Atlanta, GA -- When Morehouse College invited scholars to examine society's lot, they passed the bitter sweet judgment that our age of technology is a double-edged sword. Responsible for the enhancement of life, new technology is also responsible for many unintended social consequences.

We face a 21st century, they said, full of promise and peril.

The symposium of scholars was one of several events celebrating the inauguration of Dr. Walter E. Massey as president of Morehouse College. Massey, a physicist and former head of the National Science Foundation, was formally inducted as the ninth president of Morehouse, which was simultaneously commemorating its 129th anniversary.

Among those participating in the symposium, "Visions of the 21st Century," were Dr. Robert M. Dixon, chairman of the department of physics at Morehouse; Dr. Carl Patton, president of Georgia State University; Dr. Eric Wanner, president of the Russell Sage Foundation; and Dr. William Julius Wilson, who was recently lured to Harvard University from the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality at the University Of Chicago.

Noting the fact that a scientist was taking the helm of a liberal arts school, panelists urged balancing both technology and humanitarianism. Massey, the panelists said, must prepare students for a world in which, for better or worse, their grasp of technology will affect their prospects for prosperity. Their leadership in the compassionate management of high-tech resources, panelists said, is critical to society's well-being.

In an age where computer technology "has become an indispensable tool in our offices and our homes," said Morehouse's Robert Dixon, George Orwell's book "1984" comes to mind. "1984," Dixon said, "was about hopelessness in a technological society."

Dixon lamented that places of learning for many youth are "ill-equipped, run-down facilities with poorly trained teachers" that discourage students from staying in school.