Universities are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge through research. In this spirit, the Transforming Community Project has been created.

The project's aim is to look into Emory's history and report on the university's relationship to important racial issues, such as slavery and segregation. Such a perspective on the past is essential in moving forward in a community that often still struggles with racial issues. This project is an important and positive step in the right direction.

Almost more important than the outcome of the project is the process by which it is conducted. The group of people involved in the research must be given the unequivocal freedom to dig into the past without fear of any retribution - even if the history the research turns up isn't pretty. Only an independent project would be worth the time spent on it, and the project's outcomes could have important implications for Emory's future.

As an important part of the history of the South and of the country, Emory's records of its relation to controversial issues must be kept for the sake of history and for the sake of the future. Even Emory's newly minted Strategic Plan has a focus on race and society.

Any institution intending to study the history of sensitive racial relations like slavery and segregation would be wise to first turn a critical eye on itself.