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REMARKS BY :	U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES, DONNA E. SHALALA
EVENT: 		University of North Carolina, Center for Public Service, Raleigh, North Carolina
DATE: 		SEPTEMBER 24, 1999

".no matter how much television coverage, it doesn't do justice to what it feels like inside for people who lose a business or lose their home and have to take their kids to a shelter."

As I was traveling here today-to help launch the new "Carolina Center for Public Service"-I was reminded of a story about Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Howe once asked Senator Charles Sumner to help a certain struggling family in his state. The Senator thought a moment. He sighed. And then he said, "Julia, I've become so busy that I can no longer concern myself with individuals."

Without missing a beat, Howe replied, "Charles I find that quite remarkable-Even God isn't that busy."

Of course, I know that here at UNC I'm literally preaching to the choir-because this university has always been ready to answer the call to public service. Along with your brilliant academic reputation, your first rate faculty-and one of the most beautiful campuses in America-UNC's defining characteristic is a 200- year history of serving the people of North Carolina.

For two centuries, your outreach to communities across the state has set you apart from many other colleges and universities-whether public or private. I know that when President Edward Kidder Graham ushered in UNC's modern era of public service at the start of this century, he even went so far as to declare that the boundaries of the university are the same as the state's.and the unofficial motto of UNC became: "Write to the University when you need help."

Throughout this century, UNC has built on the foundation that Graham laid. You inaugurated the nation's first student-run health service.and the first student-run service program.

Earlier, I visited with students and faculty at your school of Public Health. The North Carolina Institute for Public Health is an important contribution to public service.

Today, seven percent of this university's budget supports public service programs.and your efforts to enhance health care, education and community development now extend to every region of North Carolina.

That commitment to service was the very hallmark of my friend, late Chancellor, Michael Hooker. Chancellor Hooker firmly believed that the one-and the only-reason to have a taxpayer-supported university is to serve the public. In his invitation to me to come to dedicate this center, he wrote: "The new center will increase UNC's capacity to respond to the state's public service needs in accordance to that historic mission."

I know that his loss is deeply felt by this university and this state. But his sprit is certainly embodied in the new "Carolina Center for Public Service" - which Michael Hooker believed would also: "shelter partnerships with public and private organizations and foster service opportunities that match our many strengths."

By connecting the citizens of North Carolina with your students, faculty and staff, this Center not only continues your tradition of public service... it will continue UNC as the national leader in providing university-based service to society.

But now-unlike in President Graham's day-people won't have to write the university with their problems-they can call, e-mail, fax or teleconference. Of course, actively engaging in public service is a role that all colleges and universities should-and must-play.but don't just take by word for it. Governor Hunt recently wrote:

".[we all share] the responsibility to listen to the people whom our institutions of government and higher education were created to serve.[But] even more important than listening is our responsibility to respond, and to do so in a way that extends beyond the halls of academe."

.And there may be no more important time for this to happen than now. I believe that public service is at the very heart of the "pioneer spirit." - what shapes the American character. The spirit of rugged individualism and restless imagination-of self-reliance and selflessness -- trademarks of the Tar Heel state.

It was this spirit that led the settlers over the Blue Ridge Mountains.that led the pioneers to found this- the first public university in the country.and that led the Wright Brothers to soar above the sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner spoke about the importance of the "pioneer spirit" at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. In his famous speech, Turner asked, "now that the frontier is closed, what now of American energy.continually demanding a wider field of exercise?"

What Turner was saying is that if Americans weren't to become self-absorbed and indifferent, we need great goals-" a wider field of exercise."

Americans need great things to do-things that get us beyond our immediate selves. We need great goals to stir our hearts and imaginations. We need great goals to channel our energy. We need great goals to bind us together as a nation.

For decades, the settling of the American frontier-a frontier that once started in the swamps and forests of North Carolina-provided that goal. But the closing of the frontier meant that America no longer had a great goal or a grand cause, and many people-including Turner-were afraid that the pioneer spirit, the spirit of service and self-sacrifice, would be lost.

We find ourselves in a similar situation today-we've conquered the heavens; we've won the world wars and the cold war; and we're now the only global superpower. It would appear that-once again-there are no more great goals, no more grand causes.

Is the flame of our pioneer spirit, once again, being extinguished?

Perhaps Turner was right -- and we do need a grand cause to rally around?

Fortunately, I think we have one. A cause that's just as great, just as grand, just as good as settling the frontier or sending a man to the moon. That cause of good citizenship - and being a good citizen is based on the foundation of public service.

Now as a former university chancellor, I firmly believe that-along with teaching and research-one of the most important, and proper, roles for any institution of higher education is to facilitate and promote public service.

Furthering the goals and addressing the problems of American society is very much the business of great American universities - particularly public universities.

Public service-community service-is integral to the mission of a great university.But if our institutions of higher education truly want to facilitate and promote public and community service, then they must meet two challenges.

The first challenge is the challenge of resources. Colleges and universities can offer a breath and depth of knowledge-and expertise-to tackle local and national problems that few other institutions can match.

But these skills can't help a single person unless our campus communities imitate UNC and devote significant resources-including financial and professional-to public service programs.

Additionally, institutions of higher education must always be looking for-and experimenting with-new and innovative ways to use their resources to solve practical problems. Problems don't remain static-so neither can their solutions.

Finally-and perhaps most important-universities must search for ways to use the research that faculty and students are pursuing-no matter what the topic or field-to benefit their communities. After all, institutions of higher education-particularly those supported by public funds-have a responsibility, and an obligation, to help meet the needs of the public.

And as colleges and universities grapple with the challenge of resources, they must also meet a second challenge: The challenge of student engagement.

I'm reminded that when Julia Ward Howe was writing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Mt. Holyoke required that all of its applicants be able to chop wood, recite the multiplication tables-and mash potatoes.

Today's students need to learn a lot more-that service is part of good citizenship. Today's students need to learn that what's important is not what you earn- but what you contribute.and they need to learn that what's important is not how we make a living-but how we make a life.

I believe this is a message that today's students actually want to hear. A recent national poll showed that more than any other group in America, Generation Xers-the very generation that includes the majority of university students-hunger for a revitalization of community spirit.

The only way to rekindle that spirit-some would say the true pioneer spirit-is with the spark of service. Colleges and universities are in a unique position to teach our young people about public service. The challenge is to teach students about its joys and rewards -- and to ensure that all students have the opportunity to engage in some form of service.

Of course, all of us-regardless of whether we have a university connection or not-also have a responsibility to keep the pioneer spirit alive through public service. In essence, help carry the American dream to every corner of our nation. That is the challenge for all of us here today.it's a challenge that the students, faculty and staff of the University of North Carolina have been working to meet for 200 years.and will continue to meet thanks to the new "Carolina Center for Public Service."

UNC alumnus Charles Kuralt once wrote: "What is it that binds us to this place like no other? It is not the well, or the bell, or the stone walls. No. Our love for this place is based on the fact that it is-as it was meant to be-The University of the People."

I know that you will always be the "University of the People," and so help ensure that the citizens of this state-and this nation-will have a future of health and hope.of options and opportunity.of promise and possibility. That is the spirit in which I join you today -- to visit the school of public health and to dedicate this wonderful new center.