Discussing democracy and education with Dame Louise Richardson

By: Kaitlin O’Meara, Copy Editor

This past Thursday, Oct. 2, Canisius’ Contemporary Writers Series brought Dame Louise Richardson, president of the Carnegie Corporation, to the Montante Cultural Center to discuss her work throughout her career. Prior to her current role, Richardson has served as vice chancellor of both St. Andrews University and Oxford University, and was named Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 as recognition for her assistance in the funding and creation of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine. The event was an illuminating and engaging conversation between Richardson and Canisius’ own Dr. Mick Cochrane, and attended by many members of the campus and Buffalo community, with topics ranging from free speech to the importance of literature and libraries to the importance of education.

Before the event, I was able to sit down with Richardson for a few minutes to talk about some of her work. Much of what we discussed, she later expanded on during the conversation, but I was very grateful to have had the opportunity to talk with her beforehand. 

As someone who worked for a very long time as both a professor and administrator at a variety of universities, education and access to it were very important to her, which she discussed at length. Richardson was a first-generation college student who went on to get her PhD at Harvard and teach there for 20 years, and making education more accessible is something that she has worked on throughout her career. She told me that “at Carnegie, I want to ensure that we just have maximum impact on as many people as we possibly can to open up the kind of opportunities I had for as many people as possible, because there is so much talent out there, and so much of it just needs to be given a few [opportunities], as I got.” During the conversation, she pointed to her Catholic upbringing as being an inspiration for her commitment to social justice – during her youth with Apartheid and now with education accessibility – as though all people are equal in the eyes of God in rights and value, the amount of privilege and access to opportunities varies widely, which is something that she works to change.

The Carnegie Corporation – for those who are unfamiliar with it (like I was) – was founded in 1911 and now focuses on funding education and library initiatives, with the goal of “advancing peace and education, and strengthening democracy,” as described to me by Richardson. One of their current initiatives is funding English language classes for immigrants, to help confront prejudices and provide new opportunities – especially in terms of integration and helping people join the workforce. They emphasize the importance of helping immigrants, since their founder, Andrew Carnegie, was a Scottish immigrant, her predecessor was an Armenian immigrant and she herself is an Irish immigrant, so they work to assist in creating opportunities for those who are often underserved. 

Aside from education, a lot of the conversation centered around the state of democracy, the state of free press and the state of communication in the United States. Richardson’s research throughout her career centered around terrorism and foreign policy, and during her time as principal and vice chancellor of St. Andrew’s, she became known for her defense of free speech for the faculty. She brought a nuanced perspective to issues that are impacting the world on a daily basis, including how to handle having difficult conversations with those who have opposing views. With her work at the Carnegie Foundation, she emphasized the importance of viewing the actions through the eyes of the other, to understand how their work is perceived by all members of the community. She mentioned this in terms of how they assist immigrants – shifting to the classes mentioned earlier – and in supporting local libraries through a variety of programs and funding, because there is so much “civic trust” in libraries. 

This was a fascinating conversation, and I am so grateful for the Contemporary Writers Series and the Hassett family for bringing such an interesting person to Canisius for our students and community members to hear from. I am equally grateful to Dame Louise Richardson for giving me a few minutes of her time to talk with her about some of her work, and for her interest in speaking with students here. For those who have not yet taken advantage of opportunities like the Contemporary Writers Series – or other speaker series sponsored by Canisius by various departments – I highly encourage you to go to these events, because you never know what you will learn.