Choosing Kofi

When Kofi Annan first came to the United Nations in 1962, the world was a very different place. After studying economics in the United States and Switzerland, the Ghana native took a job as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization.

Some 35 years later, Annan ascended to the U.N.'s highest post as secretary-general.

And in May, the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize recipient will deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2005.

Given the positions he has been in over the past four decades, Annan will undoubtedly speak from experience when describing the changing world of the 21st century. That will be a boon to a university such as Penn that yearns each day to become more worldly.

But Kofi Annan is certainly not without his detractors. Controversy has swirled around his leadership of the U.N., especially in light of the organization's oil-for-food scandal that unfolded just a few months ago. Others have raised serious questions about his ability to maintain relationships with other world leaders.

Then again, who's to say a debate on the issues of international policy is out of place on a college campus?

We hope that the Penn community will take advantage of the opportunity to engage in such debate.

While he's not as original a choice as Bono was last year, Annan has plenty of experience speaking on the commencement circuit -- he has made the rounds with stops at Harvard, Duke, Northwestern, Tufts, Notre Dame and Stanford, to name a few.

Annan told Harvard grads last year to "live up to your country's best traditions of global commitment and global leadership." That's fairly generic. At least this year he will have quite a bit on his plate to talk about, including his vision for reshaping the U.N., which has been making headlines this past week.

Whether you think of Kofi Annan as enlightened or embattled, the fact of the matter is that he holds one of the most powerful and iconic positions in the world. That alone makes him a worthy selection to address Penn's most recent graduates.

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