Former Duke President Nannerl Keohane led a political theory talk Thursday—the first she has given at Duke since leaving the University a decade ago.
Keohane, Duke’s first female president, served from 1993 to 2004 and is credited with advancing Duke’s global reputation and increasing faculty diversity. Since leaving Duke, Keohane moved to Princeton University, where she is currently a distinguished visiting professor in the program in law and public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs. Her talk, a political theory workshop, focused on ethical dilemmas in political leadership.
“I come back about once a year but I’ve never before been asked back to give a talk in my field, rather than as former President,” Keohane said. “It feels great to be back."
During her talk, Keohane connected lessons from political theory about leadership to ethical dilemmas she faced in her own presidency. The main question she addressed was whether a political leader who wants to govern effectively can be justified in acting immorally.
“Academic leaders must sometimes confront certain ethical dilemmas—how to deal with divestment from certain industries or student protests against sweatshops," Keohane said. "I speak from experience on both accounts,”
Keohane acknowledged the challenges of being in a position of leadership and questioned whether leaders should be held to a different ethical standard. She added that no matter what action she took, someone would have questioned the morality of her decision.
“We should be grateful for the leaders who manage to navigate successfully through the [depth] of ethical dilemmas the rest of us don’t have to face.” Keohane said. "However, we should also hold leaders accountable when they engage in morally dubious behavior and duck from their responsibility.”
The three main qualities of effective leadership are passion, responsibility and sense of proportion—displaying an appropriate amount of rationality, Keohane said.
“Passion and proportion are rarely combined in the same person and that’s why great leaders are so few," she said.
Keohane complimented other Duke presidents including Terry Sanford and Richard Brodhead, both of whom embody a balance of passion and proportion.
“Terry Sanford was my mentor in many ways," she said. "He cared deeply about the excellence of the University but also had that twinkle in his eye."
Trinity freshman Aron Rimany said he enjoyed the structure of Keohane's talk.
“I liked how it was interdisciplinary," he said. "[Keohane] was able to extend her focus to different fields like international law."
Aside from her focus on institutional leadership, Keohane emphasized qualities student leaders should aspire to have.
“You must do what you’re doing in service of a cause that is bigger than your own personal ambition," she said.
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