Miami

Two leading national higher education organizations have announced a year-long campaign to encourage the nation's colleges and universities to launch activities in support of U.S. President Bill Clinton's national dialogue on race relations.

Officials from the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) joined Dr. John Hope Franklin, the distinguished historian who chairs the President's Advisory Board on Race; and a panel of college and university presidents at a news conference held during ACE's biennial "Educating One-Third of a Nation" conference last month to make the announcement.

"We look forward to the help in getting our message out," Franklin told news conference attendees.

Franklin welcomed and endorsed the commitment from ACE and AAC&U, which collectively represent more than 2,000 institutions of higher education. He says colleges and universities have a unique role to play in the national dialogue because they have dealt extensively with issues involving affirmative action, campus diversity, and multiculturalism.

"These institutions have a particular vantage point from which to examine the issues of race and racism. The American Council on Education and the Association of American Colleges and Universities have answered President Clinton's call to action by recognizing the role that colleges and universities can play in this national dialogue," Franklin said.

ACE president Dr. Stanley O. Ikenberry says that ensuring equal opportunity remains an unsolved challenge for all Americans. He noted that educational institutions have traditionally been leaders in creating opportunity.

"Higher education has a special role to play in this national dialogue. What better place to engage these issues than on our nation's campuses? Higher education has been in the forefront of opening opportunity in the past, and we pledge to redouble our efforts in the future," added Ikenberry.

AAC&U president Dr. Paula Brownlee says the president's challenge is an appropriate one for higher education since it has confronted "issues of race and social justice" for more than three decades.

"We happily accept President Clinton's invitation to join our efforts to his vision of transformed race relations. Together, we will make this vision a national reality," said Brownlee.

During the news conference, presidents from five higher education institutions spoke about race relations and campus diversity initiatives taking place at their schools. The presidents' group included Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, president of the State University of New York at Stony Brook; Dr. Eduardo J. Padron, president of Miami-Dade Community College; Dr. Yolanda Moses, president of City College of New York; Dr. Robert A. Corrigan, president of San Francisco State University; and Sister Karen M. Kennelly, president of Mount St. Mary's College.

Corrigan told news conference attendees that dealing with issues of race and diversity at San Francisco State University is not unusual for students, faculty, and administrators because the school has a student population that is 65 percent nonWhite.

"This campus is different. The dialogue we have on race and diversity is nonstop," Corrigan said.

He added that the school has numerous community-based programs which enable students and faculty to interact with a wide array of people and communities outside the campus.

More than 1,300 college and university faculty, administrators, and presidents attended the conference, which was held in Miami, according to ACE officials. Conference participants examined, in workshops and meetings, issues of diversity, and educational access that included affirmative action, curricular reform, and educational partnerships.

Franklin, along with two members of the President's Advisory Board on Race, former Mississippi governor William Winter and Reverend Suzan Johnson Cook of the Bronx Christian Fellowship, addressed the entire conference. Judith Winston, executive director of the president's race initiative, also spoke to the entire conference about the role that higher education can play in the national dialogue on race.

Coinciding with the "Educating One-Third of a Nation" conference was the seventh annual meeting of the Ford Foundation's Campus Diversity Initiative, a program conducted by the AAC&U. Representatives from more than 200 institutions participated in the initiative, which promotes cultural diversity as a resource for learning.