foundation: then, to note that today, in the midst of raging A Great American Secret,126 Joel L. Fleishman, debate about acculturation and assimilation the former president of the Atlantic Philanthro- both in the United States and Europe, the Cor- pies, notes that, “Today, we can recognize the poration continues to be focused on immigrant instinctive genius that lay behind Carnegie’s civic integration through its Strengthening scheme [to create TIAA]. At the time, it was U.S. Democracy Program. not so obvious. Frederick T. Gates, the phil- Reading through the Corporation’s history anthropic advisor to John D. Rockefeller, Sr. is like being an archeologist who keeps fi nd- remarked, ‘Carnegie is putting his ten millions ing more and more fascinating episodes that into a pension fund for teachers. I think this an demonstrate how Andrew Carnegie’s philan- extraordinary act of folly. Of all people, teach- thropy made a real difference in a surprising ers should be an example of thrift.’”127 variety of realms. For instance, in 1923, the Now called TIAA-CREF, it is one of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of world’s largest insurance companies, with over insulin was awarded to Drs. Frederick Ban- $300 billion in assets. Raising the standards of ting and J.J.R. Macleod, who conducted their 79 excellence for America’s institutions of higher groundbreaking experiments in a Corporation- education exemplifi es how the Corporation’s funded laboratory at the University of Toronto. funding acted as a lever of social change, since A decade later, in the 1930s, the Corporation inherent in the creation of TIAA was the enlisted Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal to idea that Americans were entitled to a secure undertake a study of the “The Negro Problem income in their retirement, a concept that has and Modern Democracy.” The resulting book, been carried through in the creation of the An American Dilemma, was published in 1944 Social Security system. and is still cited as a groundbreaking report on race relations in the U.S., one that raised the In the decade following the initial fund- nation’s consciousness about its race problem ing of TIAA (specifi cally, between 1920 and and was noted in the Supreme Court’s 1954 1924), the Carnegie Americanization Study128 Brown v. Board of Education decision to pro- was published by Harper & Brothers Publish- hibit segregation in the nation’s public schools. ers.129 The ten-volume study grew out of the In the 1940s, Corporation funding helped to Corporation’s concern with understanding create the Educational Testing Service (ETS), 126 (Public Affairs, 2007). a nonprofi t organization aiming to “advance 127 As noted in The Foundation: A Great American Secret— Source: Howard Berliner, A System of Science for Medicine quality and equity in education by provid- (New York and London: Tavistock, 1985). 31-32. ing fair and valid student assessments.” In 128 See also page 94. 129 The full list of the Americanization Studies 1956, the Corporation created the Foundation publications: Thompson, Frank V., Schooling of the Immigrant; Park, Robert Ezra, The Immigrant Press Center to support and improve philanthropy and its Control; Gavit, John Palmer, Americans by by promoting public understanding of the fi eld Choice; Claghorn, Kate Holladay, The Immigrant’s Day in Court; Thomas, William Isaac (together with and helping grantseekers to succeed. Robert E. Park and Herbert A. Miller), Old World Traits Transplanted; Leiserson, William M., Adjusting 130 Jane Gorjevsky. “Documenting Russian and Eastern Immigrant and Industry; Frank V. Thompson, European Immigrant Culture in American Manuscript Schooling of the Immigrant; Speek, Peter A., A Stake in Repositories: Private Philanthropy Archives.” Cited the Land; Breckinridge, S.P., New Homes for Old; and from manuscript to be published in Slavic & East Daniels, John, America via the Neighborhood. European Information Resources, Vol. 7, issues 2/3. In the 1960s, the Corporation began an the plight of poverty-stricken Afrikaners, but era of working, in part, through commissions had the unfortunate and completely unintend- and task forces. One example is the creation, ed effect of being used, in later years, to help in 1964, of the Carnegie Commission on justify apartheid. The new poverty commission Educational Television, which studied the role was a way to close the books on the original of noncommercial educational television in study and create a document that revealed society. In 1967, the Commission published a what life under apartheid really meant. Despite celebrated report, Public Television: A Program a hostile reception from the ruling National for Action; its recommendations were adopted Party, the fi ndings of the report were dissemi- in the Public Broadcasting Act, which created nated widely throughout the South African the public broadcasting system. Another such press and internationally. Francis Wilson, a entity—the Carnegie Commission on Higher respected economist at the University of Cape Education—was established in 1967 under Town and director of the South Africa Labour the leadership of Clark Kerr. Financed by the and Development Research Unit at the univer- Corporation and sponsored by The Carnegie sity who also coordinated the poverty com- Foundation for the Advancement of Teach- mission, said, “The report131 helped to inform 80 ing, it produced over 150 seminal reports and the policymakers of the 1990s. Many people books and led to the formation of the Federal involved in the inquiry went on to assume Pell Grants program, which has awarded more leadership positions in the current government. than $100 billion in grants to an estimated 30 It created a climate of informed opinion about million postsecondary students. poverty in South Africa and when the African National Congress came to power, they made In 1965, Head Start was founded as a the point that eradication of poverty was part result of, among other factors, the Corpora- of their agenda.” tion’s multi-year support of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation’s work on More recently, in the 1990s, the Corpo- early childhood cognitive development. Also ration created The Carnegie Task Force on in the 1960s, Carnegie Corporation support Meeting the Needs of Young Children. Its contributed to the creation of Sesame Street 1994 report, Starting Points, was hailed as and the Children’s Television Workshop, ush- critical to raising the national consciousness ering in an era of quality educational televi- about the need to focus on the healthy devel- sion for youngsters. opment of children—and support for their families—during the fi rst three years of life. In the 1970s, after a long hiatus, the The aforementioned Carnegie Commission on Corporation returned to grantmaking in South Preventing Deadly Confl ict also did its work Africa, supporting the formation of “public in this decade as did the National Commission interest law” projects that challenged apartheid on Teaching and America’s Future, which, with policies in the courts. In the 1980s, the Cor- support from the Corporation and the Rock- poration initiated a major study of poverty in efeller Foundation, published What Matters South Africa, which was known as “the Second Most: Teaching for America’s Future, a 1996 re- Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Develop- ment in Southern Africa.” The fi rst study, is- sued in 1932 and known as the “Carnegie Poor 131 Uprooting Poverty: The South African Challenge White Study,” had been intended to document (W.W. Norton, 1989). port that provided a framework and agenda for site strengths and expertise. Before I even of- teacher education reform across the country. fi cially joined the Corporation, I thought long and hard about how to focus the foundation’s On occasion, the Corporation has been resources most effectively. asked to administer grants on behalf of a benefactor or two. For example, since 2001, we In transitions involving institutional lead- have been able to grant a total of $85 million ership, the central point is always how to man- to small- and medium-sized, New York City- age expectations about a new administration based arts, cultural and social service organiza- and what it will do—or not do. Where is the tions because of the generosity of an anony- balance among those expectations, available mous donor who has chosen the Corporation resources, and any outstanding long- or short- to make the grants on the donor’s behalf. term commitments? A foundation, even with a reasonable endowment, simply cannot address As can be imagined, the efforts outlined just any problem that falls within the scope of above are only a fragment of the thousands of its mission. It is important not to over-prom- projects, programs and initiatives in which the ise or to dare fl ying without ensuring a safe Corporation, with its long and distinguished landing. It is equally important to realize very history, has played an instrumental role. Natu- early on that a foundation is primarily a source 81 rally, anyone joining the Corporation would of funding in a given fi eld and it should not bask in the light of its accomplishments and be confused with—or confuse itself with—its want to dwell on its record of achievement. For grantees. The grantees are the real agents of me, however, while proud of the foundation’s change, and a foundation must empower them successes, I also wanted to understand where without usurping their missions, accomplish- it might have weaknesses, and in retrospect, ments, and identity. Perhaps most important to be clear about which grants really had been of all, foundation leaders have to come to grips successful and which had not. with the fact that their institution cannot do I was surprised to learn how many founda- everything, that there are other more-than- tions, organizations, institutions and individu- capable foundations and organizations that als wanted—and still do want—to be affi liated can step in when necessary. This should not be with the Corporation and how many different a cause for dismay because working coopera- sectors of our society expected something from tively with other foundations and organiza- Carnegie Corporation. Because of the founda- tions with complementary agendas always tion’s nearly century-long record of innovative engenders greater benefi ts and provides greater and forward-thinking work and its genuine impact. In addition, cooperation also helps to interest in the progress and advancement of build networks and promotes action. From its grantees, the Corporation was continu- my point of view, if you are dedicated to every ally being asked to fund model projects, seek good cause, then in essence, you are for none. solutions to innumerable problems, carry out Total commitment to all good causes equates research, provide guidance and in general, do with total apathy because it leaves no room just about anything that needed doing. The for action. Thus, setting priorities and honing temptation to try to lead in many different one’s focus are essential in order to achieve fi elds was strong, but we knew we should do so measurable results. only in those areas in which we had the requi- Other issues occupying my thoughts in- pressed by how, at the Mellon Foundation, you cluded setting a course that would be support- did not apply for a grant, you were invited to ive of vital programs and projects but at the apply, a policy they still, by and large, follow same time allow for bucking trends; that would today. I also distinctly remember how, when encourage a diversity of approaches and airing The New York Public Library received a large of competing views about solutions to prob- and generous grant from the Mellon Founda- lems while also promoting independent think- tion, I said to Jack Sawyer that I would do my ing. Solid scholarship and objective evaluation best to ensure that the money was used as ef- must inform such efforts in order to invest in fectively as possible, and was impressed by his projects that will stand the test of time. reply, which was that he knew I’d do a good job because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be invited to Incoming presidents, especially those who ask the Mellon Foundation for any additional come from struggling institutions, as I did, funding. Whether one received a grant from should be prepared for a culture shock when the Mellon Foundation or not, Jack Sawyer they move from the realms of academe or always treated people with respect. He tried to libraries, where scarcity is the norm and where understand potential grantees’ objectives and the impact of every dollar counts, to the world priorities. He did not pontifi cate. He was a 82 of foundations, where it seems that money, good listener. And clearly, being a good listener for the most part, is not a problem. During is an important skill for foundation leaders as my decades at Brown, The New York Public well as university heads, not to mention pro- Library, and before that, at the University of gram offi cers and deans. Pennsylvania, a large percentage of my time was given over to fundraising necessitated by Some Preliminary Thoughts cultures of scarcity. The choices I could make I am not a great fan of the philosopher Michel were probably determined as much by frugality Foucault, but one of his sayings has always as by merit. This long-lived mindset traveled stuck in my mind. At fi rst, I thought it was with me to the Corporation, where, until I merely clever verbal gymnastics, but the time recognized what was happening, it probably came when I realized that it was, in fact, constituted an obstacle to making grants as substantive—namely, “People know what they expeditiously as possible. do; they frequently know why they do what When a president takes on a new organiza- they do; but what they don’t know is what tion and management structure and is steering they do does.”132 With that idea to spur me a new course, naturally, each one will draw on, I wrote my fi rst essay for the Corporation’s inspiration from different experiences and 1997 annual report—a tradition for Carnegie role models. My role model as a philanthropic Corporation presidents—and called it Some leader was the late Jack Sawyer, who headed Preliminary Thoughts. The essay was based on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation from 1975 the gist of Foucault’s questions, which I applied to 1987. Sawyer always made it clear that he to the work and mission of Carnegie Corpora- was a steward of Mellon’s resources, not their tion, such as: “Does the Corporation perceive owner, and that his obligation was to uphold itself as an incubator of ideas or as a sustainer the foundation’s traditions and standards and use its funds for the greatest impact and the 132 Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, by Hubert L. Dreyfus, Paul Rabinow greatest good. I remember being very im- (University of Chicago Press, second edition, 1983). of institutions that play that role? How do we poration from the University of Pennsylvania, combat the age-old problem of scatteration in the Library or Brown? Similar questions were our grantmaking, while retaining the fl exibil- natural, both from the staff and from grantees. ity to respond to a tantalizing idea or a target There was particular anxiety among those of opportunity?” I also wondered, “What are individuals and organizations who, over the some important new issues facing our nation years, had been the benefi ciaries of Corporation and the world that we should deal with? Where support. They were concerned about the change is our comparative leadership advantage? in administration because they worried they How do we achieve the right balance between might have no way of effectively communicat- continuity and change?” That last question was ing with the new leadership, either individually crucial, because I did not—and do not—be- or collectively. Beyond that, because I was an lieve we should engage in change for change’s educator, they worried that I might not be aware sake. As we considered initiatives, I believed of the political, scientifi c, economic, cultural, that we would probably reaffi rm the impor- ecological, and ethnic challenges facing our tance of some of the paths already taken, only society. To allay these anxieties, I followed adjusting the emphasis somewhat. much the same course as I had at The New York The fundamental reason that I wrote Some Public Library. That meant letting people know 83 Preliminary Thoughts was to set out the general that I was indeed in the learning and education context of my agenda for the foundation, but business, meaning also in the information and also to try to make clear that I had come to knowledge business. Many aspects of the world Carnegie Corporation with an open mind, not of philanthropy were not at all alien to me. a ready-made recipe for change. It was impor- Still, I had many questions of my own. tant to assure the staff that what changes would I did not know about all the “moving parts” be made over time would be thoughtful and of a foundation. How, for example, does one deliberate, and certainly not arbitrary. In fact, become a program offi cer at a foundation? Do I could not act until I understood as much as you study a certain subject in school or need I could about the foundation’s work and its a degree in a certain fi eld? Or do you join nearly century-long role in American society, a foundation, perhaps in an administrative in order to do justice to the legacy of Andrew capacity and then eventually get the job of pro- Carnegie. Among the fi rst steps I took was to gram offi cer or work up to the position in some meet, individually, with all the Corporation’s other way? In my autobiography, The Road to program offi cers and also with a great many of Home, I wrote about Dorothy E. Soderlund, its grantees. As in any transition, both the staff the program assistant in charge of the admin- of the foundation and its grantees were going istration of the Ford Foundation’s Training through a period of anxiety about what would Research Fellowships in 1960 when I was happen under a new president. There were some nominated for a Ford Foreign Area Training concerns about my management philosophy Fellowship. Ms. Soderlund, who was extremely and my priorities. Would I bring in a hierarchi- intelligent and effi cient, did not have a college cal, academic model? Notwithstanding my degree but was in charge of a major foundation assurances, did I have a “secret plan” or vision program and did a superb job. Could I infer to impose upon the foundation? Did I have a anything from the way foundations operated ready-made team to move to Carnegie Cor- from that situation? In general, I wondered, how do foundation staff that had also been fi xtures at the founda- presidents recruit personnel? Is the search only tion for the same long periods of time. Others within the academy? Does it include the ranks offered only short-term contracts to program of municipal or public agencies? Other founda- offi cers so they always had the opportunity tions? What kind of experience or training to replenish the ranks, if that was appropriate do foundation personnel need to have? If not or necessary. Would either of these pathways, formal schooling in their fi eld, then what kind or some combination of the two, be best for of exposure would be most relevant or helpful? Carnegie Corporation in the years ahead? Do foundation program staff tend to be insu- That wasn’t all I wondered about. There lar, protected from knowing all they need to was the issue of consultants, which many know about a fi eld by the very nature of their foundations—as well as other institutions—of- work, where grantseekers may put up with a ten rely on. How are decisions on their effi cacy foundation staff member’s whims or even their arrived at? How often should consultants be ignorance because the grantseeker is in the changed and new individuals or consulting position of a supplicant? In that connection, organizations be brought into a project? I have how does one avoid the foundation-grantee always been cautious about the use of consul- version of what President Dwight D. Eisen- 84 tants; they are quick to take credit for success hower called the “military-industrial complex”? but scatter to the wind like dandelions gone With its counterpart, the “philanthropy” to seed when problems loom on the horizon. version—the “grantor, grantee, and consultant As the adage says, “Success has many parents complex”—the relationship can be colored by but failure is an orphan.” I think an institution a culture of dependence, where grantees expect should not rely on the same individuals or or- ongoing, long-term support and therefore, are ganizations all the time because new ideas and averse to taking risks. fresh perspectives may not be forthcoming. How does the president establish one or Consultants do not always give independent more new directions for the foundation? If a judgments; they may simply try to justify what foundation’s charter allows for some latitude as, an institution is already doing. Their advice for example, ours does, is one confi ned to fi elds is often what they think institutional lead- in which foundation personnel are already ers want to hear, so that their services will be experts or can new staff be recruited? Can called upon again. existing program offi cers recast themselves as Many other questions intrigued me. How experts in new fi elds? Should program offi cers do foundations sort through and judge the val- be specialists, or generalists who can manage ue of the many ideas presented to the program any program area? Are they like Foreign Service staff? Some certainly stem from the foun- offi cers who stay on and continue to do their dation’s ongoing projects and long-standing work under different administrations, year after interests, but what is the process for evaluating year? If new directions are indicated, and exist- those that come from other sources, by other ing staff is not suited to the new work, what routes? How does a foundation president keep legal, moral and ethical obligations are there to abreast of trends and developments in society them? What if new blood is need for “unclog- and in the wide variety of scientifi c, cultural, ging the arteries”? Some foundations had political and academic fi elds while at the same unchanging programs over many decades and time coping with the day-to-day administrative needs and demands of a foundation, its meet- rating in such areas as coordinating library ings, visitors, committees, budgets, personnel acquisitions or the bulk purchasing of everyday issues, etc.? I was reminded of the danger of items in order to save money or, at the other losing touch with the world of knowledge, end of the spectrum, investing in sophisticated ideas and informed opinions by some who told and expensive scientifi c equipment such as me that, as the president of a foundation, all electron microscopes seemed to be common- I’d hear from then on would be what people sense propositions. In a similar vein, it seemed thought I wanted to hear. This would be to make sense for foundations to collaborate true especially at the beginning of my tenure, in order to invest wisely, increase their impact, because many would fear that jobs and grants plan further ahead, and reduce the tendency were at risk. (Many grant recipients, of course, of both staff and institutions themselves to do not see it that way. At a university, if tenure operate in silos. or promotion were denied a faculty member, One of my fi rst priorities at the Corpora- for example, you had earned an enemy for tion became building alliances with other life. Foundation culture is more “salutary” philanthropies—a strategy that built on the than that: when those looking for support are Corporation’s history of forming alliances turned down, they know there will be other to support good causes. I thought that we 85 days and other grant applications.) should all be less interested in who, or which When a professional cynic congratulated institution, got credit for a particular program me on my appointment, he reminded me that, or project than in advancing good ideas in as a foundation president, I would never hear whatever way would serve them best. Founda- an honest sentence or even eat a bad meal. An- tions with mutual program interests should not other individual, a friend of mine who is also a replicate each other’s efforts because doing so is foundation president, sent me a cactus as a gift wasteful. Supporting a project just to be able to with a note that said foundations are often in- say “we are also involved” is equally improvi- tellectually barren places and I would therefore dent. I may have a particular aversion to that need to keep myself constantly “watered,” so I kind of ineffi ciency because of the lessons I’ve wouldn’t become isolated from what was going learned about institutional frugality. After all, I on in the world or lose touch with ideas. The come from a culture that hates waste—that in cactus was meant to remind me of that. fact, cannot afford it.

So it was with the cactus ensconced in my Upon my assumption of the presidency offi ce that I set about working with the foun- of the Corporation, I was gratifi ed to fi nd dation’s staff and offi cers to begin formulating likeminded leaders at our sister foundations, our agenda for the months and years ahead. such as Susan Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation; Jonathan Fanton, president of the Next Steps John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Founda- I earlier wrote that as far back as my years as tion; Patty Stonesifer, chief executive offi cer of dean and provost of the University of Penn- the Gates Foundation Gail Levin, executive sylvania, I thought it should be normal for director of the Annenberg Foundation; Aryeh institutions, to serve the public interest and for Neier president of the Open Society Institute; self-interest, as well, to cooperate, to comple- Joel L. Fleishman, former president of the ment each other and work together. Collabo- Atlantic Philanthropies and his successor, John R. Healy; Hodding Carter, president of the scholars, the Corporation has worked with John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, who both the MacArthur Foundation and the was succeeded by Alberto Ibargüen; as well as Russian Ministry of Education. (The Open Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Society Institute was also involved in the initial Foundation, and now his successor, Judith CASEs funding.) To date, nine CASEs have Rodin. Some examples of the Corporation’s been established in Russia and four more in the collaborative efforts include our support for post-Soviet states. higher education in Africa, where we formed The Corporation’s efforts to improve both a funding alliance with the Ford, Rockefeller teacher education and urban high schools are and MacArthur foundations that is now called framed around collaborative efforts. Teach- the Partnership for Higher Education in Af- ers for a New Era (TNE) was designed by the rica. It has recently been joined by the William Corporation to strengthen K-12 teaching by and Flora Hewlett Foundation, under the di- developing state-of-the-art programs at schools rection of its president Paul Brest, the Andrew of education. It is also being supported by W. Mellon Foundation, under the direction the Ford and Annenberg foundations, while of president William G. Bowen (Don Michael a comprehensive evaluation of the initiative is Randel, former president of the University of 86 being undertaken with primary funding from Chicago, was recently named the new head of the Rockefeller Foundation and additional the Mellon Foundation), and the Kresge Foun- support from the Ford and Nellie Mae Educa- dation, under president Rip Rapson. Launched tion foundations. Schools for a New Society, in 2000 as a fi ve-year effort, in 2005 it was re- a Corporation initiative aimed at improving newed for fi ve more years. To date, the funding urban high schools—which has school district partners have contributed over $150 million reform as its core component—was also sup- to strengthen African universities in Ghana, ported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Founda- Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, tion. In the area of improving journalism Uganda, Kenya and, more recently, Egypt and education, the Corporation partners with the Madagascar. An additional $200 million has John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in been pledged by the Partnership, a mechanism the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future by which the participating foundations provide of Journalism Education. both joint and individual support. In another example of collaboration, an Our work on higher education in Russia area that the Corporation’s Board thought it is also supported by a partnership focused on was important to support was income inequal- a joint strategy of reinvigorating a post-Com- ity. We did not have the capacity to undertake munist Russian university system that had, for the research and evaluation ourselves. Hence, the most part, abandoned regional intellectuals in 2000, we made a grant of $1,500,000 to and scholars to the free-market uncertainties the Russell Sage Foundation to analyze the of modern life. In developing Centers For Ad- implications of the widened income gap in vanced Study and Education (CASEs), which the United States. Russell Sage was the most empowered universities to create academic appropriate institution to take on this project hubs for scholars in the social sciences and the as it is not only devoted solely to research in humanities and become vibrant intellectual the social sciences, but also publishes research communities for established and emerging fi ndings under its own imprint. The result of our grants and Russell Sage’s research efforts the Corporation’s long-standing relationships was a report, published in 2004, called Social with a number of major nonprofi t organiza- Inequality, that presented the conclusions tions. These had come to expect ongoing, of forty-eight social scientists on how recent general support from the Corporation. Many increases in economic inequality have exacer- of them had built this expectation into their bated social inequities of the kind that might budgets. The impetus for this change was our make the widening gap between rich and poor decision to expand the diversity of our grant- Americans diffi cult to reverse. making and base our work on a competition of ideas rather than of needs. This is a particu- Naturally, we also collaborated among larly important issue because my belief is that Carnegie’s family of organizations. Since 2001, what foundations can and must do is invest for example, the Corporation has worked with in ideas and the projects that are enriched by its sister Carnegie institutions133 on launching them. Needs are constant, and foundations and awarding the Carnegie Medal of Phi- cannot satisfy the needs of individuals, groups, lanthropy, which is given every two years to communities or even nations on a long-term one or more individuals or families who, like basis—but what they can do is invest in ideas Andrew Carnegie, have dedicated their private about how to cope with and meet those needs. wealth to the public good and who have a 87 sustained an impressive career in philanthropy. Therefore, at the Corporation, we began The Medal has also helped to fulfi ll the wish to bring to a close some of our ongoing general of the Carnegie organizations to work together institutional support, which had included the for a common purpose, and to once again funding of a number of well-known organiza- prove the maxim that charity does indeed tions. We did make fi nal grants to these groups, begin at home. In that connection, it should be intending them as bridge grants to help support noted that over the years, the Corporation has the organizations while they explored other made numerous grants to its sister Carnegie avenues for funding. In this way, we moved institutions for projects and programs that have from a kind of “block grants” approach to intersected with our priorities. The Corpora- more project-centered funding, which was still tion, for example, has provided funding to centered on Andrew Carnegie’s core concerns, the Carnegie Endowment for International namely education and international peace, but Peace; the Carnegie Council for Ethics in with emphases that addressed the most pressing International Affairs; The Carnegie Founda- national and global concerns. Some of the ques- tion for the Advancement of Teaching; The tions we began to focus on included the plight Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Carnegie-Mel- of urban high schools. Is their seemingly endless lon University; The Carnegie Institution of decline reversible? If so, how can we create im- Washington and the Carnegie Foundation of provements: one school at a time or city by city? the Netherlands/Peace Palace. What about the need to upgrade the status of schools of education on university campuses as Establishing these partnerships was a well as their curriculum and the quality of the rewarding experience, but in the meantime, training they provide to teachers? Is there any- the Corporation still had to deal with the thing we can do to contribute to strengthening crucial and diffi cult issues involving some of our democracy in terms of breaking down barri- ers to citizenship and to promote immigrant 133 See footnote 122. civic integration? There was still a great deal the in its grantees is the same way it should invest Corporation could contribute, we felt, in terms in the professional and career development of of continuing our work on nuclear nonprolifera- its staff members at every level. tion, and in helping to stabilize the relationship Foundations should provide educational between the United States and Russia through opportunities for their staff, encouraging efforts to assist Russia’s intelligentsia in a period the evolution of their skills and intellect and of national transition, when they were caught helping them fi nd the resources to do so. After between hope and hopelessness—between the all, the more educated, trained and cultured allure of democracy and the pressures of both a staff member is, the better equipped he or their own fi nancial survival and of the national she will be as a grantmaker. This investment security needs of the newly minted Russian in staff members is particularly valued at the Federation. In Africa, our concern was to work Corporation, because just about everything with nations where stability, democracy, and we do involves a focus on education—and we reform were central to their development and feel that we can’t invest in others through our to contribute to their progress by strengthening grantmaking without also investing in our their universities, which will produce the Afri- own staff. The Corporation, therefore, pays the can leaders of tomorrow, both women and men. 88 full tuition for courses contributing to a staff In terms of decisions about staff, even member’s fi rst undergraduate degree, job-relat- though the Corporation is an at-will institu- ed graduate courses, job-related certifi cate pro- tion, I wanted it to be clear that we did not grams, executive training and other job-related have a university-type “tenure” system. Hence, courses that directly apply to responsibilities at we instituted two-year, renewable terms for the Corporation.134 all program offi cers and program chairs. We It might be said that this emphasis on also tested several models of new personnel staff development contributes to staff depar- evaluation systems, eventually settling on one tures because, as individuals gain both work that seemed the most effi cacious, providing experience and education, they may move on incentives not only for work well done but also to other positions. But I see departures as a for extraordinary merit. These moves were all natural part of the growth process of both staff carried out with an eye to the future. I say that members and organizations, and a stepping because it’s important to bear in mind that the stone for individuals’ upward mobility. In fact, work of a foundation is not an abstraction, but when staff take positions at other organizations a true refl ection of the excellence, expertise, that involve more responsibility, it means we’ve and dedication of its staff. It is also necessary done our job as incubators of learning and de- to keep in mind that foundations do change velopment of staff goals, their skills, and their direction from time to time and must have leadership potential. They are ready to take the the fl exibility to bring in new people with new next step in their careers. visions of how program goals can be realized. This view of a foundation’s work is also ben- 134 The Corporation also pays 80 percent of the cost of courses for staff members enrolled in a graduate efi cial to the staff, because it discourages them program and 50 percent of the cost of other courses from an accredited institution not related to from seeing the foundation either as a kind of maintaining their job. In recent years, a number of permanent parking place for their careers or a staff members have participated in these programs: four have entered undergraduate programs, six have dead end. The same way a foundation invests either completed or are working on their Master’s degrees and three are working on Ph.Ds. We also encourage staff to become involved corporation, a former U.S. ambassador, a in the community and in the work of other former senator, and an admiral, along with groups and organizations, in part to carry on distinguished business, education, journalism, Andrew Carnegie’s tradition of investing in philanthropy, government and science leaders. others, but also in order to help keep them The Corporation—and I, personally—have from becoming isolated from “the real world,” also gained enormously from the guidance and to gain wider experience and deeper un- and wise counsel of two extraordinary Board derstanding of the operations and challenges of Chairs. Thomas H. Kean, former governor of a wide variety of organizations. This also serves New Jersey, former president of Drew Univer- to balance any perceptions of foundation staff sity and co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, was as simply “armchair” dispensers of money. Nat- fi rst elected to the Board of Trustees in 1990. urally, creating such an environment may also He served as Chair from 1997-2002. I am lead to staff departures as individuals broaden delighted that he will once again be serving their horizons and as their skills, experience as Chair in 2007, thus providing continu- and knowledge become apparent to others ity for the Corporation as well as invaluable with new opportunities to offer, but if that is leadership. Helene L. Kaplan, Of Counsel, the case, so be it. To be known as a school for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, whose 89 training leadership as well as an employer is a distinguished leadership in both the nonprofi t wonderful legacy for any institution. and corporate worlds is quite remarkable, has served on the Corporation’s Board of Trustees Some of the directions that Carnegie Cor- for more than two decades, including two poration has embarked on in recent years were ten-year terms as Trustee, two terms as Vice- based on the premise that changing times de- Chair, and two terms as Chair of the Board, mand new solutions to problems. For example, from 1985-1990 and from 2002 until 2007. foundation collaborations, such as those I Helene was also the fi rst woman to serve as highlighted earlier, while not usual in the past, Chair of the Board. Her emphasis on gov- have become a necessity in order to multiply ernance and her contributions in helping to the strength and impact of our grantmaking. shape the scope and direction of the work of The Corporation’s Board Chairs, Trustees and the Corporation have been immeasurable. I have paid close attention to the makeup of our Board of Trustees in order to select leaders The time and dedication that our Board from different segments of society to assist us members have devoted to the Corporation as we go forward. over the years makes an important point about American philanthropy: its strength is not Indeed, the Corporation has always had rooted in money alone. One of its most notable exceptional Boards of Trustees. During my features is volunteerism. Individuals who com- tenure, it has been a great privilege for the prise outstanding Boards such as ours contrib- Corporation staff and for me to have ben- ute their time and expertise out of a deep sense efi ted from the wisdom of several university of civic duty and a commitment to the public presidents, former governors (including one good. Carnegie Corporation of New York who also served as U.S. Secretary of Educa- is extremely fortunate that such exceptional tion), former international cabinet ministers, leaders have joined with us in carrying on the the president of a major newspaper company, legacy of Andrew Carnegie. the former editor-in-chief of a national media Investing in Ideas If all the elements of leadership, clarity of Many of those reading this essay may be mission and staff focus are in place, then there familiar with Andrew Carnegie’s opinion that, are many opportunities for grantmaking to “There is nothing inherently valuable in mere effect change. For example, grantmaking can money…unless it is to be administered as a support basic research, which can expand the sacred trust for the good of others.” To be the parameters of knowledge in almost any given steward of such a trust doesn’t mean simply fi eld, though its potential impact may take writing checks; the utmost effort must be place over a long period of time. Grants can extended to ensure that philanthropic dollars also support the implementation of evidence- are used wisely and effectively so as to have the based, time-and-scientifi cally tested fi ndings most impact. Perhaps that is why I fi nd myself in order to advance policy in social, scientifi c, drawn again and again to Andrew Carnegie’s cultural, educational or other realms. Along Gospel of Wealth, and to his cautionary remind- with implementation, grantmaking can er that, “Of every thousand dollars spent in promote the dissemination of a treasurehouse so-called charity today, it is probable that nine of ideas grounded in solid research that might hundred and fi fty dollars is unwisely spent.” have been neglected or overlooked. This is par- ticularly important in an era of specialization, 90 That’s not to say that most of our grant- when new facts and knowledge can help to cre- ees—in fact, the vast majority of grantees ate synthesis among seemingly disparate ideas of most foundations—don’t do vital, even and help to unify different groups, individuals indispensable work, or don’t have important and organizations who fi nd newly discovered missions that are designed to advance the pub- common ground. Grantmaking may seem lic good. What it does mean is that foundations distant from actual research or direct involve- should have clarity about their purpose and ment in the development or implementation of mission and be able to convey these values to programs, projects and policies that can benefi t the public, their staff and to grantees. Founda- society, but it is a very powerful tool. tion staff and leadership should also be com- mitted to respecting the spirit as well as the The catalysts for change, the incubators letter, of the donor’s vision for the foundation of ideas and major investors in change are still and its work. the grantee organizations. Foundations can certainly take pride in the wisdom of their Safeguarding a foundation’s mission is not investments in various organizations but they only the task of the president and the Board, should not be tempted to usurp the recognition but must also be part of the very culture of the that is due to their grantees. Most of the time, institution. Program offi cers must regard the foundations provide funding for worthwhile foundation as an integrated, organic communi- projects—but funding itself is not excellence; ty of interests serving one overall mission, not it supports excellence. In that context, leaders as a collection of individual fi efdoms. That also must take care not to stifl e creativity or inter- means that leadership and program staff must fere with the activities of grantees by trying be careful to weigh their personal or institu- to micromanage their work. The foundation’s tional aspirations against a realistic assessment investment in a grantee is a way of activating of the limits of what they can accomplish in and advancing its own priorities—but it is still order to keep both in balance. the grantee who has the responsibility of actu- who was both fi nancially and intellectually ally carrying out the work. generous, understood that the interpretation of his philanthropic intentions might have to take Perhaps it seems evident, but foundations a different form at different times, especially are not, at any given time, a grantor’s institu- in view of the fact that he specifi cally endowed tion; they don’t carry the grantor’s name, but the foundation to carry out his grantmaking the name of the founder. What foundation in perpetuity. In his 1911 letter of gift to the staff and leadership are doing is fulfi lling the Corporation, Carnegie wrote, “My desire is mandate of a donor who endowed a foundation that the work which I hav [sic]135 been carrying to carry out work in certain areas, or with spe- on, or similar benefi cial work, shall continue cifi c aims. Indeed, donor intent is the key ele- during this and future generations.” ment of foundation work. There are a number of different types of foundations, each of which In upholding Carnegie’s traditions, we are should follow the dictates of the individual or the facilitators, and it is often our role to help family that created them. For example, operat- mobilize other players around a central idea ing foundations generally are not grantmaking and help smooth the way for them to work institutions. They operate facilities or institu- together. Being a funder does give you the tions devoted to a specifi c charitable activity leverage, even the obligation, to use what infl u- 91 spelled out in their charters. Some operating ence you have, including convening power and foundations may use their endowment to con- access to other foundations and philanthropies, duct research while others may have been creat- to ensure that promising programs and projects ed to provide such direct services as managing are able to attract all the resources they need in museums, historical sites, providing assistance order to be carried out most effectively. to the handicapped, etc. Other foundations, Notwithstanding all this, there are times such as the Aaron Diamond Foundation, when a foundation itself must, out of neces- the Vincent Astor Foundation, The Atlantic sity, take center stage. That happens when a Philanthropies and the Lewis B. and Dorothy certain issue or problem must be addressed Cullman Foundation focus on spending their but no nonprofi t organization seems to have entire endowment—often within a particular that particular concern on their agenda. When time span—in the service of particular ideas such a situation arises, foundation staff and or causes, and then close their doors. Family leadership may come to the conclusion that the foundations often have a twofold purpose: to only way to focus public attention on the issue make grants but also to maintain the founda- is if they mobilize their private resources to tion as a kind of laboratory to train future advance action or explore proposed responses generations of the family and promote the art and solutions. of giving as part of the family culture. Private grantmaking foundations, such as Carnegie Many foundations have taken that path, Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller, and the Corporation is one of them. Among Ford, MacArthur, Mellon and other founda- the commissions and initiatives we supported tions, were created by their donors to carry out in the past were the Carnegie Commission on philanthropic efforts in perpetuity. 135 Andrew Carnegie was a devoted proponent of “simplifi ed spelling.” He said, “What could be a more It is our good fortune that Andrew effective agency for world peace than to have all men able to communicate with each other in the same Carnegie, an extraordinary and prescient man language, especially if that language were English?” Educational Television; the Carnegie Com- efforts of experts, educators, policymakers, mission on the Future of Public Broadcasting; scholars, and others, under the leadership of the Carnegie Commission on Higher Educa- those who were dedicated, as was the foun- tion; the Carnegie Commission on Preventing dation, to fi nding real, workable solutions Deadly Confl ict; the Carnegie Commission to problems, and to developing substantive on Science, Technology and Government; the evidence and data to support the conclusions Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development; that were reached. There is no value to fulfi ll- the Carnegie Task Force on Learning in the ing preconceived notions about how particular Primary Grades; and the Carnegie Task Force issues should be addressed. Foundations must on Meeting the Needs of Young Children. be neutral in outlook in order to create an envi- During the past decade we launched a number ronment in which exploration of all relevant of initiatives (some of which I have also alluded areas of learning and knowledge and intellec- to earlier), such as Schools for a New Society, tual insight are encouraged in an atmosphere dedicated to urban high school reform in seven of intellectual rigor. The Carnegie Scholars cities across the United States; Teachers for a Program, which I referred to earlier, does not New Era, focused on improving teacher educa- have templates for how scholars should conduct 92 tion and training through the development of their work or what their fi ndings should be. excellent schools of education; the Partnership The freedom and ability to explore issues for Higher Education in Africa; the Carnegie and problems that have not been fully ad- Advisory Council on Advancing Literacy to ex- dressed—or addressed at all—by private orga- amine both research and reading policies and nizations or government agencies is one of the make recommendations for implementation reasons that American foundations are critical strategies; and the Carnegie-Knight Initiative to our society: it’s a rare instance in which on the Future of Journalism Education, which governments, whether local, state or national, grew out of discussions with the deans of lead- are able to move with alacrity or offer innova- ing journalism schools at four of America’s top tive solutions to civic problems, or even develop research universities—Berkeley, Columbia, models to demonstrate how proposed solu- Northwestern and the University of Southern tions may work in a real-world environment. California, along with the director of the Sho- Foundations can operate that way, and the fact renstein Center at Harvard University—and that they often do, serving as incubators for centers on laying a foundation for developing a progressive, even pioneering ideas, provides the vision of what a journalism school can be at an public with program and policy alternatives exemplary institution of higher education.136 they might otherwise never even know about In all of these cases, Carnegie Corporation or have the opportunity to consider. Indeed, did not dictate what the work of the commis- perhaps one of the most important attributes of sion, task force, council or initiative should foundations is this very capacity to be fl exible, be. The focus was instead on channeling the a characteristic that can be of incalculable value in a complex society such as ours, which has 136 Since the initiative was announced in 2005, four more institutions—the Philip Merrill College of Journalism so many checks and balances. Institutions can at the University of Maryland; the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri; the S.I. be highly bureaucratized—in fact, one of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at ways they protect themselves is by armoring Syracuse University; and the School of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin—have joined in the themselves with an elaborate bureaucracy and curriculum enrichment component of the initiative. complicated processes for getting things done. servation, social scientists will sometimes make That foundations are able to proceed more extravagant claims about what they aim to quickly, and with wider latitude, to provide accomplish, but don’t always subject their ex- model solutions to problems, and to help put plorations to a rigorous critique if a particular important issues on the nation’s front burner, theory or method failed. Such analyses would highlights the lasting contributions that Ameri- boost the standing of the social sciences and can foundations make to our nation. promote confi dence about future claims. Our competitive culture, where individuals vie for Worth the Risk? the same federal and corporate dollars, seems Every foundation claims that it’s in the to discourage researchers from doing this. business of investing in innovation and new, This is the same phenomenon I touched important ideas and therefore, is taking risks. on earlier, when I discussed the tension at It’s hard to identify risk in supporting projects research universities between basic research or leaders who have a 99.9 percent chance of and the need to conduct research with imme- success, which is, unfortunately, often closer diate, commercial applications. This tension to the truth about the kinds of undertakings also exists in the fi eld of philanthropy, not that receive foundation funding. Foundations only in regard to research but also in terms of 93 should be in the risk business a lot more than programmatic and project results. It exists on they are because ideas need to be tested. This both sides of the donor-grantee relationship. is particularly important in the policy realm Funders are expected, by the public and by because “solutions” have to be tested, too. government regulators, to achieve results that Government agencies generally can’t present can be quickly and succinctly charted, quanti- policies to the public with the caveat that they fi ed, measured by hard data and reduced to are “risky,” but foundations can do just that. spread-sheet equations. For potential grantees, They can take a chance on a promising policy, the competition today for government and project or idea that may, in the end, turn out to philanthropic funding is so intense that the be a failure, because analyzing failure is how to pressure to guarantee a “good outcome” often discover what works. This is the time-honored leads to over-promising what will be achieved. process of scientifi c research, in which failures Therefore, at the conclusion of the funded are as important as successes. Each failure helps work, nothing but an absolute triumph will to narrow down the direction to be followed be acceptable to all parties involved. (Even to achieve a successful result. While founda- if real success was elusive, the claim will be tions claim to be in the risk business, many of made that “moral victory was ours.”) This their staff have a hard time coping with failure is where the language used to describe such because the notion of risk is actually not built enterprises begins to sparkle with superlatives, into the environment in which they work. and assurances are given that planned work is With any hint of “failure,” foundation staff “unprecedented,” “path-breaking, visionary,” or will worry for their reputations, and grantees even “unique” (the most abused and overused may fear that their grants will not be renewed. adjective of all). In the end, if the results are It has always surprised me that the social at best mundane, or the project is a failure, sciences, which are patterned after the basic cynicism and skepticism that anything can sciences, appear to be so risk averse. In my ob- be accomplished with a particular issue or in bringing about some civic, social, scientifi c or of our grantmaking and trying to learn from other advancement will be the likely result. our failures as well as our successes—and by sharing what we’ve learned with both the pub- Many foundations, faced with past disap- lic and the foundation community. pointments in terms of translating the knowl- edge generated by their work into policy, have For example, as noted earlier, we take great switched to funding projects that produce pride in the fact that we funded An American immediate and easily quantifi able results. Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Understanding this, grantees more often ap- Democracy, Gunnar Myrdal’s 1944 landmark proach foundations with unrealistic goals or study on race relations in the United States, claims; program offi cers all too often accept but the Corporation did not recognize its them as achievable benchmarks. I don’t know importance when the report was completed why I continue to be surprised by a kind of and did not promote it, in part because it had benign neglect in judging the difference be- not fulfi lled the somewhat limited purpose tween promises made and promises kept about for which it was commissioned: to help guide funded projects. Failure to reach stated goals Corporation grantmaking beyond its historic should be followed by in-depth analysis to involvement in black education in the South. 94 understand the reasons for it. What happened? What the Corporation got, instead, was a What could have been done better, or differ- clarion call for Americans to live up to the ide- ently? Even a “failed” project generates some als of the American Creed or contemplate a de- knowledge. Assessing projects this way makes terioration of the values and vision that unites it easier to extract those necessary lessons the country and makes it great. The study has learned from them and spares the program been called “the most penetrating and im- staff feeling that they showed poor judgment, portant book on our contemporary American a lack of foresight, or even were incompetent. civilization that has been written,”137 but was Foundations can hardly be the only institu- still neglected for a time because it was not the tions on earth immune to failure and no one product that the Corporation had planned on. should expect them to be. Similarly, the Carnegie Americanization At Carnegie Corporation, while we are Study of the early 1920s did not have the pleased to share our accomplishments, we do impact that the foundation expected. The not shy away from discussing those occasions effort was lead by Allen Burns, the executive where we have fallen short. In fact, the Cor- secretary of the Cleveland Foundation and a poration was among the fi rst foundations to former dean of the Chicago School of Civ- produce an annual report (it has been doing so ics and Philanthropy. Those involved saw the for more than eighty years), in an effort to pro- study “as the fi rst step towards developing vide a complete and accurate accounting of its the U.S.-wide policy on immigration. Burns work. The responsibility for an institution such had identifi ed an immediate need for such as Carnegie Corporation to be accountable for policy ‘as the present confusion in Washington its grantmaking was best summed up by one is causing increased discontent among our of our earlier trustees, who declared that it was immigrants.’138 The researchers emphasized

incumbent upon foundations to have “glass 137 Gunnar Myrdal and America’s Conscience by Walter A. pockets.” Today, we uphold that tradition by Jackson (The University of North Carolina Press, 1990). 138 Burns to Bertram, Jan. 26, 1919 in CCNY Records, constantly examining and assessing the impact Series IIIA (Grant Files), box 41, folder 5. that Americanization was not an ‘unchange- tions with the government, could put into each able political, domestic and economic regime newcomer’s hands a brief statement in his own once and for all delivered to the fathers, but a language, of his rights and privileges.”141 growing and broadening national life, inclu- In recent years, there have also been grants sive of the best wherever found. With all our that did not achieve the results we and our col- rich heritages, Americanism will develop best leagues had hoped for. In 2000, the Corpora- [through] a mutual giving and taking of contri- tion and other foundations made grants to the butions from both newer and older Americans Southern African Political Economy Series in the interest of the commonwealth.’”139,140 Trust in Zimbabwe, to support the efforts of The study received almost no public attention the Constitutional Commission of Zimbabwe, and failed to generate support for immigration which was drafting a new constitution for that policies that recognized immigrants’ contribu- country under its president Robert Mugabe. tions to the development of the United States. It was the Corporation’s intention to support In fact, just the opposite took place. The U.S., democratic reform and the rule of law in Zim- in the 1920s, instituted restrictive immigration babwe through the constitutional process, as policies that made a study about incorporating well as to support the efforts of constitutional immigrants into American life—the focus of advocates. However, these efforts have fallen 95 the Carnegie series—seem irrelevant. Now, short of the mark. The constitution proved to we look back at the study, which was com- be an ineffective document that did not pro- missioned by the Corporation’s fourth presi- vide the societal protections we were seeking. dent, Henry S. Pritchett, and marvel at the fact that, at the beginning of the last century, Our library-related work in sub-Saharan Americans were wrestling with the same issues Africa has also encountered problems. The about immigration and “Americanization” needs are so great in Africa that many indi- that are part of the national debates going on viduals and organizations are moved to provide today, and were equally divided on the subject. immediate assistance without any attention Pritchett’s thoughts at the time still resonate: to long-term investments and sustainability. “Some [immigrants] do not fi nd out for years In one case, our eagerness to help improve that the public schools are free, that the police libraries and library services in selected African do not have the same power as in Russia, that nations spurred us to act as donors responding citizenship is possible under certain conditions. to needs rather than as long-term investors, The function of the government in dealing and certainly, our grantees saw us that way. We with this mass of incoming human beings has wanted to help to develop modern libraries, been merely to act as a screen for shutting out seeing them, along with African universities, the most objectionable. No agency attempts to as the engines of change on the continent—a deal with the immigrant’s needs after he has resource that would provide students, citizens, left Ellis Island…a private agency, in good rela- and future leaders with a gateway to knowl- edge. Instead, our funding was often used 139 “Minutes of Study of Method of Americanization, to cover costs or as budget relief, not for the Third Conference, Apr. 15, 1918,” CCNY Records, Series IIIA (Grant Files), box 41, folder 4. intended purpose of helping to create excel- 140 Jane Gorjevsky. “Documenting Russian and Eastern European Immigrant Culture in American Manuscript Repositories: Private Philanthropy Archives.” Cited 141 Pritchett, “Fields of Activity Open to the Carnegie from manuscript to be published in Slavic & East Corporation,” Apr. 15, 1916 in CCNY Records, Series European Information Resources, Vol. 7, issues 2/3. I.D (Policy and Program Files), box 1, folder 1. lent modern libraries. We also spread our safeguards now include reviewing the fi nancial resources too thin, trying to fund too many health of grantee organizations (specifi cally, disparate efforts in too many places, which did review of their fi nancial statements); requir- not produce the kind of substantive improve- ing detailed budgets and annual progress and ment we hoped for. We have since reorganized audited fi nancial reports from grantees, with our program for African libraries, focusing payments contingent upon adequate progress on libraries in South Africa, with an overall toward grant goals; and placing additional goal of creating models of excellence that have conditions on grants when there is cause for well-trained staff and that meet the quality and concern about a project’s structure, the grantee standards set by the International Federation of organization’s fi nancial health, or its ability to Library Associations. Increased Internet access work toward sustainability. is a major priority. We at the Corporation were Grant renewals present their own diffi cul- gratifi ed in July 2006 to help dedicate one ties. Often, there hasn’t been enough time to of the fi rst such model libraries created with evaluate what has been accomplished by the Corporation support, the Bessie Head Library project being funded, or even its potential in Pietermaritzburg. impact. I’ve sometimes though there should be 96 These examples are important because some additional process, such as bridge grants, sharing not only our successes but also our that would allow a project up for renewal to “failures” is helpful to the foundation com- continue until all the information needed for a munity. If we share our mistakes there is less thorough assessment is available. chance that they will be replicated or repeated, While these measures necessarily speak which is a benefi t to funders as well as to grant- to fi nancial concerns, foundations must also ees and potential grantees. We want to know audit intellectual claims and the actual content when there are problems and we want to share and outcomes of grant projects. This vigilance what we’ve learned about how to confront on all fronts is good for the nonprofi t fi eld at them. Admitting mistakes gives us the moral large, and good for the integrity of programs, courage to ask for the return of grant funds program offi cers and consultants. It should en- when they have not been used as intended as, courage better allocation of valuable resources for example, when an organization turns out to worthwhile causes. not to have the capacity to carry out the work it had proposed. When the Corporation has “The Knowledge Business” faced that situation on a handful of occasions, In the United States today, there are roughly and asked that grant monies to be returned to 71,000 grantmaking foundations, an increase us, sometimes we even received interest on the of more than 77 percent over a decade.142 funds being sent back. We are never embar- More are being created all the time to serve rassed to do this with either domestic or inter- all kinds of purposes. It seems that whatever a national grantees. It has helped us to develop foundation’s charter says, or how a foundation’s further checks and balances in our oversight staff and Trustees see the world in terms of procedures including, when appropriate, re- politics or culture or societal imperatives, views by independent fi rms. How the founda- in reality, all of us in the philanthropic fi eld tion spends money and how it evaluates its spending are equally important. Some of our 142 “Foundations’ Giving is Said to Have Set Record in ’06,” The New York Times, April 3, 2007. are in one and the same business: increasing survival. In that connection, I am reminded of knowledge and creativity, and making sure the words of author Nien Cheng, whose book, that knowledge is disseminated as far and Life and Death in Shanghai,143 describes her ex- wide as possible. From my perspective, what periences during China’s “cultural revolution.” that means is that foundations should not be She writes, “When the penalty for speaking trying to package knowledge into any kind of one’s mind is so great, nobody knows what ideological fad—there are enough individuals, anybody else thinks.” institutions, political parties and other groups Foundations are not immune to the effects or organizations more than ready to do that. of political, cultural and social trends in our Our democracy itself and our society deserve society, including the increasing pervasiveness an educated citizenry. Our nation must have of political correctness that covers the entire a cadre of skilled professionals in the realms political spectrum, from the left to the right of science, technology, medicine, the arts and and back again. What concerns me is the business. In pursuit of these national goals, impact of these trends, which see some founda- we don’t need to tell our fellow citizens what tions drifting into self-censorship, a pernicious to think: Americans have a long tradition way of repressing ideas and debate. Besides, of being independent-minded and have no that’s usually a losing battle because there is no 97 aversion to common sense. We should trust way to protect people from ideas. Ideas cannot them to come to their own thoughtful conclu- be made “safe” for people; individuals simply sions about issues confronting our society—if have to make up their minds on their own. they are armed with comprehensive, objective This is one of the most important ways that facts, I am sure they will reach reasonable and society progresses: through the interplay of objective conclusions. A foundation’s goal is ideas, opinions and debate. to provide avenues for fi nding and delivering objective information to all. While some foundations are ideologically “neutral,” or careful, others are not at all averse It worries me how standardized and to stating specifi c philosophical, political, uniform our sources of information have theological or other positions in order to become, how obsession with entertainment promote their causes. I am referring, of course, has trumped the quest for knowledge and to some operating foundations, which have how little open, serious and free discussion well-defi ned political or ideological missions. seems to take place. Even our current use of We at Carnegie Corporation of New York language itself refl ects this state of affairs. have adopted a different course of action: we The great English language, so rich and so do not shy away from supporting scholars, dynamic, seems bereft of much of its precision, institutions, organizations and projects because vibrancy and creativity. This is partially due to of or in spite of their ideological views. The a growing concern with “political correctness.” Corporation is committed to the idea of invest- This bland speech refl ects a desire to deter any ing in a wide range of both competing and criticism by avoiding clarity and decisiveness. It complementary scholars and institutions as one uses obfuscation as a shield against the conten- way we can increase and help to create knowl- tious ills of our world and our society, which is edge. Our goal is to augment the sources of a dangerous path to follow. Open discussion is vital for the function of democracy, even to its 143 Life and Death in Shanghai (Grove Press, 1987). knowledge that may be drawn upon to inform availability of extensive data and analysis and American leaders and citizens about the issues published its data without bias or prejudice. on the nation’s agenda, and thus enrich discus- More than anything, the Challenge once again sion and debate about them. put the urgency of reforming our K-12 educa- tional system on the top of the nation’s agenda A similar philosophy guided the late Am- and all good ideas and promising programs bassador Walter Annenberg when he launched were welcome to offer their contributions. his landmark 1993 Annenberg Challenge. His matching fund grant of $100 million a year Because of its distinguished reputation for fi ve years eventually attracted an additional and history, Carnegie Corporation has also $600 million in private sector monies and been able to be a great convener of diverse helped to create major public-private bonds on individuals and institutions, often providing a scale where none existed before. The largest a venue for differing—even opposing—views private gift to public schools in U.S. history, to be aired. Since 2000, for example, when the Challenge reached out to groups and we hosted a conversation between the leading individuals working across an extraordinarily education advisors to the Bush and Gore presi- diverse spectrum of school reform efforts, dential campaigns, attended by an audience 98 many of them already being supported by of educators, policymakers, nonprofi t leaders other foundations. The Annenberg Challenge, and others, we have held gatherings called which invested in an open marketplace of com- Carnegie Forums to focus on critical issues of peting ideas and solutions, did not treat these national concern. For example, we have held organizations as contractors for any particular forums on “Money and Politics” with Senator philosophy of reform, but rather sought to John McCain (R-AZ) as the featured speaker; empower and invigorate skilled and visionary on “Homeland Security,” with former Senator school reformers. It did so without ideological Gary Hart (D-CO) who had also co-chaired or political bias of any kind. As noted in Recon- the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st necting Education & Foundations, the Annen- Century; and on “Foreign Policy,” which berg grant funds “had to harness, not supplant, included presentations by James Hoge, editor promising local reform efforts.”144 The An- of Foreign Affairs, Richard Cohen, columnist nenberg effort was a “challenge” in the truest for The Washington Post, and Cynthia Tucker, sense of the word—not merely fi nancial, but a editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal- moral and political challenge, as well—because Constitution. We reprised the 2000 forum by its intent was to galvanize the nation, to ener- hosting a discussion of education issues relating gize and empower educators, administrators, to the 2004 presidential campaign. Express- parents, school district personnel, teachers, ing the views of the Bush-Cheney campaign policymakers and concerned citizens from was Sandy Kress, widely acknowledged as the every walk of life to work in and with their lo- architect of No Child Left Behind; Jon Schnur, cal schools in order to make them better places a seven-year veteran of the Clinton administra- for children to learn. The Challenge invested tion who, during his tenure, served as policy heavily in research and evaluation to ensure the advisor on K-12 education and was White House Associate Director for Educational 144 Reconnecting Education & Foundations: Turning Good Policy, highlighted the policies of the Kerry- Intentions into Educational Capital; Ray Bacchetti and Thomas Ehrlich, Editors (The Carnegie Foundation Edwards campaign. for the Advancement of Teaching, 2007). Another convening, held before the 2000 existed, so it was very important that, from presidential election, brought together a wide the very beginning of our relief efforts, we all array of U.S. national security advisors and discussed and understood what role each group other experts on Russia—its demography, and organization would play. politics, culture, educational institutions, More recently, we convened a conference military and social structure, et al—along with on reforming high schools, held in partnership senior policy offi cials from past administrations with Education Week, that is being followed by whose work had focused on Russia. Our aim in a special series of reports on high school reform drawing these individuals together was to create to be published by Education Week over two policy recommendations about Russia based on years. We also brought together policymakers, bipartisan ideas and inculcating a historical per- scholars and academic experts to discuss U.S. spective for whichever candidate—Democrat policy toward Eurasia. The meeting addressed or Republican—became president. During that questions such as How do current U.S. policies same year, the Corporation and the MacArthur in post-Soviet Eurasia impact its relations with Foundation convened a distinguished, bipar- Russia? and, To what extent is the U.S. policy tisan group of experts in Washington, D.C. to toward the broader region a product of its rela- discuss the possible consequences of deploying tions with Russia? Another recent Corporation- 99 the limited national missile defense system then supported gathering took place in Washington, under consideration by the Clinton adminis- D.C. under the leadership of former Supreme tration. A letter was sent by the group, which Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and included former Senator Sam Nunn, retired Justice Stephen Breyer. This conference, which general John M. Shalikashvili, retired Admiral was sponsored by the Georgetown University William A. Owens, Susan Eisenhower, presi- Law School and the American Law Institute, dent (now chairman emeritus) of the Eisenhow- focused on “Fair and Independent Courts: A er Institute, Jessica Mathews, president of the Conference on the State of the Judiciary” and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, involved leaders from the business and media former U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. communities, nonprofi t sector, and govern- Perry and others, to inform President Clinton of ment, including John G. Roberts, Chief Justice their concerns. In addition, we have convened of the United States and Alberto Gonzales, the individuals from different American Muslim U.S. Attorney General. Participants addressed groups as well as Carnegie Scholars whose proj- such topics as the history and contemporary ects focus on different aspects of Islam. criticisms of the judiciary; judicial selection About two weeks after the terrorist at- and removal at both the federal and state levels; tacks of September 11, 2001, the Corporation judicial elections; interbranch relations; recent brought together a large group of individu- polls of public attitudes; the role of the media; als representing philanthropic organizations, and suggestions for improving the effi ciency nonprofi ts, government agencies and others and effectiveness of the judiciary. In addi- working on the historic relief effort marshaled tion, Corporation funding helped to support a in the wake of the attacks. Our aim was to signifi cant 2005 “Track II” meeting involving pool information about each other’s plans and representatives of North Korea and the United resources so we did not duplicate each other’s States that led directly to resumption of long- activities. No template for such coordination stalled offi cial negotiations. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell ington warned that “cunning, ambitious and Holmes famously stated, “The best test of unprincipled men” could use these associations truth is the power of the thought to get itself to “subvert the power of the people, and to accepted in the competition of the market.”145 usurp for themselves the reins of government.” The Corporation is committed to helping keep Throughout American history, the prac- that marketplace healthy, vital, and free. I tice of sharing wealth for public benefi t has have written earlier in this essay that too much periodically rubbed our democratic principles information can be paralyzing, but so can a the wrong way. The historian Robert Bremner shortage of ideas. In trying to diffuse a crisis adroitly captures our mixed feelings about or deal with long- or even short-term societal such giving, saying: “We expect rich men to be issues, the freedom to sort through, evaluate generous with their wealth, and criticize them and compare ideas helps to create context and when they are not—but when they make bene- historical perspective. These are necessary to factions, we question their motives, deplore the inform decisions about the future. Very rarely methods by which they obtained their abun- is the solution to a problem—even one with dance, and wonder whether their gifts will not vast, international implications—written on a do more harm than good.”146 100 completely blank slate. Questioning the motivation of donors is a Philanthropy in general is sometimes favorite preoccupation of pundits and spinmas- considered by many to be meddlesome. ters, but motivation is not the main issue—ac- Perhaps driven by discomfort with the politi- tion is. Transparency is. Impact is. How the cally committed agendas of so many operating money is used for the public good and how it foundations, some Americans have become is accounted for is what matters in the end. In suspicious of philanthropy, but most are that regard, it should be noted that individuals aware of the great benefi ts that charitable and such as Andrew Carnegie, who set up founda- philanthropic efforts provide to our nation in tions in the early part of the twentieth century, meeting short-term needs while searching for did so when there were no income taxes, so long-term solutions. But since both charity there was no fi nancial benefi t for them in giving and philanthropy play such a major role in our away their money. Now, in an era of estate tax society, it is normal for questions to be raised reform, wealthy individuals could easily choose about their intentions and their impact, as well to keep their money in the hands of their own as the regulations and controls that govern families, but philanthropy seems to be in- their operations. grained in the American character. In 2004, for Many questions about voluntary associa- example, estimated charitable giving was nearly tions have actually been raised before. Even $250 billion dollars, with individual giving George Washington feared that nongovern- accounting for nearly three-quarters of those mental organizations would become too power- funds.147 And the wealthy are hardly the only ful—after all, voluntary associations like the donors: About 70 to 80 percent of Americans Sons of Liberty had helped the colonies defeat contribute annually to at least one charity.148 England, then the world’s mightiest power. In

his farewell address to Congress in 1796, Wash- 146 American Philanthropy by Robert H. Bremner (University of Chicago Press, 1988). 147 Giving USA 2005 (Giving USA Foundation). 145 Abrams v. United States, 1919. 148 ibid. It is not only in America that philan- ing democracy, the rule of law, a free press and thropists, as well as other private, nonprofi t human rights have become particular targets of organizations, are sometimes viewed with governmental regulations. Most foreign non- suspicion, and their societal role has even been governmental organizations, many of which marginalized by legislation. England enacted are adoption agencies, have been registered its landmark Statute of Charitable Uses in under the new Russian law and are continuing 1601. This law codifi ed the state’s responsibil- their operations. ity—not any private charitable entity—for An illustration of the way in which chari- assisting the poor, aged and orphaned, as well ties and philanthropies are sometimes viewed as for providing hospitals, schools and universi- outside the United States can be seen in the ties. Other nations on the European continent reaction of the president of the University of and elsewhere followed this model, dampening Denmark to an address I gave a few years ago the growth of civil society, a term that refers on the subject of raising funds from private to all the voluntary entities that operate apart sources to help support institutions of higher from government and business. education. The president was scandalized by There are similar examples from other the idea, telling me that in his country, it was parts of the world. In Latin America, because against the law to solicit private donations 101 the Church, in the past, was associated with for public universities, since supporting those conquering powers and colonial empires, institutions was the responsibility of the state. nationalist, liberal, democratic and republican All this may soon change because, with movements sidelined the Church’s infl uence. the achievements of American philanthropy as Over time, with the loss of political power, the both an example and a catalyst, the European Church became identifi ed with providing char- Union is considering adopting rules that would ity to individuals, while the state promoted the encourage more American-style philanthropy. idea that it should be identifi ed with philan- In England, Oxford University recently decid- thropy aimed at promoting the public welfare. ed that philanthropic fundraising needed to be Today, in Latin America, the newly emerging an ongoing activity and established a Develop- private-sector philanthropies are trying to ment Offi ce as part of the University’s adminis- make a place for themselves without seeming tration; similarly, the United Kingdom’s Cam- to undermine the state’s authority, especially bridge University now conducts fundraising since Catholic and evangelical organizations both in Britain and the United States. (In fact, are among these groups. almost all United Kingdom-based universities Private philanthropic and charitable orga- are now involved in fundraising.) New philan- nizations, while growing in number and the thropies are emerging in Germany, the United level of giving, must tread lightly in Russia, as Kingdom, Italy, Mexico and elsewhere, and the the government is clearly concerned about the trend will most likely continue. Philanthropic infl uence of both domestic and international efforts are even emerging in Asia, especially in nonprofi ts. Newly enacted registration rules relation to health and education. and other regulations have brought greater George Washington was worried that a state oversight over Russian and foreign non- major force outside of government (such as profi t organizations operating in the country. voluntary organizations), that was in control Organizations working in the fi elds of promot- of large amounts of money, could play a sig- and often, long spans of time. But the same nifi cant and unpredictable role in our national can be said of all kinds of initiatives launched life and in the government’s ability to carry by private citizens and governmental agencies. out its responsibilities. But as this “indepen- Some succeed, some fail; many fall somewhere dent” sector has developed, it has come to play in the middle. It may be that the only thing we a role that complements governmental efforts can say with certainty about all the efforts to and has contributed greatly to the evolution improve our nation as well as the wider world of our democracy. In fact, the independent is that we constantly encounter problems we sector has been a true engine of growth for don’t yet know how to solve. After all, our so- civil society, which, in its modern scale and ciety is always in fl ux. New challenges emerge. magnitude, is primarily an American inven- Some endemic problems remain to be solved. tion. However, it’s not surprising that in some It is the obligation of foundations to contribute quarters of the government, foundations and to helping solve these problems through their the like are still seen as potential troublemak- grantmaking because they have been endowed ers—and in a way, they are. Foundations are with the means to help. Hence, they should agents of change, independent actors whose always be open to the opportunities that will 102 mission is to help create knowledge and, as allow them to invest their resources effectively, appropriate, to challenge the status quo. This wisely, and with all due diligence—but also is all to the good. with both the hope and the confi dence that their work is building knowledge that will The overwhelming majority of philan- bring benefi ts today, and perhaps for genera- thropic foundations in this country absolutely, tions to come. At Carnegie Corporation of unquestionably and with utter dedication, use New York, we have been in the knowledge their resources, be they great or small, to do business for nearly one hundred years now, the “real and permanent good in this world” and we look forward, every day, to the next that Andrew Carnegie spoke of. Whether they new and important idea we will learn about were created at the beginning of the twenti- or help to preserve for posterity, or to dissemi- eth century or the cusp of the twenty-fi rst, nate across our nation, even around the globe. it’s important to remember that they were Progress, after all, begets progress so there will founded completely voluntarily, by men and always be problems that need solving with women who didn’t have to share their resources creativity and an eye to a future that is better, with anyone else but decided that they had more inclusive of all humankind—and more at an obligation to contribute to the welfare peace—than the one we inherited. of their fellow human beings. Is everything foundations have done constructive? Certainly not. Are all the ideas they support popular? Conclusion Again, the answer may be no. Does everything foundations do, in the end, really contribute It must be obvious to all who have come into to the public good? Yes, but also, perhaps with contact with any aspect of America’s nonprofi t limitations that we must be aware of. After all, sector that this segment of our society is not a the successful implementation of any idea or monolith. Even its diversity is diverse! This is proposal requires social acceptance and politi- certainly the case with the three institutional cal will, and both of those take great effort cultures that were the subject of this essay, namely, libraries—and by extension, museums to provide Americans with a sense of owner- with similar missions—universities, and phi- ship, of having a stake in the strength and lanthropy. Libraries and museums have been vibrancy of our democracy and of our society. with us for a very long time; so have universi- What they also have in common is that, as ties, for that matter, and so has charity. But as American institutions, they know that they has been discussed, philanthropy—specifi cally, owe their existence to the support of the the “scientifi c” version that Andrew Carnegie public, either through government funding or and John D. Rockefeller championed—is contracts—because citizens have made clear primarily rooted in the 19th century, and, until to their elected offi cials that they want these recently, predominantly an American phenom- supports in place—or through private gener- enon. It is gratifying, though, to fi nd that the osity in the form of contributions both large notion of philanthropy and of civil society is and small. After all, it is the citizens of the beginning to spread across the world. United States who have made giving a right and also supported tax-exemption for giving. It The three cultures highlighted here have is they, the public, who have institutionalized distinct traditions and function in different private generosity and hence, have the right ways, but there are also certain commonalities to insist on transparency, accountability and among them. For example, they are all dedicat- 103 integrity in both philanthropy and charity. ed to the preservation of cultural and historical More and more now, an invaluable combina- legacies and to the creation of knowledge, to tion of public/private funding is becoming the the advancement of learning and scholarship, norm, at least in our country. The institutions to the promotion of the common good, and highlighted in this essay can be seen as models they all have faith in Progress, however one for those partnerships. may defi ne that concept. In our democratic society, all three stand for opportunity and for One example of America’s continuing freedom. Today, they stand as living monu- commitment to the institutions that embody ments, testaments to philanthropy—to the these cultures and their service in the name right of individuals to dedicate their private of what I’ve termed the knowledge business wealth to the common good, not only for is our expenditures for education. The U.S. the benefi t of our society but for the interna- Department of Education currently (FY 2007) tional community, as well. In that regard, I administers a budget of about $88.9 billion per am particularly proud of the fact that, along year—$57.6 billion in discretionary appropria- with many of our sister institutions, Carnegie tions and $31.3 billion in mandatory appropri- Corporation’s grantmaking is carried out ations—and operates programs that touch on across national and international borders and every area and level of education.149 But that is across political spectrums. We have supported 149 From the web site of the U.S. Department of and continue to support excellence, innovative Education, http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/ index.html?src=ln: “The Department’s elementary ideas, sound scholarship, and the creation and and secondary programs annually serve more than dissemination of knowledge. 14,600 school districts and approximately 54 million students attending more than 94,000 public schools and 27,000 private schools. Department programs also Of course, all the institutions that this provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 10 million postsecondary students… That said, essay deals with have one common goal: to it is important to point out that education in America promote knowledge and educate our citizens is primarily a State and local responsibility, and ED’s budget is only a small part of both total national as well as to serve our society. All three help education spending and the overall Federal budget.” only a portion of the public funding devoted to What also ties together libraries, universi- education: state and local expenditures on all ties, and philanthropic organizations is their levels of education in 2001-2, for example, were faith in the future and their common goal of $594.6 billion.150 Private philanthropy provides educating our citizens and serving both our many billions more for both K-12 education as democracy and its institutions. They also well as for colleges and universities. As Ameri- believe in the power of private-sector philan- cans, in addition to our fi scal commitment to thropy as an important form of participatory education—which is each generation’s invest- democracy—in fact, as one of the founda- ment in the future of the next, as well as in the tions of our society. In that connection, let us strength of our nation and its democracy—we remember that while the concept of scientifi c should take pride in the fact that even with its philanthropy is relatively new, traditions of many challenges, the educational system of the charity and nascent philanthropy trace their United States still offers remarkable opportuni- roots to the early years of our nation’s indepen- ties to its citizens as well as to international stu- dence. One of my favorite examples of how the dents. And when it comes to our colleges and American public recognized and praised the universities, there is no argument that many of spirit of volunteerism that seemed to abound 104 them are still the greatest in the world. in the newly formed United States appears in the September 1787 edition of the Pennsylvania It should be an additional source of pride Herald, which carried laudatory letters to the that from 1862 on, with the advent of the editor about the large number of new volun- Land-Grant Colleges Act (the Morrill Act) tary associations that seemed to be springing establishing institutions of higher education up everywhere. One correspondent called the in every state, access to colleges and universi- citizens’ movement “a great leap forward in ties—which at one time was a pipe dream humanity.” The new associations included a for the majority of Americans—has become society for the gradual abolition of slavery, a so- a reality for increasing numbers of students. ciety for the promotion of political inquiries, a In fact, in this nation, through our public society devoted to the medical relief of paupers, universities, we have democratized access to and the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the education and nationalized opportunity. Yet Miseries of Public Prisons. in the realm of education, where our nation has seen opportunities provided and promises It is important not to forget how deeply fulfi lled, there continues to be a dismaying rooted public support for culture, learning, disequilibrium. While more than 16.6 million museums, libraries, and colleges and universi- individuals enrolled in four-year institutions of ties is in the early history of our country. The higher education in 2002,151 just 54 percent of fi rst museum established in America was—and students entering four-year colleges in 1997, for is—the Charleston Museum, founded in 1773 example, had a degree six years later.152 to preserve and interpret the cultural and natural history of Charleston and the South 150 Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Carolina Lowcountry. The fi rst library was the Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/ digest/d05/tables/dt05_028.asp?referer=list. Library Company of Philadelphia, founded 151 From the web site of the U.S. Census Bureau: http:// www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/06s0265.xls. in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and a group of 152 “U.S. college drop-out rate sparks concern,” The his friends—but it was a subscription library; Associated Press, published on MSNBC.com (et al), November 15, 2005. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ individuals had to buy “shares” in the library id/10053859/. in order to borrow books. The fi rst publicly ethnic groups, races, and ideologies and, in supported municipal library that allowed doing so, is truly representative of our nation’s people to borrow books was the Boston Public pluralism and deep-seated independence. Library, established in 1848, though there were Alphabetically, organizations supported by the other libraries opened in the American colonies public and dedicated to the public good range as early as the 1600s. Education, of course, from Accountants for the Public Interest to the has also long been publicly supported in our YWCA. It is this kind of public spirit and a be- nation. Chartered in 1789, the University of lief in each other that we must look to for the North Carolina was the fi rst public university antidote to the cynicism that so often, nowa- in the United States to award degrees. In fact, days, seems to be invading our national life. the university was anticipated by a section of Indeed, philanthropy without optimism, the fi rst state constitution drawn up in 1776 without faith that solutions to problems can be directing the establishing of “one or more uni- found, without faith in the future, would be versities” in which “all useful learning shall be impoverished and diminished. This is especial- duly encouraged and promoted.” State support, ly true nowadays, when our society is rampant it directed, should be provided so that instruc- with corrosive cynicism. (I can understand the tion might be available “at low prices.”153 benefi ts of skepticism, but not cynicism—just 105 Today, philanthropy continues to be a as I can understand agnosticism, but not unique hallmark of our nation and our people. nihilism.) Cynicism offers no help for deal- The most recent results reported by Indepen- ing with the myriad issues we are facing as we dent Sector in a 2001 survey of giving and move forward through the 21st century. In an volunteering show that 44 percent of adults increasingly globalized society, unfortunately, volunteered and 89 percent of households there are no longer “isolated problems” that made contributions. Taken altogether, in that are confi ned to one continent, one region, one one year alone, these voluntary efforts translate country alone. What happens to people any- into $239 billion in gifts and nearly 15.5 bil- where eventually affects all of us. We are not lion hours of volunteer work. Indeed, philan- and cannot be isolated islands. thropic giving is increasing, rising by about 5.5 I remember having read that our nation is percent in 2005 over the previous year.154 This a potentiality, which is always in a state of be- generosity, in part, helps to support the nation’s coming. The outcome of that process depends more than 4,000 colleges and universities, its on the nature and commitment of our partici- 17,500 museums and over 117,000 libraries, pation as citizens. As Andrew Carnegie pointed including 9,000 public libraries. out, as citizens, we have an obligation “to do What is perhaps most heartening about real and permanent good in this world,” which American philanthropy is its nature: it is a is also what he hoped to do—and wanted the diverse tapestry woven from the contributions Corporation to do—in carrying out his philan- of individuals, families, corporations, founda- thropy. Sometimes, for both people and institu- tions, nonprofi t organizations and institutions, tions, such efforts require taking stock, aligning as well as others. It also transcends classes, ours goals with our resources, and reinventing ourselves. Libraries and universities are in a 153 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: continual state of refi ning and reimagining http://www.unc.edu/about/history.html. 154 Since 1995, this number has either risen or held steady. their work, which is part of what keeps them so and relevant. As proud as we are of Carnegie vital. So are philanthropic organizations. Corporation’s great heritage, our sights are set on the future. We understand how important No institution can afford to simply bask it is to be forward looking and strategic, rather in its past accomplishments. One must always than paralyzed by the burden of the past. be prepared for change and keep up with it—perhaps even get a few steps ahead. That The freedom and the ability to reconsti- is certainly the case with Carnegie Corpora- tute our work and our goals is one of the great tion of New York. We have a long tradition of gifts provided by our founder, and we are meeting the challenges of the times. That is grateful to him for his remarkable foresight. why, concurrent with writing this essay, over a Andrew Carnegie’s mandate is broad enough year-long period, we embarked on a process of to be always timely. And the two major refocusing and reorganizing our programs and concerns that he devoted himself to—inter- structure in order to reenergize our institu- national peace and advancing education and tion—a process that will be familiar to most knowledge—still remain great challenges evolving institutions. One of my favorite to our nation and the world. International authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, in his book peace is tested day after day by competing 106 Love in the Time of Cholera, speaks of the con- national interests, globalization, nationalism, viction that human beings are not born once religious fundamentalism, competing ideolo- and for all on the day that their mothers give gies, poverty, demography, migration, the birth to them, but that life obliges them, over rise of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, and over again, to give birth to themselves. All competition for water and for energy, chal- during its history, the leaders, staff, and Trust- lenges of health care, as well as the impact of ees of Carnegie Corporation have understood environmental changes on the economies and the wisdom of that idea and embraced it. well-being of literally every society. Education is still the crucial element in meeting all of the While renewing our vision for the work of above challenges. It remains a liberating force the Corporation and updating our plans, we and an unmatched instrument of economic remain mindful of the fact that as a founda- and social progress as well as, one hopes, a tion, while we are a source of support for bridge of understanding and peace that links those organizations whose mission advances all of us together. the spirit of Andrew Carnegie’s concern with advancing and diffusing knowledge and The Corporation is not alone in emphasiz- understanding, we are not the primary ac- ing the need to see the world as it is today as tors carrying out this work. We can provide clearly as possible, and to respond. Indeed, assistance, even inspiration, in convening foundations as a social force and as engines of like-minded groups and organizations and in progress have an increasingly important role to coalescing their efforts, but the successes they play in maintaining the health and strength of achieve are their own. We are in the business our civil society, which in turn is an essential of helping to build leadership, but it is the ingredient of our democracy—but also of our leaders and institutions we support who are global society. In the United States, at least, in the business of making change happen. the magnitude of the economic and social In providing that support, the benefi t to the impact of foundations is enormous, as is their Corporation is that it remains contemporary contribution to public life. In 2005 alone, U.S. foundations provided over $30 billion in grants, a fi gure that will only increase in the years to come.

I believe that foundations are here to stay. They are one of the great cornerstones of American philanthropy, which, as Susan Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation so aptly put it, “refers to altruistic concern for human beings and assistance to advance hu- man welfare. It encompasses a spectrum from charity that addresses suffering, to the strategic use of resources for addressing root causes.”155 Let me add that increasingly, foundations also draw strength from their diversity and their ability to reconceive how they do their work and carry out their missions. That does not mean that they are in the “fashionable idea” 107 business—not at all. Throughout changing times, what remains constant about founda- tions is that they are in the knowledge and service business—hence, in society’s busi- ness. Indeed, all three cultures that have been highlighted in this essay—libraries, universi- ties and philanthropy—are the gateways to knowledge, preserving, generating, modeling and disseminating what human beings need to know in order to renew themselves and their societies. They are the bridges that cross any and all distances to connect us to the rest of the world. And as such, these institutions are, and I believe will remain, the building blocks of the future. As Americans, and as citizens of the world, we are indebted to all of them and to the generous and creative spirit of those who have dedicated themselves to improving our society and the world we all share.

155 “Remarks by Susan V. Berresford at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business,” February 6, 2007.