Shifting Boundaries
by Edwin Dorn
One hundred years ago, W.E.B. DuBois wrote in The Souls of Black Folk that "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line." DuBois was right about the dominant role of race in the United States, and he was prescient about the role prejudice would play in the twentieth century's most devastating conflicts.
Slowly, and with great effort, the color line has been transformed in recent decades. What once was a virtually impenetrable barrier has been breached in many places. Traces of it are still with us, of course. One example occurred recently in the small town of Tulia, Texas, where the untrue testimony of one white man led to the conviction and imprisonment of more than 30 innocent black men.
Nevertheless, progress has been made. The color line separating white Americans from black Americans eroded considerably during the 20th century, notably since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. One could argue that during the past 40 years this country's great social drama has shifted from black-and-white to color, as people from an increasingly diverse array of races, ethnicities and nationalities seek to make the most of the opportunities that this nation promises all its citizens.
The LBJ School is preparing future public leaders to negotiate along the nation's shifting boundaries of color. This involves recruiting students from a diverse pool of young men and women, so that in future, the people who run the government will look like the people who cast the votes and pay the taxes. But there is much more to this process than following the usual notions of "diversity." Our very notions of racial and ethnic identity are changing. In the 2000 Census, seven million Americans identified themselves as "mixed-race", a classification that had not existed in previous censuses. Just recently, millions of Californians voted in favor of a ballot initiative that would have eliminated racial classifications from most official state records. The measure was defeated, but its very existence suggests that change is occurring.
The color line is not the only boundary that is shifting. Three other huge boundary changes demand our attention. One of these is the growing irrelevance of jurisdictional boundaries and of place-based public policies. Many important issues cannot be confined within the boundaries of local jurisdictions or states or even nations. This has long been obvious with respect to environmental issues, and it is increasingly clear with regard to the movement of goods and of capital. In the next few years we may need to recognize that people, too, are hard to confine within established jurisdictional boundaries. "Immigration" has taken on a new meaning in Europe since the formation of the European Union. In future years, immigration may also need to take on a very different meaning among the nations that are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The boundaries that separate the public sector, the private sector and the nonprofit sector also appear to be eroding. It is true that government has always bought services and goods from the private sector, and voluntarism was a prominent feature of the American character when de Tocqueville studied the new republic in the 1830s. What is new is that more and more people are moving among the sectors. Thirty years ago, graduate students arrived at the LBJ School expecting to enter the public service. Most of them did so, had successful careers in government and are now contemplating retirement. Today, our graduates need to be prepared to operate effectively in all three sectors. That is why we have added courses in nonprofit management and leadership, and why we offer dual degrees with the schools of business, law, communications and engineering -- to give our graduates long-term career options.
Finally, technology is erasing the boundaries between our public and our private lives and is shrinking the time required to turn a personal problem into a matter of widespread public interest and debate. Technology raises the spectre of omniscience: every phone call, every purchase, every e-mail can be known instantly by certain government agencies.
At some point, many of our graduates will hold positions that give them the power to inquire into the private lives of citizens. They will be asked to weigh the value of individual privacy against the needs of law enforcement or national security. We need to equip our graduates with the ethical principles that can guide their actions in such circumstances.
Of course, new technologies also give ordinary citizens unprecedented information about what government agencies are doing. In the long run, this may contribute to greater public accountability. In the short term, however, it also may lead public servants to engage in self-censorship -- to avoid raising tough issues and to be more guarded in their communications with colleagues and constituents. Changes in information and communications technology have huge ramifications for public policy and for personal behavior. The LBJ School is adjusting its research and education programs accordingly.
All of these shifting boundaries -- of color, jurisdictions, sectors and privacy -- create challenges and opportunities. Those who have been trained to move beyond the traditional boundaries will be our future leaders. Our goal at the LBJ School is to provide that training.
