During January 18-19, the UN Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan and Presidents of five universities in New-York areas, which are Columbia University, Yale University, New York University, Princeton University, and University of Pennsylvania, co hosted the 2005 Global Colloquium of University Presidents at Columbia University, USA. Fifteen leading university presidents from around the world had been exclusively invited to participate in this significant event. Among the 15 universities, three were from South Africa, five from Europe, two from Africa, four from Asia, and one from Australia. The Colloquium explored two key issues. The first, Academic Freedom, pertains directly to ideals and interests of universities. The second, International Migration, is a theme of international public policy which is of special interest to the United Nations. President Thanu Kulachol of Bangkok University was the only president of Thai universities who was invited to participate in this significant Colloquium.
President Thanu Kulachol said that, “It was such a great privilege for me and Bangkok University to have been invited to partake in this global event as a representative of Thailand and Asian countries. Fifteen of the invited university presidents from around the world plus the five presidents of the afore-mentioned New York-area universities discussed the two themes-- Academic Freedom and International Migration, which were chaired by the UN-Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan, and subsequently the conclusions drawn from the discussions were included in a special report of the colloquium and submitted to the United Nations.
“The participants were divided into two groups”, continued President Thanu Kulachol, “The first group was twenty of university presidents shared views on the topic of Academic Freedom and the second group of participants was Migration experts, on the theme of International Migration. Dr. Ukrist Tuchinda, Dean of School of Economics, who accompanied President Thanu Kulachol, represented Bangkok University as Migration Expert. President Thanu added that, “Prior to our departure, we were given some hypothetical case studies related to the themes of Academic Freedom and International Migration and we had to submit our answers which were later distributed to all participants during the discussions.”
“The first day of the event was the evening of the 18th of January, Dr. Jan Karlsson, who was former Minister of Migration and Development of Sweden, presented a lecture entitled “A Global Framework for International Migration. This session was open to the University community and the public. It was then followed by a private reception and dinner for the Secretary General, university presidents, migration experts and selected guests at the residence of President Lee Bollinger of Columbia University. Once again, it was such an honour for me to be assigned to sit next to H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan and his wife. During the dinner, H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan welcomed all the guests and offered brief remarks on the “Report of the Global Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes”, of which former Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. Mr. Anan Panyarachun, is one of the committee members.”
“The reason why the UN Secretary General H.E. Kofi Annan initiated this Colloquium was because he was mesmerized by a definition of the one word “Terrorist” given by one of his committees. Many people, according to H.E. Kofi Annan, defined the word “ terrorist” in accordance with their own interest. For example, those who were behind the September 9/11 claimed that they are no terrorists because they believed what they did was for the great purpose, those who took lives and caused sufferings of the hostages claimed they did nothing wrong, those who attacked others viewed their actions as the act of saviors, while their opponents interpreted these as brutal and inhuman destruction. The United Nations then had to come up with a most acceptable and appropriate definition of the word “Terrorist” which refers to anyone who, for whatever reasons, causes sufferings to the lives of innocent civilians.”
“Consequently, the UN would like to have appropriate definitions for the words “Academic Freedom” and “International Migration” accepted by the world community, and that was why the Colloquium was organized.”, said President Kulachol.
President Thanu Kulachol further added that, “the official discussion in two parallel sessions was convened on Wednesday the 19th of January. President Lee Bollinger of Columbia University led the discussion by giving an example of one of the professors in Mathematics who, while teaching his class, expressed his strong opposition on the attack on the Iraq spear-headed by the US government and that led to a widespread outrage from those government supporters who, subsequently, bombarded this outspoken Mathematics professor with thousands of emails and telephone calls until his server was down. These angry government supporters had denounced the professor for airing his “inappropriate” personal views in his class. Then there were many examples given and shared by many university presidents which led to very active discussions amongst the participants before they collectively tried to reach the recommended definition for the term “Academic Freedom”. It was agreed that Academic Freedom is vital for the university environments as universities are places of higher learning, intellect and innovation and that the topic of Academic Freedom pertains some sensitive connotations which require careful considerations and righteousness of the university presidents in leading the world of higher education and learning. However, the recommended definition will be further discussed in a wider forum. Hence, the group has set up an Ad Hoc Committee of which is comprised of some participants to work together via correspondences and emails before submitting their suggestions and recommendations on the definition of “Academic Freedom” to the United Nations.”
“In another parallel session, a group of experts were discussing the topic of International Migration. It was recognized that International Migration takes many different forms in different parts of the world, for example, refugees fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution as asylum seekers or politicians who cannot live in their own home countries or those who strive for a so-called “better life”. The United Nations would like to establish more widely- shared norms and agreed-upon procedures in order to manage better the flow of international migrants to the benefit both of the migrants themselves and the countries of origin, transit, and destination. Among others, the issues concerning human rights and human dignity were also discussed. It was concluded that, every country needs to educate its own people to its best efforts and that compassion should also be taken into consideration as migrants are often vulnerable to human rights abuse. International cooperation is called for to fight against human smuggling and trafficking. Greater financial aids and provision should be allocated to educate the migrants. It was also recommended that the United Nations set up a central unit to find a way to manage international migration better, for the benefit of all.”
“ Recommendations and suggestions were formulated and presented by the Academic Freedom and International Migration rapporteurs in the Plenary Session chaired by the UN-Secretary General H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan before the official closing ceremony took place. It was suggested that there should be an annual meeting among the university presidents in order to highlight important issues. The participants were in favour of a small group discussion like the one organized this year.”
President Thanu Kulachol wrapped up this exclusive interview by expressing that he was very honoured to have represented a Thai university (Bangkok University) among many leading universities in this global event and would like to call for greater support from those involved in Higher Education in Thailand in promoting Academic Freedom and Freedom in Administration for Thai universities to be able to compete in the international forum of Higher Education in the future.
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