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Keynote Address
2003 Foundation Conversation Meeting
March 21, 2003
New York, NY
Eugene M. Lang
Chairman, E.M. Lang Foundation and
Founder, Project Pericles
Thank you very much.
I feel very privileged to participate in this timely conference that
CIC is so uniquely qualified to host. Let me preface my remarks with a
penetrating glimpse into the obvious — I’m not an educator
— I’m a retired businessman who, with lots of luck, parlayed
the streets of East Harlem during the Great Depression into a good education
and a rewarding business. Forty years ago, I digressed into education
when my bank balance tended to compensate for my amateur status as an
academic. I established my family Foundation into whose full time employ
I retired 6 years ago.
This occupation — my family calls it the obsession of an old guy
who doesn’t know when to quit — this occupation stems from
a conviction that every major problem of our country — economic,
social and political — is at least partly rooted in the condition
of education — of its institutions and its people — of its
quality, content and accessibility. Accordingly, I see education as a
primary medium for addressing the social concerns of our changing society
— concerns for which there are no quick fixes. Central to this broad
and perhaps amorphous charge to education, I envision liberal arts colleges
taking a leadership, perhaps even THE leadership role. My occupation and
resources have been primarily directed to that purpose.
This may be painting with an oversized brush — but why be intimidated
by size? A practical idea that effectively answers a basic and recognized
social need will feed on its own success, and attract partners and resources
to generate ongoing replication. This was and continues to be the story
of the “I Have A Dream” Program that I started 22 years ago
with a class of sixth grade graduates of disadvantaged children in East
Harlem. The experience of my Dreamers has become a nationwide program.
Far beyond its label, the Program has directly and indirectly benefited
and continues to benefit millions of children — putative dropouts
and underachievers, to whom college and significant careers have become
credible goals. Along the way, some 200 colleges and universities have
been constructively involved, supporting IHAD relationships of project
sponsors and their Dreamers.
This experience encourages me to share with you the vision of Project
Pericles — a practical concept, designed to encourage and facilitate
the commitment of colleges to make education for socially responsible
and participatory citizenship an essential part of their educational programs
— to provide a learning experience that gives students a foundation
for social and civic involvement, and fosters a conviction that democratic
institutions and processes offer each person the best opportunity to improve
the condition of society.
Project Pericles responds to a national concern --- the increasing disengagement
over recent decades of young Americans from civic nvolvement. This concern
has been extensively studied and reported. It reflects disenchantment
with the efficacy and personal relevance of our social and political institutions
in coping with social issues. Frequently cited is the fact that, in the
last presidential election, less than one third of eligible voters under
25 actually voted. Clearly, students should be motivated and prepared
for civic participation in an expanding pluralistic society.
Colleges and universities have recognized this concern and its corrosive
impact on the quality and ultimate viability of our democratic processes.
They have responded in ways that attract the idealism and involvement
of tudents. In fact, some 70% of college undergraduates are said to be
engaged in some element of community service. However, with notable exceptions,
these involvements have been random, functioning at the periphery of curricula
with little accountability for performance. In parallel, liberal arts
curricula have retreated to accommodate occupational priorities of the
marketplace.
This curricular retreat associates basically with the theme of this
conference, “The Liberal Arts College Role and Responsibilities
in a Democratic Society.” It takes me back about five years when
Steve Graubard, editor of Daedalus, asked me to write an article on the
state of liberal arts colleges. I remember questioning whether the academy
of Daedalus readers would take my comments seriously. Steve said, “Not
to worry! Just have plenty of footnotes.” My article, well-footnoted,
appeared in the Winter 1999 issue. Essentially, it responded to three
questions. First, have liberal arts colleges lost their relevance and
do they face extinction? Second, if so, does it matter? Third, are there
options for survival? To the first question, I answered “Maybe.”
To the second, I answered, “Yes.” To the third — options
for survival — I answered “Perhaps,” with a proposal
that liberal arts colleges revitalize their essential mission with (and
I quote) “a broad agenda of preparing students for responsible citizenship,
and, as a primary building block, carrying out projects that address specific
community needs.”
Later, when I reread the proposal in cold type, I realized that it was
much less than meaningful — most schools and students were already
involved in their communities, but with no evident impact on civic attitude.
I asked myself, “What conditions could be established to improve
the odds for success of a program to instill in its participants an abiding
sense of civic motivation?” My thoughts included institutional commitment,
active and sustained implementation, responsible direction, comprehensive
involvement, accountability, evaluation. These features would add meaningful
elements of substance, psychology and performance to most socially oriented
initiatives. They were to become the ingredients of basic policies that
now characterize Project Pericles.
Project Pericles presents a challenge. It invites all colleges —
eventually, I hope as Pericleans — to include learning opportunities
in and out of the classroom that give students the intellectual and experiential
foundation for responsible citizenship; and, in doing so, to create a
supportive institutional environment. And let me pause to acknowledge
the presence of three Periclean colleagues, Ellen Hurwitz of New England
College, John Strassburger of Ursinus College and David Caputo of Pace
University. The collective experience of our ten pilot Pericleans is leading
the way for roject Pericles to establish its identity and, in due course,
to facilitate the rites of passage for new Pericleans.
The distinctive force of Project Pericles derives from five basic policies
within which Periclean Programs are developed and conducted. To summarize
them briefly: First, there must be institutional commitment — trustees
formally commit their colleges to make education for responsible citizenship
a regular part of their educational programs, curricular and co-curricular.
Second, trustees establish a board committee — perhaps titled Committee
of Civic and Social Responsibility — that is charged to oversee
implementation of the commitment. Third, under coordinated direction,
an ongoing educational and experiential Program --- always spelled with
a capital P — is developed that, over time, embraces classroom,
campus and community. Fourth, reflecting the fact of institutional
commitment, Programs are designed to encourage involvements of all
college constituencies — trustees, administrators, faculty, students
and alumni. All are presumed to have an equity in the Program. Fifth,
Programs are centrally administered, with their contents, as practical,
having defined objectives, standards of performance and criteria for evaluation.
Each Periclean creates and administers its own Program within the framework
of the five policies. Program development and improvement is an ongoing
process. Project Pericles facilitates the interaction of Pericleans and
exchange of Program data and experience. The guidance and assistance of
outside educational service organizations is encouraged — and I
gladly note, CIC and Campus Compact are very respected and valued colleagues
of Project Pericles.
During 2000 and 2001, I met with many hundreds of college presidents,
faculty members, educational and civic functionaries, getting reactions
to the Periclean concept. A group of friends joined me as a planning committee
to consider the details, organization and policies. We settled on an action
program that, after much discussion, was titled Project Pericles. Again,
I must note the cooperation of CIC — Allen Splete and his successor
Richard Ekman — that enabled Project Pericles to learn so much from
so many of you.
Finally, from among the colleges whose presidents had indicated a strong
interest in Project Pericles, I invited a diverse group of ten to become
our first — our pilot Pericleans. On December 14, 2000, I sent an
invitation to their ten presidents for an all-day conference in New York,
on January 17, 2001. We were to decide whether Project Pericles was ready
for action. My cordial invitation to each president included a caveat
— if you come, please bring your Chairman. Despite universal good
intentions, the prospect of getting ten college presidents and their chairmen
to a New York meeting on 30 days notice was equivalent to organizing a
conjuncture of the planets. But on January 17, everybody showed up —
although we were compromised by two vice-chairmen.
We discussed our way through a crowded agenda and decided to join together
as Pericleans, bonded by a shared objective and bound by the policies
designed to make Project Pericles fly. Over past two years, Project Pericles
and Pericleans have come together — we know that we are on the right
track — Programs and Program ideas have been developed, tested and
exchanged. Conferences and cooperative planning of Periclean presidents,
provosts, and faculty have fostered program esprit and involvements. A
Presidents’ Council — the ten Periclean presidents, chaired
by Leo Lambert of Elon University, was formed as an advisory adjunct.
In two weeks, we will be having our first Periclean Conference —
he ten Pericleans will be sending some 140 delegates that uniquely will
include representatives of all constituencies.
Project Pericles is not yet ready for new members — but it won’t
be long. Meanwhile, we’re excited and united by our purpose of effecting
a transformation of American education that will contribute to a rising
tide of new socially responsible and participatory citizens.
Thank you.
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