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February 2003

Tutu: A statesman and a scholar arrives on UNF campus

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

It's hard to define the role of Archbishop Desmond Tutu as he begins his one-semester stay at UNF. He is a scholar, teaching both UNF students and area residents who have filled his classes to capacity. But at the same time, he is a statesman whose message of peace continues to be carried by media around the world.

It would have been easy for this 71-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner to remain in his native South Africa and enjoy a richly deserved retirement. But he agreed once again to come to the United States to teach. The timing of his trip may be part coincidence or part divine intervention, but in either case he arrived at a critical juncture in this nation's actions in the Iraq situation.

Only moments after arriving at Jacksonville International Airport on Jan. 7, media eagerly asked him questions about tensions between the United States and Iraq. His message was simple. War should be a last resort, and he encouraged the Bush administration to find alternatives to armed conflict.

That message, carried nationally and internationally on Associated Press and Reuters news services, prompted a flood of media requests, including requests from CNN and the "Today" show. With a quiet determination that has become his hallmark, the archbishop agreed to make time in his busy schedule for many of the media requests. During an interview from Jacksonville on CNN International, for example, he calmly but forcefully promised to nominate President Bush for the Nobel Peace Prize if he is able to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq situation rather than resorting to war.

That CNN broadcast stimulated media requests from England, France and Canada, as well as from many U.S. media outlets. It also resulted in many requests from groups and organizations throughout the United States for Tutu to attend special "peace" events that are planned.

Additional media attention was focused on the archbishop in January when then-Gov. George Ryan of Illinois announced that he was commuting the death sentences of everyone on the state's death row. During the governor's speech at Northwestern University, which was carried live on CNN, Ryan cited the archbishop's letter to him as a factor in converting him from a longtime death penalty advocate into a capital punishment opponent.

But through it all, the archbishop remains focused on his teaching responsibilities and reserves time each day to devote to planning presentations for the credit courses and non-credit mini courses he is teaching.

The first session for the credit course featured about 200 students eager to learn about the reconciliation progress and the archbishop's role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. And while he discussed that historic part of his life, he also repeatedly came back to a central message that has dominated many of his discussions with young people at UNF and in at least one Jacksonville school in which he was a guest.

"You can change the world, one person at a time," he said during one session. His own life provides ample evidence of the truth of that statement.