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Dean J. Brian Atwood's Plenary Speech
The following is the complete transcript of Dean Brian Atwood's plenary speech at NAFSA's 2007 Annual Conference. The speech took place May 31, 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I want to thank Marlene Johnson and welcome her back to Minnesota. As many of you know, Marlene served this state with great distinction as its Lt. Governor for almost 10 years. Now she is serving NAFSA equally well.
Look at this convention - more delegates than ever before. Marlene, the credit is yours. You have built this association of international educators at the very moment that higher education and our nation need it most.
Marlene once served on the Board of Trustees of AFS International, the world's largest exchange program for young people of high school age. I am proud today to serve as chairman of that board. Our charismatic president, Francisco Tachi Cazal, is here with us today as well.
Just a few weeks ago, we launched a petition drive at the Nobel Peace Prize Center in Oslo, Norway. This petition calls on world leaders to offer more support to youth exchange and intercultural learning as a path to world peace. Several international exchange programs have joined this effort, including NAFSA.
All of us who have had an intercultural experience know how powerful and life - changing that experience can be. Today, only a small percentage of the world's population can have that experience. Just imagine the impact if we were able to give every one of our young people an intercultural experience before they left college. War would certainly be a less desirable option!
Our petition is short, but to the point. It reads:
Our hope is to collect 1 million - plus signatures by October. Your convention packets contain the information you need to join this effort. Sign on before you leave Minneapolis and refer your colleagues to exchanges4peace.org.
I have great respect for this audience. You are the advisers, the advocates, and the leaders for intercultural learning in higher education. So, in a sense, I am preaching to the choir. All I can hope for is that I can stimulate the choir to sing louder and with one voice. Whether you are American citizens, or citizens of other nations, these are deeply troubling times for those of us who want to see the United States act, as it has so often in the past, as a leader for peace and understanding. We were a superpower whose exceptionalism led our government to promote the United Nations, the Bretton Woods organizations, the human rights movement, the democratic revolution, and humanitarianism itself. There was always the risk that exceptionalism mixed with hubris could take us in a very different direction. And it has.
Today, the United States suffers the hostility of many from other nations. The U.S. government is being called to account by old friends and new foes who resent its unilateral effort to impose its will. Even as we begin to see the U.S. State Department attempt to move back toward more accommodating positions, we suffer the hangover of policies that were based on the imposition of raw power. Never in our history has anti - Americanism been such a powerful reality in the international community.
In a recent lecture for the DACOR organization (made up of retired diplomats), former Ambassador Charles Freeman put it this way:
What can we do to reverse this sad state of affairs? There is no easy answer, but as informed citizens, as leaders in higher education, we can play a role. For one thing, we can demand that the current crop of presidential candidates acknowledge our sad present - day reality and tell us what they plan to do about it.
In my view, the answer is most certainly not more of the same aggressive unilateralism. Neither is it to turn our back on the world and the role we have played traditionally in promoting the rule of law, human rights, and democracy.
One answer lies in the mission this organization espouses. Intercultural understanding has gone missing from our intergovernmental discourse.
It is time to listen to the perspectives of other great societies and traditions. Leadership requires followers. It cannot be imposed. Our policy positions in this world, if they are to have merit, must be informed by the international community, by societies and individuals who have different histories, cultures, religions, and languages.
Alexander Hamilton said it well over 200 years ago: "An attention to the judgment of other nations is important to every government for two reasons: the one is, that independently of the merits of any particular plan…, it is desirable, on various accounts, that it should appear to other nations as the offspring of a wise and honorable policy; the second is, that in doubtful cases, particularly where the national councils may be warped by some strong passion or momentary interest, the presumed or known opinion of the impartial world may be the best guide that can be followed." In other words, only when we listen to the discourse of others do we avoid huge mistakes and succeed in effectively pursuing our own values and interests.
This is the reality of the earth we live on, and military power cannot erase it. We live in a world where more nations are governed by democratic means than ever before. These governments and their leaders are legitimate in the eyes of their own people. Our goal should be to find common ground with these nations on the big issues of the day.
Listen to the words of professional diplomat John Kiesling in his book Diplomacy Lessons:
Whatever your perception of Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, too many of his countrymen and women have perceived him as obeying "the dictates of a hostile superpower." However he tries to write the history of his relationship with President Bush, his exit from power was most likely precipitated by a perception that their friendship was not reciprocal, to say nothing of the policies they pursued together.
Diplomacy in an era when our closest allies must respond to the impulses of democratic polities requires deftness, political acumen, and subtlety. Rhetoric matters. Hubris coming from the remaining superpower is so much louder to the ears of foreign audiences than it is to American ears. Those of us who have had an intercultural learning experience know this.
Many in this audience from other nations may wish they could vote for the American president. This is not necessarily because they wish to change nationalities. Rather, it is because they know that American presidents can influence their lives, for better or for worse.
What then should we look for in a presidential candidate? How do we reach conclusions about maturity and character, and the potential to lead in this complex world? I have a few suggestions:
Next page
Look at this convention - more delegates than ever before. Marlene, the credit is yours. You have built this association of international educators at the very moment that higher education and our nation need it most.
Marlene once served on the Board of Trustees of AFS International, the world's largest exchange program for young people of high school age. I am proud today to serve as chairman of that board. Our charismatic president, Francisco Tachi Cazal, is here with us today as well.
Just a few weeks ago, we launched a petition drive at the Nobel Peace Prize Center in Oslo, Norway. This petition calls on world leaders to offer more support to youth exchange and intercultural learning as a path to world peace. Several international exchange programs have joined this effort, including NAFSA.
All of us who have had an intercultural experience know how powerful and life - changing that experience can be. Today, only a small percentage of the world's population can have that experience. Just imagine the impact if we were able to give every one of our young people an intercultural experience before they left college. War would certainly be a less desirable option!
Our petition is short, but to the point. It reads:
We, the undersigned, know that peace and justice require that we extend the hand of friendship across borders, cultures and religions and that knowledge and understanding are needed to nurture these friendships. The nations of the world can promote peace by helping the world's youth build these friendships. Therefore we call upon the world's leaders to enable young people everywhere to live and study in cultures other than their own by significantly expanding youth exchange programs. Friendship leads to understanding. Understanding leads to peace. We call on all to grasp this opportunity.
Our hope is to collect 1 million - plus signatures by October. Your convention packets contain the information you need to join this effort. Sign on before you leave Minneapolis and refer your colleagues to exchanges4peace.org.
I have great respect for this audience. You are the advisers, the advocates, and the leaders for intercultural learning in higher education. So, in a sense, I am preaching to the choir. All I can hope for is that I can stimulate the choir to sing louder and with one voice. Whether you are American citizens, or citizens of other nations, these are deeply troubling times for those of us who want to see the United States act, as it has so often in the past, as a leader for peace and understanding. We were a superpower whose exceptionalism led our government to promote the United Nations, the Bretton Woods organizations, the human rights movement, the democratic revolution, and humanitarianism itself. There was always the risk that exceptionalism mixed with hubris could take us in a very different direction. And it has.
Today, the United States suffers the hostility of many from other nations. The U.S. government is being called to account by old friends and new foes who resent its unilateral effort to impose its will. Even as we begin to see the U.S. State Department attempt to move back toward more accommodating positions, we suffer the hangover of policies that were based on the imposition of raw power. Never in our history has anti - Americanism been such a powerful reality in the international community.
In a recent lecture for the DACOR organization (made up of retired diplomats), former Ambassador Charles Freeman put it this way:
We are now known internationally more for our recalcitrance than our vision. We have sought to exempt ourselves from the jurisdiction of international law... We no longer participate in the UN body charged with the global promotion of human rights. We decline to discuss global climate change, nuclear disarmament, or the avoidance of arms races in outer space. If we have proposals for a world more congenial to the values we espouse, we no longer articulate them. The world is a much less promising place for our silence and absence.
What can we do to reverse this sad state of affairs? There is no easy answer, but as informed citizens, as leaders in higher education, we can play a role. For one thing, we can demand that the current crop of presidential candidates acknowledge our sad present - day reality and tell us what they plan to do about it.
In my view, the answer is most certainly not more of the same aggressive unilateralism. Neither is it to turn our back on the world and the role we have played traditionally in promoting the rule of law, human rights, and democracy.
One answer lies in the mission this organization espouses. Intercultural understanding has gone missing from our intergovernmental discourse.
It is time to listen to the perspectives of other great societies and traditions. Leadership requires followers. It cannot be imposed. Our policy positions in this world, if they are to have merit, must be informed by the international community, by societies and individuals who have different histories, cultures, religions, and languages.
Alexander Hamilton said it well over 200 years ago: "An attention to the judgment of other nations is important to every government for two reasons: the one is, that independently of the merits of any particular plan…, it is desirable, on various accounts, that it should appear to other nations as the offspring of a wise and honorable policy; the second is, that in doubtful cases, particularly where the national councils may be warped by some strong passion or momentary interest, the presumed or known opinion of the impartial world may be the best guide that can be followed." In other words, only when we listen to the discourse of others do we avoid huge mistakes and succeed in effectively pursuing our own values and interests.
This is the reality of the earth we live on, and military power cannot erase it. We live in a world where more nations are governed by democratic means than ever before. These governments and their leaders are legitimate in the eyes of their own people. Our goal should be to find common ground with these nations on the big issues of the day.
Listen to the words of professional diplomat John Kiesling in his book Diplomacy Lessons:
Humans believe in leadership and leaders. They also believe in character and personal relationships. There is thus one small but useful way that a U.S. President's legitimacy can translate into power to affect foreign domestic politics: the art of friendship. A politician who obeys the dictates of a hostile superpower is toast. A politician involved in a reciprocal friendship, perceived by his own population as genuine, can offer generous gestures to a superpower…and be proud for it.
Whatever your perception of Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, too many of his countrymen and women have perceived him as obeying "the dictates of a hostile superpower." However he tries to write the history of his relationship with President Bush, his exit from power was most likely precipitated by a perception that their friendship was not reciprocal, to say nothing of the policies they pursued together.
Diplomacy in an era when our closest allies must respond to the impulses of democratic polities requires deftness, political acumen, and subtlety. Rhetoric matters. Hubris coming from the remaining superpower is so much louder to the ears of foreign audiences than it is to American ears. Those of us who have had an intercultural learning experience know this.
Many in this audience from other nations may wish they could vote for the American president. This is not necessarily because they wish to change nationalities. Rather, it is because they know that American presidents can influence their lives, for better or for worse.
What then should we look for in a presidential candidate? How do we reach conclusions about maturity and character, and the potential to lead in this complex world? I have a few suggestions:
Next page
