After a weekend of networking and discussing the world’s pressing social, economic, and technological problems, the annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting concluded Saturday evening with a plenary session hosted by President Bill Clinton and comedian/pundit Stephen Colbert.
Following an interview that will air on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report on Monday night, Clinton and Colbert opened the session to questions from the audience of college students.
The former president answered questions on everything from his love of the saxophone to more serious topics such as poverty, inequality, and sex slavery. On that last point, Clinton said part of the solution must be to address issues head-on without bias or stigma. “I think you have to talk about it,” he said. “Most people don’t know how much sexual slavery there still is in the world today. But I think we have to get people who do know and who are serious about it to talk more widely about it.”
He cited a recent New York Times article documenting a 6-year-old Afghani girl who had been offered as collateral for her father’s unpaid debt. “That’s the story of life for millions of people across the world,” he said.
When asked about the biggest challenges facing CGI, Clinton discussed the difficulty of funding projects and mobilizing support. “The great thing about CGI, it’s created a global network of giving,” he said. “But the bad thing is sometimes, no matter how good something is, it doesn’t echo. It doesn’t pick up enough support. It doesn’t swell out.”
He pointed to climate change initiatives as among the most frustrating for CGI to pursue. “We seem incapable as a country of doing things on a large scale if, whatever the thing is, has a lot of moving parts,” he said of mobilizing the American people to make environmental commitments. “Thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people have to agree to do the same thing, even if it’s a simple thing. And we’re missing the boat here.”
Duke University student Julia Zuckerbrod asked Clinton which of the issues that the conference addressed is the most pressing. “When I started, it was that people were dying like flies from AIDS,” Clinton said. “There’s been a lot of progress in healthcare generally in the last decade. Today, I think the biggest problem is economics and jobs.”
A major component of the job crisis on a global scale, Clinton said, is a lack of technology and resources in developing countries. “If I could wave a magic wand and bring to smallholder farmers in Africa and remote parts of East Asia and the poorer parts of Latin America and Central America, things that I know would allow them to be self-sustaining and to feed their neighbors and even to export food, it would make a big difference. If I could implement some of the things that I know would generate more jobs, I would do that.”
When asked a similar question, Colbert agreed about the urgency of addressing economic inequalities around the world. “I’m old-fashioned,” he told an audience member. “I have a very Dickensian view of charity. Widows and starving children. A child who doesn’t have enough to eat kills me to consider.”
Also on Clinton’s ideal agenda would be expanding care for sufferers of mental illness. “I think that in general, the United States has not done enough on this front,” he said. “I think we should be pushing for more community facilities.”
Davis Lau, a student at the New School in New York City, called both Clinton and Colbert “huge inspirations to me.” Another student recalled “voting” for President Clinton in 1996 by calling in to Fox Kids.
When asked whether he would prefer eight more years as president or 16 guaranteed completed initiatives, Clinton answered without hesitation. “I would rather keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “I think I have learned how to do it, and I’m not sure anyone else would be doing this, whereas I’m quite sure there will always be a lot of talented people who are dying to be president of the United States.”
Clinton closed the session by announcing the winner of the CGI U bracket challenge. Sixteen student commitments competed for the top spot, as determined by online voting. Davier Rodriguez, a graduate student at Arizona State University, was declared the winner for his work through DREAMZone, an organization that offers mentoring and resources to undocumented immigrants at ASU. Clinton presented Rodriguez with a basketball signed by “Coaches Clinton and Colbert.”
In keeping with the focus on social media throughout the weekend, Colbert created a spoof Twitter account for the former president during the interview portion of the session. The account profile stated, “I am William Jefferson Billy Jeff Rodham Clinton. Stephen Colbert is my BFF.”
@PrezBillyJeff’s first Tweet appeared at 4:09 p.m. on Saturday:
“Just spent amazing time with Colbert! Is he sane? He is cool! #cgiu.”
The full interview with President Clinton and Stephen Colbert will air on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report on Monday, April 8, at 10 p.m.
You can also watch the closing conversation on CGI U's website.
