News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: March 3, 1999
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director

EMORY TO HOST TUTU, BRADLEY, SHALALA ADDRESSES ON VALUES, ETHICS, LEADERSHIP AT 3RD ANNUAL SAM NUNN NATIONSBANK POLICY FORUM

As worry about the moral health of the nation becomes a national pastime, Emory University will bring together students, scholars, community and national leaders to focus on how our communities can strengthen the civic and moral ties that hold us together at the third annual Sam Nunn NationsBank Policy Forum March 21-23. The forum will feature keynote addresses by retired South African Archbishop and visiting Emory professor Desmond Tutu; presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley; and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala.

This year's forum, titled "Leadership, Values and Ethics: Educating Global Citizens for a New Millennium," was inspired by Sen. Nunn's work as co-chairman of the National Commission on Civic Renewal, which issued a wide-ranging report, "A Nation of Spectators: How Civic Disengagement Weakens America and What We Can Do About It." The theme is a natural at Emory, which has an ongoing commitment to education on values, ethics and civil society, says forum planner James Fowler, director of Emory's Center for Ethics.

In addition to high-profile speakers, this year's forum will emphasize student participation from throughout the Atlanta metro area, says Fowler. In addition to Emory students, other institutions sending delegates to the forum include: Agnes Scott College, Columbia Theological Seminary, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, Interdenominational Theological Center, Mercer, Morehouse, Morehouse School of Medicine, Oglethorpe, Southern Polytechnic, Spelman and the University of Georgia (UGA).

"Workshops on the second day of the conference have been designed to give students opportunities to develop ideas and strategies for civic and community involvement," says Fowler. The forum also has established a web site (www.nunnforum.emory.edu) so that students can begin now to have on-line dialogues on issues ranging from racial justice to adequate healthcare.

"Educating today's students in the hard choices and complex skills needed to become ethical leaders in society should be a top priority of higher education," says Emory Provost Rebecca Chopp, closing speaker of the forum. "We hope students will use the forum as a springboard for dialogue, creative thinking and concrete action on current issues facing us all."

The forum will open at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 21 with a keynote address by Archbishop Tutu at Glenn Memorial Auditorium on the Emory campus.

Monday's speakers include Bradley, who will give an address on meeting the civic challenges of the future. Shalala will speak on the challenges and disciplines of civil society, and will participate in a discussion with business executive/environmentalist Paul Hawken, author of "The Ecology of Commerce"; and Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute, both of whom also will give brief addresses.

A Monday afternoon session will feature an address by Warren Bennis, founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California, on civic leadership skills needed for the future. Bennis will then lead a discussion on the topic with: Stephen L. Carter of Yale University School of Law and author of "Civility: Manners, Morals and the Etiquette of Democracy"; Sharon Daloz Parks of the Whidbey Institute in Clinton, Wash., author of "Common Fire"; and Emory alumnus James O'Neal, cofounder and executive director of Legal Outreach, a Harlem-based legal education organization in New York City.

Tuesday's sessions open with an address by Ira Harkavy, associate vice president and director of the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, who will discuss the university as responsive citizen. Following his talk will be case presentations on effective ways universities have responded to the challenges of community and civic improvement. Students and other attendees will spend the afternoon in small group discussions developing strategies on key issues of community involvement.

An annual gathering of academic government and private sector experts, the Sam Nunn NationsBank Policy Forum addresses issues of immediate and future national concern. The event rotates among the UGA, Georgia Tech and Emory. The first forum in 1997 at UGA dealt with national security and weapons of mass destruction; last year's forum at Georgia Tech focused on information security and the bottom line.