Penn Commission sets its agenda for upcoming meetings

The group will focus on community problems. The Steering Committee of the Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community -- which consists of 48 leading academics, journalists, social scientists and politicians -- met recently to outline goals for future meetings. The Commission -- which emerged after several conversations between University President Judith Rodin and several colleagues -- first assembled in December for a closed meeting to determine which problems it will address. Rodin said the Steering Committee chose to focus its research and discussion over the next two and half years on three topics -- community fragmentation, failure of leadership and insensitivity to the rights of others. Executive Director Steve Steinberg explained that the world seems to suffer from an inversion of leadership in which leaders follow --Erather than lead -- their constituents. Research on community fragmentation will attempt to address problems posed by increasingly narrow communities. And he said that studies dealing with insensitivity will tackle "the culture of behavior in which people act as if no one else exists." Three working groups will address the topics concurrently over the next two and a half years, and Rodin said the issues will then be handled successively by the entire Commission. She added that University students will be able to participate in the Commission's research, which will be used to improve inter-community relations. Steinberg described the Commission as "one of a kind," explaining that the "we are really committed to doing heavy intellectual work -- it has that kind of academic basis at the core." He added that although press coverage has focused on the Commission's work on "incivility," the group is dealing with larger questions. "It is really about a broader set of issues -- of which civility is a part," Steinberg said. "The ways in which we interact seem to be breaking down and the Commission is trying to understand that." Michael Useem, a Management and Sociology professor and Commission member, also emphasized the Commission's importance. "Incivility, anger? is a force that undercuts the effects of dialogue and communication," he said. "I think the issue is timely and if we accomplish anything I will be proud to have been a part of it." The Commission is expected to meet regularly over the next three to five years. Steinberg added that its next meeting -- scheduled for June 11 and 12 -- will probably feature a few public sessions.

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