Director’s Corner | On the Humphrey Fellows

Imagine walking to a podium before an audience of hundreds of young, top-gun academics hungry to engage you on whatever issue you raise. Imagine looking out on a group of women and men representing 85 countries and virtually every major geographic region of the planet. And imagine engaging such a diversified group of academics at a time when all the polls suggest that America’s standing in the world is taking a serious beating. What would you say to them?

Under normal circumstances, I would opt instead for dental surgery or—far worse—a protracted budget meeting here at CSIS. But a few months ago, at a moment of profound weakness, I agreed to address the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows at an annual meeting in the nation’s capital organized by our friends at the International Institute of Education (IIE) and supported by the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The truth is that I have been invited to speak before the Humphrey Fellows for the past four years, and I have done it every single time no matter how gracious the invitation. Why? In my view, both then and now, the whole exercise represents what is good and right about the United States—that we place Humphrey Fellows in various academic settings across the country and let them come to know us, warts and all, in such a way that they can appreciate the unvarnished nature of who we are. Another reason is that each of the four years that I have participated in the workshop, the discussion has been extremely open—even if it meant that the Fellows criticized U.S. policies and positions. It makes me recall the wise words of Hubert Humphrey: “Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent and debate.”

So, again this year, I walked up to the podium. I shared thinking on the long-range drivers of change we all face and what we need to be doing to create an appropriate environment for the next generation. I even offered some thinking about how various regions of the world are transforming and what they imply to policy opportunities and challenges in the future. I’m sure that many of the Humphrey Fellows disagreed with me or had very different perceptions about where things are going. But the comments and questions all seemed to suggest that the vast majority of individuals in that room were committed to exploring what can be done. There was significantly more common ground than you might expect with such a large and diverse group.

In fact, I invited the Fellows to contribute to this Blog, and really hope that they will bring their perspectives to our thinking here about the future!

One major takeaway I had from the IIE experience was the view expressed by many of the Fellows on the various challenges we face. Despite the constellation of urgent problems around the world—poverty, hunger, water, resource conflict, war, among others—they indicated that the sources of these challenges were even higher priorities. In particular, they highlighted fighting corruption, strengthening governance, and expanding education as the most significant priorities through which we can improve our collective condition. Who says strategic thinking is in decline?

So, I offer a salute to the State Department, the IIE and all the universities and colleges that are involved in this important investment in the future. The program has been active for more than 25 years (it started in 1978) and has touched the lives of more than 3,500 Fellows from 140 countries. And I salute the Fellows themselves, wherever they are, and hope we can build on the common ground that we have established together.