Srping 2006 -- Vol. 60, No. 2

The Challenges of
‘One Clemson’

A university president receives lots of mail, which is a good thing.

I rely on my letters and my email to keep me grounded. It helps me understand what is on the minds of students, alumni, faculty and staff.

The bouquets and the brickbats are both helpful and welcomed.

Over the last year, a review of my mail shows that we have dealt with a number of challenges to the idea of “One Clemson.” We’ve learned that these words are easier to say than to live. But we’ve tried to meet each challenge with respect for the legitimate differences of opinion within our community.

Some of the issues we confront involve how we define, practice and defend free speech and academic freedom. Some are characterized by the ways in which today’s high-speed technologies — including blogs, email and social networking sites like “Facebook” — make sharing information and opinion easier, while sometimes magnifying differences and making true communication harder.

To me, “One Clemson” does not describe a university where everyone thinks alike and agrees on everything. A strong university is one that welcomes a free exchange of ideas, values debate and is not afraid of change. We are a strong university.

So I am not discouraged by honest differences of opinion about how we handled freshman reading assignments, protests over offensive material published in student media, an off-campus “gangsta” party, or our admissions policies and processes.

I believe such discussions are productive. When held in a respectful manner, they can help us make better decisions, forge better policies. They are signs of our intellectual vitality, our growth as an institution, our diversity, our “coming of age.”

Against this backdrop, the installation of a new Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Clemson this spring was particularly significant and moving for me. This event marked an important signpost on our journey to becoming a top American university.

Since its founding 230 years ago, Phi Beta Kappa had expanded to only 272 of the nation’s 3,000+ colleges and universities. The Clemson chapter is number 273.

At ceremonies launching our chapter on April 2, we learned that the society was born in a frothy time of intellectual and political revolution. In 1776, the same year as the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a “philosophical society” was formed by five students at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Va.

It was the first fraternity to adopt Greek letters for a name. Its initials symbolize the motto: “Love of learning is the guide of life.”

The society soon expanded to Yale and Harvard and beyond. Expansion is based solely on the quality of the faculty, administration, students and academic programs at an institution.

In remarks to the new members of the new chapter at Clemson, Scott Lurding, associate secretary of Phi Beta Kappa, said the society promotes “a broad-based, well-rounded education in college that begins a continuing intellectual journey lasting a lifetime.”

He quoted from an essay in the PBK magazine The American Scholar by professor and author William Cronon, who identified these 10 attributes of an educated person:

• They listen and they hear.
• They read and they understand.
• They can talk with anyone.
• They write clearly and persuasively and movingly.
• They can solve a wide variety of puzzles and problems.
• They respect rigor not so much for its own sake but as a way of seeking truth.
• They practice humility, tolerance and self-criticism.
• They understand how to get things done in the world.
• They nurture and empower the people around them.
• The 10th characteristic is the sum of the others.

“Every one of the qualities I have described here,” says Cronon, “listening, reading, talking, writing, puzzle-solving, truth-seeking, seeing through other peoples’ eyes, leading, working in a community — each is finally about connecting.”

Education, he says, is “about gaining the power and the wisdom, the generosity and the freedom to connect.”

As we launch a re-vamped Web site this month, we will work toward providing new opportunities for Clemson people to connect with one another on the issues we all care about.

We hope to provide new ways for students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends to let us and each other know what you think and where you stand on the issues affecting Clemson. New ways to listen, hear, read, write, talk, solve problems, seek the truth, and practice humility and self-criticism.

As we do so, we will heed the words of both Prof. Cronon and the lyrics sung by the great soul vocalist and musician Aretha Franklin.

Our platform for dialog and connection will be based on R-E-S-P-E-C-T — respect for our university and respect for each other.

The longer I work in education, the more I learn about how much I have yet to learn. But this one thing I know for certain:
Respect is like love. You get it by giving it.
You cannot demand it, and you cannot command it.
Respect is something you must earn for yourself by offering it to others.

I respectfully invite you to join the conversation.

James F. Barker, FAIA
President