National political leaders are descending onto OU’s campus Sunday and Monday for a private meeting to discuss challenges to the candidates in this year’s election.

The group will then participate in a public panel discussion for OU students, faculty, staff and alumni which is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at Catlett Music Center.

LIST OF NATIONAL LEADERS EXPECTED TO PARTICIPATE: • David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency • Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg News • David Boren, former U.S. Senator and OU President • Bill Brock, former U.S. Senator • Bill Cohen, former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator • Jack Danforth, former U.S. Senator • Susan Eisenhower, Chairman Emeritus, the Eisenhower Institute • Bob Graham, former U.S. Senator • Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator • Gary Hart, former U.S. Senator • Jim Leach, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives • Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator • Edward Perkins, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations • Chuck Robb, former U.S. Senator • Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey Governor

At OU President David L. Boren’s invitation, 15 political leaders will attend the private conference and public forum, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, and former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator Bill Cohen, according to a release.

Seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In an invitation from Boren published in the New York Times, he wrote that he hopes the meeting will stimulate meaningful debate in the current presidential campaign.

 

“Our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly and abroad,” Boren wrote in the invitation.

“Serious near term challenges include the lack of a national strategy to deal with our fiscal challenges, our educational challenges, our energy challenges, our environmental challenges, as well as the dangerous turbulence triggered by the current financial crisis.”

According to the invitation, each participant will have an opportunity to make a brief statement at the public panel discussion, but the private meeting of leaders will produce a brief joint statement for the public intended to stimulate changes in the current campaign season.

The private meeting began with an informal dinner Sunday at Boyd House to be continued the next morning preceding the public discussion.

When Nunn arrived at Boyd House on Sunday he said that they are hoping to encourage the political parties to break away from the polarizing debates that have dominated presidential discussion.

"We have to find a way to unwind that ... and that requires a lot of discussion," Nunn said.

When Nunn was asked about Bloomberg's rumored presidential run on the independent ticket, he said, "It's not impossible, but that's not what we are here to discuss."

The public panel discussion will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

A news conference which is also open to the public will follow the discussion.

 

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