Joe Clark shares educational message at Briar Cliff University presentation

By KENNY KEANE, Globe staff reporter
Posted April 17, 2003

With a resounding voice that would be difficult for anyone to ignore, Joe Clark, the man whose story was portrayed by two-time Oscar nominee Morgan Freeman in the movie Lean on Me, spoke to those gathered on April 10 in the St. Francis Center of the Stark Student Center on the Briar Cliff University campus in Sioux City.

Each year, the Briar Cliff lecture-concert committee invites a speaker to present a topic that is relative to the university's mission statement.

"One of the reasons we brought him on campus was because as a Franciscan institution we're supposed to care and have compassion for our community and everything and everyone involved in that community," said Tonya Zielich, vice president of the Student Government at BCU and a member of the lecture-concert committee. "He's taken some big steps to help others and sometimes not always a popular move on his part. He took the chance. He has strong convictions.

"I think that's one of the things we're taught at Briar Cliff. We're liberally educated, and part of that is hopefully when we leave here we'll have the confidence and the skills to hear both sides and make our own judgement."

At an afternoon press conference, Clark shared the message he intended to deliver to those who attended his speech that evening - particularly for the professors and students as he shared his thoughts on education.

"My message to future teachers: be dedicated, be committed to serving others," Clark said. "Let that be your primary goal - your primary emphasis - recognizing that the family structures are dysfunctional. If you don't believe that you can bring about a change in that particular area and in the lives of those young people then you should not go into education."

Zielich happens to be going into that field as a senior elementary education major.

"I think the most important thing is to have convictions and to be able to stand up for those," she said. "Sometimes it's difficult to teach the way we as teachers think is going to be the most productive for the students in our classroom. I think there'll come a point when you'll have to put your beliefs on the line, say what you think and be able to stand up for them."

That is exactly what Clark did in 1984 when he took over as principal of Eastside High School in Paterson, N.J. After two years of his leadership, New Jersey's governor declared the formerly raucous institution a model school.

After resigning as principal of Eastside High in 1991, Clark began speaking on the country's lecture circuit, which now includes a stop at Briar Cliff.

To start off the evening, Nehemiah Tezeno, a sophomore member of the Student Government, sang Lean on Me with his brother to open for Clark prior to his speech.

One thing Clark said he likes about Catholic institutions - having spoken at scores of them - is that they have more unity.

"My son graduated from Villanova. They just had it," Clark said. "You were a Wildcat. You were from Villanova. I liked that. They worked together collectively."

This was also part of the message that Clark said he wanted to share with the students at BCU.

"The big thing I want students here to receive is the importance of serving others whether they look like you or not," he said. "I want students to take from my presentation the importance of working together collectively as Americans. They are to stand up for what they think is right and hold unswervingly, resolutely and implacably to their resolves."