1. If politics becomes self-serving, we will ask Dr. Archibong to produce more political scientists.
2. If juvenile delinquency runs rampant, we will ask Dr. Brown to recruit more sociologists.
3. If business and commerce falter, we will ask Dr. Dutch to generate more Executive BBAs.
4. If wars and rumors of war persist, we will ask Dr. Peters to license more humanitarians and poets.
5. All problems, all social difficulties, all economic issues can be corrected if only Vice President Leslie can graduate more liberal arts students.
   

I have, at long last, come to realize that education alone is not enough. There are obstacles other than education blocking our path to an ideal society, obstacles not easily overcome by providing larger and larger schools, more and more books, and more and more of all the other trappings of education.

This is what I mean:

1. Perhaps the most educated people of antiquity were the Greeks, yet they literally destroyed themselves.
2. Scientifically the Germans were the most sophisticated people of modern times, yet they succumbed to the siren song of Adolf Hitler.
3. Twenty-first century America is a society in which no child is to be left behind, yet, today our schools are populated by more socially dangerous conditions than in the less educated days of former times.
   

History is filled with the records of dead and dying civilizations - civilizations that in most cases achieved the greatest bloom of prosperity and self-satisfaction at the exact time that they lost their way and departed from the very values that gave them direction.

Think about the casual conversations we have had since September 11, 2001. When we are not talking about the weather or the weekend sports menu, we are mourning the thousands who died when the twin towers went down. We look about us and we see a nation licking its war inflicted wounds while our stock market dips and soars without logic. This volatility on Wall Street is driving both endowments and pension funds up and down. As a result, Colleges are altering endowment spending patterns and retired professionals are compelled to return to the workforce.

At Greensboro College three years ago we were taking 5% endowment earnings into operations. To assure endowment growth, we are now taking 4.5%. That means a better chance of growth, but less revenue available for current operations. That is why we were happy when we were able to close last years books with a $23,000 surplus. (With a budget of $28 million that is such a small percentage it doesnt even show up on my calculator: .0008%)

The longer I stay in this business, the more I am convinced that the human mind is the most important natural resource we have. That realization is both encouraging and unsettling. First, it is encouraging, because we are in the mind business. This means several things:

1. Mind management - We help students see that the rigors of our disciplines require them to manage their minds, as well as their time.
2. Mind manipulation - We must inspire and channel the minds of our students so they wrestle with the great ideas of the day and either discard or delay the frivolous and faulty.
3. Mind boggling - Our classrooms, our laboratories our courts and our fields-all our learning and teaching stations - must open new doors of intellectual excitement and challenge all physical boundaries so that all involved understand more than they thought possible and achieve at levels previously unimagined.
   

Second, I must admit that it bothers me that the human mind is the most important natural resource we have. It bothers me because  should a human mind go untested, uninspired, underutilized, then those of us in the mind management, mind manipulation, mind boggling business have failed miserably. It is disturbing to realize that the world is filled with minds that go untouched by formal education.

I

Lets take a closer look. The human mind is the focus of the education system. John Allison, Chairman of the Board and CEO of BB&T recently stated that most school districts are coming under critical fire from their communities for the way public schools are performing. It is a difficult time to be in K-12 public education. I have nothing but the highest marks to give those on our faculty who are involved with preparing teachers for these K-12 classrooms. Its a difficult time to be a public school teacher and my sincere respect goes to those who accept that challenge.

On the other hand, higher education seems to enjoy a more pleasant pose on the pedestal. Higher education is an enterprise that substitutes innovation and creativity for lock-step regimentation so characteristic of many public schools. Higher education is what makes humans competitive with one another.

Not too many years ago if a person managed to combine farm chores with school expectations, that person had a competitive advantage over his peers who could not go to school. (Soon, schools in rural areas actually modified their class schedules to allow time off for farm girls and farm boys to plant and then to harvest crops).

With this scheduling accommodation high school diplomas became commonplace. That meant a person needed an Associate or even a Bachelors degree to have an advantage over those unable to attend college. (Again modifications were made with the introduction of Community Colleges making the first two years of college available within easy driving distance of every resident of every county in North Carolina.) Today, the state of North Carolina boasts of 58 Community Colleges, enrolling over 800,000 students. Legislation is now being tossed around that would make a community college degree not only accessible, but definitely affordable-meaning free - thats pretty affordable.

Soon the four-year college degree became the norm. Getting a four-year degree was not so difficult because there were quite a few colleges and for most people in this state there was a baccalaureate degree granting institution nearby. We now have 16 branches of the State University System, with a combined enrollment of over 202,000. There are 36 private colleges enrolling nearly 65,000 students. With so many baccalaureate degrees being awarded, what was a person to do who wanted to rise above the crowd? Those determined to really position themselves ahead of the pack needed to plan on at least a Master’s degree. (Interestingly, Education then introduced another degree, The Specialist. This degree became a half-step between the Masters and the Doctors.)

And this brings us to the present. What must a person do today to really be competitive in business or the professions? Remember, people have always wanted to add something extra to their resume to cause them to stand out from the others. In todays marketplace if a person or a group is to stand apart, to overcome the equality with which they were born, they must be ready to compete in a globally integrated world. That is why the focus on International studies tops the list of goals in our Strategic Plan.

II

This brings us to my central point today. On March 23, 2006 we established the Joey Cheek International Scholarships. This fall, seventeen months later 2 students enrolled as Joey Cheek scholars. I hope you will have an opportunity soon to meet Deng Abiel and Al-bnan Tag Alasefia.

Deng and Al-bnan are so much more than just two students from the Darfur region of the Sudan. Their minds are two of the many minds the world has ignored or forgotten. Rescuing students in dire situations is becoming a characteristic of Greensboro College.

Our students from Darfur were not the first. The six students from Kosovo were just six of many who were being physically brutalized and their minds stressed beyond belief. The two students displaced by Katrinas fury were two minds that were saved while so many people gave in or gave up in face of the despair. The minds of Deng and Elbanon are now in our hands, along with 1238 other minds.

One of the most distinctive services this College has offered has been our response to students facing unbelievable survival odds. The High Point Enterprise described the six students from war-ravaged Kosovo with bold words: These students are living history. Just a month ago they were forced to hide and live on little food and water for fear of being beaten and murdered….They have witnessed family members and friends killed before their eyes.

Greensboro College stepped in and gave an opportunity to the minds of students from regions of the world that had been brutally plundered by unspeakable elements. We gave them a second chance to grow and become whoever was living within them. Now let me tell you about those students from Kosovo and how they are doing today:

1. Luszim Sylaj, majored in Biology, is married and the father of a 3-year old boy. He lives in the Bronx, New York and works for an accounting firm on Wall Street. He is preparing to enter Dental School.
2. Ardian Gashi majored in Art and now lives in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
3. Xhafer Bianku, majored in Spanish and now lives in Lynchburg, Virginia
4. Kustrim Hosha majored in Theatre. He is in and out of Kosovo and has established himself as one of the leading actors in Kosovo. Enkelena Canhasi majored in International Business
5. Ismail Beqaj majored in Business Administration and Economics.
   

As for the students who came to us when Katrina drove them from Xavier University in New Orleans:

1. Laketa Entzminger was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Argentina and has been accepted into St. Louis University School of Medicine.
2. Lakeshia Entzminger was a Fulbright Scholar in Peru and has been accepted into Meharry Medical College.
   

The twin sisters said in a New Orleans publication, The Greensboro College community made [us] feel welcome from the first day. With Greensboro College allowing us to come to school....we were able to graduate on time.

When we established the Joey Cheek International Scholarship we said we wanted to help re-claim the minds of young people who had endured unspeakable horrors. I was able to say to Joey Cheek when he was in the city, Greensboro College shares your concern for the hearts and minds of young people around the world.

III

I have spent a lot of time today talking about students from dramatic circumstances. By contrast, the vast majority of our students are from what we could describe as average circumstances and they come to us with average abilities. Furthermore, most semesters we have over 150 students with special needs who require considerable academic support services. We are fortunate to have very skilled individuals providing those services to them. This program gives our College the opportunity to help these minds grow beyond the confines of their provincial world.

We are eager for these students to become not only a part of the global context but to also challenge the best of their experiences by learning about and embracing the world. We want to challenge the minds of all 1233 students and make them aware of the challenges of the greater world and the limitless possibilities of that world.

We have the responsibility to make them uncomfortable, anxious and in some cases, overwhelmed by what they learn from us. College is the best place on earth to be uncomfortable and to learn mind skills to deal with the vastness of life. So whether you are from Kosovo or Colfax, you belong here.

Green Campus. I have emphasized the fact that the human mind is the most important natural resource. However, it is not the only natural resource. The key phrase for this today is Greening the planet. We may not be able to green the planet, but we can green our campus and set a standard and an example that should influence not only ourselves but others. The objective here is to make the College a model of stewardship of the environment. As you know, environmental issues such as global warming, carbon emissions and protection of renewable resources have captured our imaginations as ethical and practical concerns. We need to address these issues to sustain life as we know it.

It is my hope that Greensboro College will be able to demonstrate how an institution can live in harmony with our natural environment, rather than in conflict with it. A Greener Campus Task Force has been appointed, Chaired by Dr. Ann Walter-Fromson, who is now a certified environmental educator. I am confident this work will dramatically alter the way this college lives and does its business.

Tobacco-free campus. Effective August 1, 2008, the College will become tobacco-free. Tobacco use will not be permitted anywhere on campus including all College facilities…. This policy came after a year of research and surveys indicating that 82% of our campus community supported a strengthened tobacco policy.

The new policy is part of an overall direction toward health promotion on campus for all those who study, work or visit at the College. The policy will prohibit use of all tobacco products on campus. Becoming a tobacco-Free campus will provide a healthier environment for all students, faculty and staff. Over the next several months, the Tobacco Task Force will develop a process that will include:

• a. The formal roll-out of the policy to the community
• b. Creating a model of support for those wishing to stop their use of tobacco.

This will include smoking cessation programs and nicotine replacement products. Greensboro College is proud to be a leader in the community along in promoting a tobacco-free campus beginning Aug. 1, 2008.

Emergency Preparedness Committee. Since the Virginia Tech tragedy, Colleges around the country have re-examined their way of doing business in emergency situations. We have an Emergency Preparedness Committee, Chaired by Susan Sessler that has been meeting all summer to be certain our emergency response procedures and apparatus is as good as it needs to be. A primary focus of their attention has been to discover a means of providing college-wide information about emergency issues so that all members of the campus community can be alerted should there be emergency concerns including storms, hurricanes as well as potentially dangerous activities.

Greensboro College: 170 years. Dr. Luther Gobbel, the tenth President of Greensboro College, writing in the history describing his 17 years as President said, The founders of Greensboro College pioneered in creating the first college for women in North Carolina. The curriculum was liberal arts but it also included a concern for enriching and developing the whole personality. The College was chartered December 28, 1838. This academic year we will honor the 170^th year of Greensboro College. We are still a liberal arts college and we still have a concern for enriching the whole personality. I hope all campus teams, clubs and organizations will discover distinctive ways to honor a most impressive history of 170 years.

We do have exciting jobs, do we not? Guess it is time to return to them.

Craven E. Williams
President
Greensboro College