Clinton, Stahl, Sanford headline Furman conference

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Among others attending will be CBS television correspondent Lesley Stahl, South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford and South Carolina Secretary of Education and U.S. Senate candidate Inez Tenenbaum.

The conference, titled "Women in Politics: Transforming Public Leadership," is sponsored by the university's Richard W. Riley Institute.

Don Gordon, director of the Riley Institute, said efforts to get Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina to attend were unsuccessful. Dole, a Republican, was expected to balance the opening session, which was supposed to feature her and Clinton, a Democrat, with Stahl as moderator.

"We wanted to hear from the most powerful women figures in the country," Gordon said. "We want a broad, non-partisan, friendly, analytic atmosphere."

Gordon said an invitation has been sent to another Republican female U.S. Senator, but that invitation has not been accepted yet. He said he believes the university has a "fairly good chance" at securing someone to replace Dole.

Though Gordon would not say who the invitation was sent to, there are only four other female Republican senators: Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Senate offices were closed Thursday because of Hurricane Isabel.

Clinton and Stahl will kick off the conference Oct. 6 with a session at the Peace Center in downtown Greenville. Securing another speaker from the other side of the isle is important, said John Simpkins, a Furman political science professor.

"We didn't want to start this as a debate," he said. "This is an educational event to get perspectives."

Other people attending will be former Salt Lake City Mayor and Greenville resident Deedee Corradini, North Greenville College professor Lisa Van Riper and state House Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg.

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, will close out the conference with a talk Tuesday evening.

Furman President David Shi said getting national leaders for the conference was difficult this year because the national political parties want their leaders to be in California at the beginning of October for the California gubernatorial recall election. However, securing speakers like Stahl and Clinton benefit both the university and the wider Greenville community, he said.

"It's a showcasing opportunity for us and speaks to another one of our priorities which is to enhance our relationship with the Greenville community by providing first-rate programming," he said.

The institute is named for Greenville native and Furman graduate Dick Riley, who served his state as governor and his country as Secretary of Education.

The Riley Institute was established at Furman in the fall of 1999 to be a host to conferences on national and international issues, provide scholarships and underwrite learning activities for Furman students and conduct workshops for secondary school teachers of government.

Last year, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke on diplomacy at the first national event for the institute.

Jason Zacher can be reached at 298-4272.