About 20 students gathered at the Clairmont Tower Penthouse on Tuesday evening, awaiting the arrival of University President James. W. Wagner.
The students, who were mostly juniors and seniors, sat on living-room furniture arranged in a circle, anticipating an intimate discussion with Wagner on the value of an Emory education followed by a question and answer session.
When Wagner arrived, he said that while he had prepared thoughts on what it means to be an Emory student, he was aware that most students would like to discuss his recent article in Emory Magazine and agreed to answer any questions about it after his initial presentation.
He first spoke about Emory's goals for educating its students, which include not only preparing them for the workplace, but also ensuring that they are "life ready."
He also stressed the importance of communication in this model of education and he also used his recent article in Emory Magazine as an example of failing to communicate effectively.
During the question and answer session, Wagner addressed the apparent contradictions between fostering a community and running a business as well as Emory's "identity crisis" concerning its future as a liberal arts or a research university.
He also responded to questions regarding the future of minorities on campus and his philosophy on leadership.
The Value of an Emory Education
Wagner said that society currently expects higher education solely to prepare students for a career while Emory expects students to graduate with more than a job.
Wagner said he feels that students should leave Emory with eight skills, four of which include the ability to pursue enjoyment, learn with confidence, view the world from another's perspective and learn from history.
Wagner said that Emory should additionally teach its students to move others through charity instead of cynicism, facilitate compromise, refuse to yield to ad hominum attacks and imagine a creative positive as opposed to the absence of a negative.
He put these skills in the context of his recent article by explaining that he intended the article to facilitate compromise, but failed because he was unable to see the world from another's perspective.
He stressed the importance of genuine communication, which he defined as not only the right to speak freely, but the guarantee of being heard.
Wagner said that true communication requires being perceptive to what other people may find obscene and cited his article in Emory Magazine as failing to do this.
"Now I should be looking in the mirror and say 'if you are going to use... an illustration that is a raw nerve in America's history around slavery, you will never get to your conversation on compromise,'" he said. "...And that's what I have regretted for several reasons."
Wagner said that the controversy surrounding his article has been painful both because he may have personally damaged Emory's reputation and because he was unable to effectively communicate the necessity of compromise in government.
However, he expressed relief that most of the backlash about the article has been directed at him as a person and not at the University.
He also said he was pleased that Emory has a reputation for dealing openly with its issues, such as the discrimination in the dental school as well as the misrepresentation of admissions data to U.S. News and World report, both of which came to light this year.
Additionally, Wagner said he was proud of initiatives that have been launched in response to these scandals, such as the Office of Community and Diversity, the Committee on Class and Labor as well as student forums.
An Open Discussion
After Wagner's initial remarks, students had the chance to ask him questions.
In response to his vision of an ideal education, one student said she saw a discrepancy between the values that Emory claims to have and the University's actions.
She added that, in light of the recent department cuts, she felt that Emory operated more like a business than a community.
Wagner responded that Emory's number one priority is academic quality and distinction.
However, he said that while Emory can lead in some ways, it cannot lead in everything.
He also said that the University is experiencing financial urgency due to a significant increase in financial aid, but will continue to offer need blind financial aid in order to attract the best possible incoming class.
He added that the University does, in fact, try to line up the values of community and the needs of business, but acknowledged the necessity of taking action when discrepancies arise between them.
The next student said she felt that Emory is in the midst of an "identity crisis" and that the quality of students' education will suffer until Emory makes up its mind about being a liberal arts school or a research university.
Wagner said that the shift to becoming a research university actually began in 1979, but that this shift does not mean the liberal arts have to suffer.
He provided the incorporation of the liberal arts into the curriculums of the law and medical schools as examples of Emory's commitment to the liberal arts.
Another student, an African American senior said she has felt like minority spaces on campus have been taken away for the past three years, especially in light of his recent article. She asked Wagner how he foresees the University moving forward.
He proposed the idea of an annual internal conference that would intentionally explore what it feels like to be a minority student at Emory.
The last question of the evening was how Wagner manages to go to work each day in the face of such controversy.
He said that while his job is challenging, his aspirations for the community ultimately motivate him to persevere.
He added that leadership is not merely a job, but a calling.
"In an organization like a university, it is a genuine partnership that requires mutual trust," he said. "And I really hurt when I damage the trust by something like what I've done."
– Contact Elizabeth Howell at
Ehowel5@emory.edu
Updated Feb. 22 at 1:35 p.m.
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