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We are back from England with stories to tell. More importantly, we have been challenged to think, critically, about what it means to be a truly collaborative university. At the earliest opportunity, I intend to meet with various groups on campus and share the things I’ve learned.
The Oxford Conclave on Global Ethics: The Collaborative University, according to the invitation I received, resulted from a movement launched by “several leaders of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities to investigate higher education’s role in today’s global society, focusing on the need to produce a generation of ethical leaders capable of functioning effectively in an increasingly complex world.” I was honored to be invited to participate in this second year of development and brought a fledgling team from our campus with me that included the Provost and one student. All together we formed a motley crew – about 40 of us – chancellors, presidents, faculty, senior administrators and students.
I went to the conclave a woman on a mission–to figure out how to incorporate personal and professional integrity indelibly into the fabric of our university. At the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, we earnestly want to promote a culture that values personal responsibility, good citizenship and civic leadership. We have identified integrity as one of the “big five” areas of strategic concern. We believe this is critically important to our mission; yet, the concept of ethical leadership, heretofore, has merited little more than lip service in our ongoing dialogue of continuous improvement. The beauty of a retreat such as the one offered in Oxford lay in getting us away from our campuses where interruptions are plentiful and everyday duties take our full attention. Within the walls of one of the world’s oldest universities, we discussed many things: the interdependence of all the world’s people, the need to be unselfish, and the undisputed role of higher education in the resolution of all of the world’s problems.
But Oxford can be a noisy place too. Our path to enlightenment was filled with all-too-human barriers. The Chancellors/Presidents filled the rooms with baggage – great trunks full of well-crafted lamentations (cultivated over too many years in the fray) and long memories. They (we) were mostly focused on our own individual universities. There was a clear sense of urgency among our group, an anxiety spurring us to do something…anything. Nobody really was sure we were going to find the answers we were seeking; but, in the words of one of our speakers, if not us, then who?
The students in attendance occupied the other end of the spectrum, with little interest in the administrative mechanics of their campuses but with a greater interest in personal development and global good. In the end, they carried the day. I was very proud of UW-W’s student representative, Rick Daniels. He distinguished himself among a dynamic group of talented students and earned an important leadership role.
I hope that my summary statement, below, will serve as a good jumping off place for courageous conversations on our campus.
We are the trustees of the public good. As such, we must acknowledge our role as models for the best of human behavior, and buffers for the worst. We must refine all our programs and processes toward that end because the work that we do here is the best chance any of us will ever have to change the world.
