N E W S   &   I N F O R M A T I O N

Anteater's First Steps Incoming freshmen! Click here to see what you need to do to prepare yourself for an exciting year here at UCI!

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Campus Climate Focus Group Study Select members of the UCI community have been invited to participate in focus groups in order to help us improve student life and services on campus. If you have been invited to participate, please visit the Focus Group website.

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SPOP! Student-Parent Orientation Program Fall 2009 freshmen, find information regarding the MANDATORY freshmen summer orientation here

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Spring 2009 Student Organization Leadership Conference Deadline to Register: Wednesday, May 27th Saturday, May 30th 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM UCI Student Center $5 fee for all attending Click here for more information

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All Aboard the Leadership Train! The Leadership Train website is a search engine that will help you find great leadership opportunities tailored specifically to your needs and desires. Just enter a few criteria on the search form and away you go! Click here for more information

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F E A T U R E

The Pursuit of Wisdom: An Appropriate Goal for Our Students

Commentary by Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez

Although it has been suggested to me that I talk about the mid-year UC budget cuts, seeing that we’re coming out of the holidays and starting the new 2009 year, I’d like to write about something a bit more upbeat: the importance of empathy and wisdom in our societal leaders.

Last month an extraordinary thing happened in San Diego. No, I am not referring to the military jet crashing into a home and killing virtually an entire family. I am referring to the public response of Dong Yun Yoon, the man who lost his wife, mother-in-law, and two daughters in that horrendous accident.

I cannot imagine the incredible grief someone in his position must feel, but I was incredibly moved by his plea for prayers for the pilot and his offering of forgiveness in the midst of his own horrific sorrow and pain. Listening to this man process this life-altering tragedy in terms of empathy and wisdom, already reaching out with his own faith to grapple with understanding and acceptance of all that he has lost, was almost as overwhelming to me as the details of the crash. How could this man who had just lost his entire family, and who was now concerned about how he would gain the forgiveness of his father-in-law, be so forgiving himself? Where is the anger and outrage we are so used to hearing in the wake of all the world’s horrors?

I realized, listening to Yoon, how I have come to expect anger and hatred in the face of tragedy, whether it be the attacks in Mumbai or violence in the West Bank. We are so conditioned to the refrains of moral outrage, to hatred being met with hatred, anger being bested by rage, vengeance promised and delivered without regard to how easily cycles of violence remain in motion. In the mist of all this, Yoon’s voice and words were both a shock and a balm to my senses, an incredibly generous and wise gesture from a man who was focused on healing, not hate.

We talk a lot about what makes a good leader; in fact, this question informs many of our academic and co-curricular programs. What do students really need to know? With what skills do we need to equip them? What knowledge do we want them to take with them out into the world—the answers to these questions are always important in giving students an optimal educational experience. But I am not sure we spend enough time focused on compassion and forgiveness as important aspects of wisdom, even while we encourage our students to strive for deeper levels of understanding and broader familiarity with different cultures, experiences, and points of view. We know that our strongest leaders can speak across lines of difference and reconcile conflicts in new and creative ways; we know that wisdom requires a willingness to reflect, reassess, and to be flexible. And as Yoon reminds us, we know that healing from tragedy—whether it is personal or national—is key to reconciling differences and bringing people together for a united purpose.

One of the things Yoon asked for in his short public address following the jet crash was help in coping. "I know there are many people who have experienced more terrible things. Please tell me how to do it, because I don't know what to do,” he said. While I have no doubt that Yoon has received his share of advice about coping with such an enormous loss, I would ask that we provide another kind of answer to Yoon’s plea. That is, I would ask that as this new year unfolds, as change, both positive and negative continues, that we all take a moment or two to reach out in understanding to someone or something that angers or pains us. Let us all imagine, just for a moment, a world in which our most significant conflicts are resolved. What would that look like, and don’t we want the next generation to help us get there?

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