Welcome back, Wabash. It’s been a tame three-month divorce for students, faculty, and the campus, but we’ve all returned once again to commence another autumn term. I’ve visited campus a few times this summer, and it has been a busy place. Crawford Hall is gone and the new Tau Kappa Epsilon site stands in its place on Wabash Avenue. The awkward no-mans-land walkway on the corner of Hays Hall has been made straightforward. Literally, it is now connected and you don’t have to walk around it anymore. The business office is nice and new. The bookstore is expanded and freshened.
For Wabash veterans the new changes are indeed “new changes.”
Construction crews replaced our students while we were all being productive summer-break college students. Okay, so we all have different definitions of “summer productivity”. Nonetheless, we have returned.
For our new brethren, welcome to campus. Welcome to your families as well. You almost thought I was leaving you out didn’t you? I couldn’t do that. I hope your pre-college summer treated you well. Some of you I have met, and some of you I will meet. Your resumes look good and the students of the college welcome you amongst our ranks. Your Wallyship begins this fall (and fortunately for you, lasts a lifetime). Many if not most of you had active high school years. I encourage you to maintain that activity and to spur new activity on campus. Academics, athletics, and extracurriculars await your attention.
As you may know, this November will introduce the 175th year of our college. That’s a lot of Wabash men hearing and reading welcome-back articles on the front-page of the Bachelor. See, the new guys already have something in common with the rest of you. Seriously, look forward to some memorable events on campus associated with this birthday. We’ll take down the Bell and re-present it to ourselves as a birthday gift from DePauw (they’ll forget to sign the card, I’m sure). Yes, our frontier school has come a long way, and I am confident we are going to learn about some of those achievements this year.
This year President White is releasing to us the administration’s strategic plan for the college. I want each of you to participate in the discussions associated with this process. We can’t have a college without our students, faculty, staff, and community, so I ask each of you to help – communicate. Discuss the changes with each other and with college officials.
All right, I’ll end the responsibility section of my welcome with that little request. I’ll spare you another Wabashian call-to-arms from me for now. You’ll be getting the emails from Vice President Boarman and I soon enough. All-campus emails have returned, as well.
The changes on campus go beyond the plentiful aesthetic changes. We have a new yearbook Chief Editor with a proven publications track record. We have a new Bachelor Editor-in-Chief with an award-winning reputation and wit to match. The Senior Council welcomes its new councilmen. Varsity sports have new faces in their leading ranks. The faculty and staff receive many. Indeed, student leadership, faculty, and staff greet new people.
But after three years on campus I can tell you that these new paths, offices, professorships, students, buildings, trees, shrubs, plants, and leaders feel familiar every year. Strike that. They feel “familial” every year. No matter what changes our campus witnesses in its three-month deprivation of student, faculty life it always feels comfortable upon our return. We erect pristine buildings, welcome new students and staff, trim the trees, and shine the Bell once again, and yet it feels like the annual family reunion. Those who have returned to campus many times know from where I speak. The new guys have yet to experience this little feeling.
So, to the Wallies of 2011, the returning community, and the new members of Wabash College: Welcome back. It’s gonna be a good year.