Blog Archive » 2006 » November

Pictures speaking countless words…. remember the days when Pope John Paul II was globetrotting? In his more vigorous days, the first photos of his travel to a new country would show him kneeling to kiss the ground of the land he was visiting. Always, somewhere in the background, were smiling public officials flanked by children gaily clad in traditional garb singing "Sto Lat" (Polish for "May you live 100 Years"). He had a gift for charming even the most skeptical audience.

When I looked at today's Washington Post front page, I saw a very different photograph of a Pope visiting another nation. Soldiers in fatigues with rifles ready took the place of those gaily clad children as Pope Benedict XVI, standing out in his white double-breasted coat, walked past a line of helmeted soldiers on his visit this week to Turkey. Nobody sang "Sto Lat." The crowds in Turkey appear to be largely protesters, at least from news photos; the Pope is surrounded by grim-looking men.

Popular media, spoiled by the charismatic JPII, have had a hard time warming to the more-remote, cerebral Benedict. His blunder into the treacherous quagmire of Christian-Muslim relations provided fodder for those looking to magnify the unfortunate comparisons with his more politically astute predecessor.

But I think the press are missing the real story in Pope Benedict's lonely journey to Ankara this week. He could have stayed home at the Vatican. Thousands of Turkish Muslims made it clear that he was not welcome in their homeland. People are worried for his safety. He went anyway, a man on a mission to open a dialogue that faltered when he insulted Muslims last year during an ill-advised speech that quoted a long-dead emperor on the subject of Islam.

Some may think his trip foolhardy under these circumstances, but I think it's a courageous act of reconciliation. Whether he can succeed is another question, but from all that I have read it seems that the Pope is genuinely trying to open dialogue with Muslims, as well as Orthodox Christians who have also been at odds with the Roman Church for a millennium.

Acts of forgiveness, hope and charity are central to the Catholic faith, and most other faith traditions as well. If the leaders of major faiths cannot credibly perform these acts for the world to see, who can, who will?

See benedict,

Here we go again. In Saturday's Washington Post, Colbert King confirms the rumors that have been echoing around the back rooms of the city: School Superintendent Clifford Janey does not have the confidence of key players in the city. King writes that the powerful Federal City Council "Has let it be known that a broad swath of the business community is unhappy with the performance of schools Superintendent Clifford Janey (as is [Mayor-elect Adrian] Fenty)." The Superintendent's precarious position can hardly be news to anyone who has followed the election of Adrian Fenty as Mayor and Robert Bobb as president of the School Board, and their competing plans for "reform" of the D.C. Schools. Mr. Fenty recently announced the appointment of Victor Reinoso as deputy mayor for education. Mr. Reinoso is also a current member of the School Board, and, notably, the chief operating officer of the Federal City Council.

On Tuesday night this week, Superintendent Janey will give an address on his plan and progress in overhauling the D.C. Schools. Whether this moment will be his salvation or valedictory remains to be seen.

Here's what I do know: too many bosses can ruin a school system. When Superintendent Arlene Ackerman left the D.C. Schools in utter frustration in 2000, I wrote this in an op-ed in the Washington Post (May 18, 2000): "The number of people who claim to have solutions to the problems of the D.C. schools seems to rise inversely to the real talent available to fix the deep and chronic ills…the chronic political interference masquerading as legitimate oversight reached its nadir during Ackerman's tenure, as scores of politicians–elected, appointed and self-appointed–laid claim to governance roles whose inherent conflicts and confusions bound the superintendent in a Lilliputian web. Few, if any, of those responsible have real expertise in what it takes to educate children and their teachers, but ignorance rarely stops the political process in the District of Columbia…The eagerness to dictate actions in complete disregard of the expertise of the person responsible for results is the main reason why the District is now, once again, searching for a school superintendent. The search will be hugely difficult, because the risks are appalling; imposing responsibility without granting authority and freedom to do the job is a proven formula for failure."

I stand by those words today. I hope that Superintendent Janey can rise above the politics to persist in the job. The D.C. Schools need stability of leadership and public confidence. I know many of the people involved with this long-running drama in the D.C. Schools (with whom Trinity works closely), the Federal City Council (of which I am a member), the business community and the community at-large. To all of them I say: enough! Stop the power grabs and chronic bickering and second-guessing, and give the Superintendent the space do his job — which, by the way, will take many years to show permanent results, given the protracted problems in the system.

Yes, political contentiousness is part of the scene in all urban public school systems, as Dr. Ackerman learned in San Francisco, where she was largely successful but plagued by public critics. Other big city superintendents have similar stories. But the D.C. situation is notorious as a hostile educational setting well beyond the problems of other cities.

As the private university that educates more D.C. Public School graduates than any other private institution in the nation, Trinity knows well the educational challenges of this school system. The educational deficiencies are tragic. A recent report by the State Education Office found that only 9 of 100 current DCPS 9th graders will be likely to achieve a college degree. This is the worst collegiate success rate of any major city in the nation — and truly shameful for the nation's capitol. But this disgrace didn't just happen; the educational deficiencies are a deeply ingrained part of the city's fabric, exacerbated by chronic political interference.

As professional educators, we also know that real educational reform cannot occur in one or two years; it takes generations to remedy the educational catastrophes of parental illiteracy, chronic poverty and racism, historic under-funding and repeated failures of political common sense in this city.

The last thing this suffering educational system needs is more time wasted in governance squabbles and superintendent searches. Let the Superintendent implement his plans. Hold him accountable, yes, but stop the interference — for the sake of the children who need all of our energy focused on their educational success.

Thanksgiving. We must take time for gratitude amid the mundane chores and stressful demands of our daily lives.

Daily life: the phone is ringing, and on line #1 there's a student complaining about heat, and on line #2, a parent urgently requests a meeting to discuss her daughter's grades. An email pops up, then another, and another — Internet access is too slow, the library has a leak somewhere, a staff member is fussing about a schedule change. But good news flows as well, alumnae send messages of good cheer over the success of one of our own, Nancy Pelosi. Then the CFO sticks her head in to report that the chiller we thought could be repaired needs to be replaced. Oh, and the auditors have some new rules we must discuss soon… Snail mail brings a raft of materials to read for upcoming meetings of external boards, new regulations from the Department of Education, and, thankfully, some annual fund checks with lovely notes from alumnae! Also, the wonderful news of the re-funding of a major grant, hooray!

Thanksgiving: I must take time for gratitude. I give thanks for the jangling phones and demanding emails and insistent students and concerned parents and agitated colleagues and generous alumnae and friends. They are the reason why I get up with renewed enthusiasm each morning, greeting each day with renewed hope that I might just be able to contribute a little bit to improve their opportunities to learn, to grow, to live productive lives. Oh, I'm a realist — personally, I can't directly fix most of the problems posed, and even my charming powers of persuasion sometimes fail when I try to get others to fix things. But the leader's job is not the short-term fix, but the long-term possibility of hope, the vision of a future that can be deeply fulfilling for all in the community.

Our world is so stressed out these days, and the idea of taking a minute to be grateful — yes, even grateful for the interruptions and demands — might seem quaint, even corny. But gratitude is an expression of hope, the acknowledgement that this hard work can and will make a difference in other lives. Gratitude also a profound expression of our essential connectedness as human beings — none of us can make it through life or work or school alone. We depend on the kindness, the generosity, the commitment and the strength of others to help us through each day. Yes, I am grateful even for the complaints, the many needs brought to my desk, because they are also expressions of connectedness, and in them I find the meaning of my work. We all have that need, to feel that our work is meaningful for others.

Thanksgiving: let's all take a few minutes this week to step back from the urgent to consider what's really important — and give thanks for the community we share at Trinity. We give thanks for the students who give meaning to our days. We give thanks for the colleagues who challenge us to do our best. We give thanks for the alumnae and friends whose generosity and devotion to Trinity have sustained this great institution for more than a century. We also give thanks for the Sisters of Notre Dame who had an idea so powerful that thousands of lives have been changed for the better because of their genius in founding Trinity.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Most jarring visuals of the week: Steny Hoyer hugging Nancy Pelosi? Hardly. George Bush standing in front of a bust of Ho Chi Minh? Close. But a photograph of a young woman at the top of New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's column today truly grabbed my attention. "The Face of Genocide" was the headline, and his commentary recounted the misery and sheer horror of this young woman's life at the hands of the janjaweed, the state-sponsored militias in Sudan who have been raping and killing black Africans in Darfur for more than three years.

What is it about the photo of Halima, 20, a member of the Dajo tribe that stopped me as I flipped through the "Week in Review" and drew me into the Kristof column? She appeared to be like so many young women I have come to know — face both youthful and aging, the seriousness and worry piercing through her clear young eyes and line-less brow. She is young enough to be a sophomore or junior worrying about impending exams; she is ancient enough to know the unspeakable horror of seeing the janjaweed rape and kill her 10 year-old sister before they raped her.

The United States willingly intervenes in the internal affairs of many other nations, sometimes upon invitation, sometimes in a 'pre-emptive strike' against unknowable, unproven threats. Why has the United States been so silent about the 21st century's first great genocide, the killing of black Africans in Darfur?

Writer John Prendergast asked this very question in his article "So How Come We Haven't Stopped it?" in today's Washington Post. I urge everyone to read this article.

The world cannot afford two years with the United States preoccupied with petty "in" and "out" lists of party politics, and various minor figures planning their campaigns or retirements. The United States must regain some of its moral leadership in the world by acting immediately to address the Darfur crisis. This is not about the current president or past president or future president — this is about the lives of women like Halima and their children and families, citizens of this earth who are suffering state-sponsored oppression in the hundreds of thousands. This is a cause where justice demands U.S. intervention — now.

See darfur, kristof

All the news photos show two people with broad smiles hugging each other, the tall man with gray hair clamping his arm around the petite brunette. Both look like winners, and both are, in their own way. But the media mavens have declared the woman a loser, even though she just made history — unanimously elected as the first woman ever to hold the most powerful legislative office in the land. The man is declared as a big winner, even though he is #2 to the woman. What to make of this strange turn of events?

This morning, the House Democratic Caucus elected Nancy Pelosi (Trinity '62) as the new Speaker of the House. The vote was unanimous. She made history, but apparently not so much progress in the minds of her party peers and media mavens. Her election was down in the story, after the lede that announced the victory of Steny Hoyer (D-MD) as Democratic Majority Leader, the #2 position after the Speaker.

Speaker-elect Pelosi backed John Murtha (D-PA) whose anti-war stance brought him to public attention this year. But Congressman Murtha was a controversial choice for Pelosi because of ethics issues, and the Democrats preferred Hoyer, who has been #2 to Pelosi for all of the years that she was Democratic Leader.

Confusing? Perhaps. But this blog is not about the politics of the Murtha v. Hoyer vote, or even about Pelosi's motivations in backing Murtha. Frankly, I have no idea what really went on, though I have read all the published news items. IMHO I think there are things that go on behind closed doors in the political arena that we common citizens will never understand …. not because we're stupid, but because the processes are not "transparent" in spite of decades of efforts to make them so.

Instead, for students of leadership and politics — and especially women's leadership — my reflection here is about losing and leading, learning the art of compromise in order to make progress. Nancy Pelosi must lead from this point forward, regardless of the loss she sustained today. She also won — the most powerful legislative position in the country, no small change! — and now she must learn to wear that mantle well. Perhaps this loss will be a great lesson for her.

Truly effective leaders have to practice a form of RealPolitik — certainly with a moral point of view, but avoiding extremes of ideology or rhetoric. The realistic leader must make compromises, be inclusive of many different points of view. The realistic leader knows that progress is not made through grand posturing, but rather, through persuading the rest of the community in small and subtle ways to move forward together in ways that serve the common good.

Losing a big contest might be a good thing for a leader. Losing pushes the leader away from the ideological edge, forces the leader to a position of realism, the imperative of finding the center where most people can agree.

Can Nancy Pelosi recover from losing her bet on Jack Murtha? Of course. For heaven's sakes, she's a seasoned politician, a woman who just made history. But to make progress, she will definitely have to work not only with the Hoyer camp and the majority of Democratic Congresspeople who backed him, but also with the new minority of Republicans who are just itching to turn the tables again. She is challenged to practice realism in ways this nation has not seen recently among its top political leaders.

Losing gracefully, embracing the winner, moving ahead with the common agenda — these are the marks of true leadership. If Pelosi does that, today's loss for her will be tomorrow's gain for all American citizens regardless of party or ideology. Learning to lose well, to turn the loss into a gain, is one of the most important lessons of leadership in today's conflictful political world.

See Pelosi, Hoyer, Murtha