Of pingpong, debate team and an international outlook: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan '61 receives a warm welcome on his return to campus

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"Just another Saturday at Macalester," President Rosenberg quipped as he prepared to introduce the college's most famous global citizen. Kofi Annan '61 returned to campus April 22 to help inaugurate the new Institute for Global Citizenship. The United Nations' seventh secretary-general began his visit that morning by joining students from India, Bulgaria, Norway, Romania and the United States in raising the U.N. flag in the middle of campus, a tradition initiated by President Charles Turck in 1950, nine years before a genial young man from Ghana arrived at 1600 Grand Avenue. He met with his former debate teacher, Professor Emeritus Roger Mosvick '52, who helped coach him to the state oratory championship in 1961. Then he proceeded to the Field House to speak to more than 1,900 members of the Macalester community, most of them students, who spontaneously rose to their feet to greet him with a prolonged ovation. It was clear that Kofi Annan was among friends and admirers.

"For me, coming to Macalester is always a bit like homecoming," he told his listeners. "I'm especially moved to help you inaugurate the Institute for Global Citizenship. The mission of the Institute--to advance Macalester's commitment to internationalism, multiculturalism and understanding--is more important than ever in today's world...

"The Institute is the latest expression of the global outlook that has always been a part of Macalester's very heart and soul. We all have the power to make choices; we should never doubt that. We can choose to be silent and turn away or we can step forward and take action. Here at Macalester, you have chosen to make a difference, and there is so much you can do...."

Afterwards, Annan, 68, who will complete his 12 years as secretary-general on Dec. 31, 2006, went for an impromptu, 30-minute walk around the campus from which he had departed 45 years before with a B.A. in economics. He was accompanied by President Rosenberg, U.N. staff and the kind of intense security that has become commonplace for figures of his stature. At the start of his walk, an aide handed him a phone, explaining "your man in Iraq" was on the line. Talking on the phone as he walked, the secretary-general offered words of support and encouragement.

Annan paused by Macalester's athletic fields, where he set a record in the 60-yard dash and played on the soccer team. He recalled being asked to try out for the football team because of his speed. Since he weighed only 138 pounds--"I was like a piece of paper," he once said--the tryout lasted 15 minutes. In Weyerhaeuser Chapel he briefly studied the 19th century Torah mounted in the entryway and spoke with Chaplain Lucy Forster-Smith. And he wanted to see the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center, where students were eating lunch.

"As we went to each side of the cafeteria, the same thing happened," Rosenberg said. "Heads turned, students pointed, it got a little silent, and then they burst into applause and cheering. That had to be a great moment for him."

The U.S. State Department's security arrangements, noticeably more intense than on his last visit in 1998, required all spectators to enter through a single door and to be seated in the Field House before Annan's arrival. That and the search of purses and large handbags meant some students and others still waiting in line were turned away after the event began.

But as he walked across campus, the extra security didn't deter some students from rushing to join Annan and have their picture taken. "I didn't see him turn down a single request," Rosenberg said.

Sheena Paul '08, who spent the first nine years of her life in Canada and now calls New Delhi, India, home, took part in the flag-raising ceremony. She also attended the luncheon where Annan received the 2006 Award for Principled Leadership by the Caux Round Table, an international network of business and political leaders advocating an ethical approach to capitalism. Although she thought the secretary-general spoke eloquently about global issues in his prepared remarks in the Field House, "I have to say that I enjoyed the question and answer session more, probably because most of the questions were from Mac students such as myself, and were thus slightly more politically charged than his address was. I think he received the questions well and answered them directly and as honestly as possible," Paul said.

One questioner wanted to know: "What Macalester experience or courses or activities set you on the path toward becoming secretary-general of the United Nations?" His reply picked up on President Rosenberg's introduction, which noted that, in addition to all his other accomplishments as a student, Annan was "runnerup in both men's and mixed doubles in the 1960 table tennis tournament held in Cochran Lounge."

"The pingpong tournaments [set me on the path]," Annan replied to laughter and applause.

"In all honesty," he added, "[it was] a combination of factors from the professors; from my debating experience with [Professor] Roger Mosvick and others; my experience with my fellow students on the athletic field....It was a complete learning experience....The whole culture, the whole atmosphere, the family atmosphere here at Macalester, really did help me a lot. I think the international outlook was extremely important, and I'm really happy that that tradition has been maintained throughout the decades."

For Annan's debate teacher, Professor Mosvick, there is still a link between the student from Ghana whom he met when both were young men and the graying world leader. "Seeing Kofi again after five years, I was impressed again with his energy, his quiet persistence and his optimism in the face of impossibly difficult global issues that would discourage anyone else," Mosvick said.