The first in a series of White House regional economic summits involving President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore will be held in Cannon Chapel on Wednesday, March 29. A group of 200 business and community leaders will be invited as summit participants, mostly drawn from last year's economic summit in Little Rock, Ark. The event is expected to draw some 300 reporters.
As Emory Report was going to press on March 15, plans for accommodating the visitors to campus were still being formed. Tentatively, the visitor parking lot at Peavine will be used for summit attendees and journalists, and additional shuttles will be added. Theology School Dean Kevin LaGree was working to relocate classes and activities normally scheduled in Cannon Chapel. The White House press office will turn the Cox Hall ballroom into a working press room where credentialed journalists will watch the summit's proceedings and write their stories. A working space for local reporters will be set up in Winship Ballroom. White House advance team members indicated that Clinton would want to meet with some students during his campus visit, and there may be a way for macroeconomic courses in the economics department to make use of the summit.
Emory's involvement with hosting the summit began during a February visit by Martha Fagan, director of development at the law school, with Reta Jo Lewis '89L, who was then special assistant to the president for political affairs. Lewis mentioned the possibility of the summit being held in Atlanta and asked about Emory's possible interest in hosting the event. President Bill Chace followed up with a letter to Clinton on March 2 inviting the White House's consideration of Emory as the host site.
The White House announced the selection of Emory as the site on March 14 after two members of the Presidential Advance team, one of whom was Steve Bachar '87C, scouted out five sites at Emory during their March 6 visit to Atlanta. They also considered sites at Georgia Tech and the World Congress Center. Preparations for the summit will begin in earnest on March 21.
--Jan Gleason