As the academic year draws to a close and Boston University students eagerly charge forth into summer, another significant milestone has come to pass: the end of year one in the African Presidential Archives and Research Center’s Presidents-in-Residence program. After a full year of cultural events, informative lectures and the sharing of ideas, the program has improved awareness of Africa’s problems in the 21st century and also provided a unique firsthand viewpoint that of a former leader to help interpret those problems. It would be unproductive, however, for APARC to rest for too long on the laurels of its first year successes. At this stage of the program’s development, it has an opportunity to make a hard-hitting and long-lasting impact in its future year. Now that the program has succeeded in its basic mission, it needs to find a way to increase its visibility to students and the community at large.
APARC director and former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania Charles Stith deserves considerable credit for getting this program started and its continuing its initial successes. Stith certainly found an able and compelling first president-in-residence in Kenneth Kaunda, the former president of Zambia for 27 years and bearer of a fascinating yet controversial legacy. Kaunda arrived in Boston with posh living accommodations and a mission to impart his firsthand knowledge of a continent still shrouded in mystery to many people.
Since his tenure began in September, Kaunda has followed an intense and largely successful schedule of national lectures, faculty and student roundtables and various committee, delegation and media events. And the ethical issues that raised concerns for the program at the beginning of the year, such as the idea of inviting leaders with checkered histories and controversial legacies to take up residence, have not revealed themselves to be much of a problem within the BU community.
During Kaunda’s time with the program, he has accepted awards at Princeton University and spoke at several forums both relatively small, such as Tufts University’s Africa Forum, and nationally large, such as the Conference on World Affairs in Colorado. In his lectures, from the halls of BU to historic Howard Chapel in Washington, D.C., he has offered his unique and informed perspective. Since assuming his residency, he has also twice returned to his native Africa.
Last week, Kaunda and APARC spearheaded a two-day summit at BU on Africa’s economic future. Kaunda and other former African leaders proclaimed the continent ‘open for business,’ saying that poverty-ravaged African nations can stabilize if Africa as a whole can overcome its dependency on international aid. It was a fitting end to a successful first round with the program: raising awareness and pinpointing major problems in Africa’s economic outlook, and discussing solutions to improve that outlook.
In theory and practice, the program is a success. But it lacks the attention required to make a stronger impact and needs a considerable boost in visibility, both on the BU campus and on a national level. While the program’s relevancy and potential are now established, its overall influence could be improved. APARC and Kaunda both say the residence has expanded Kaunda’s interaction with the ‘American people,’ not just with American diplomats and government officials.
But how can that be when he was not always a visible presence in the community, offering regular lectures and effective ways for students to regularly communicate with him? Kaunda has participated in many forums both large and small, given many speeches and accepted many awards both here and across the country, but how much more effective would his presence have been if he offered a class or became a regular guest lecturer? Or if he had hosted luncheons or other forums to interact with students more informally than via a speech? Here, at the end of his residence, he still feels too much like a guest.
As the first of four African Presidents-in-Residence, Kaunda has achieved the program’s basic mission: to bring a former African leader to BU to impart his knowledge and experience to the students and faculty while also raising national awareness of the issues facing Africa today. Based on Kaunda’s performance, BU now has the opportunity not only to increase the program’s visibility on campus, but also to increase the role of the university itself as a national center for addressing African issues. At the end of this inaugural stage, the program should strive toward achieving these larger goals.
