Wabash President Patrick White knows the fall semester was a difficult one almost as well as anyone.
The tragic death of a student and a beloved professor along with the colossal loss of about $130 million from the much touted endowment has left White leading a school hurting financially and emotionally.
White has endured student and alumni criticism over his decision to close the Beta Psi Chapter of Delta Tau Delta and for his choice of message at the mandatory Chapel Talk. While he empathizes with the clear frustrations of students and alumni, White feels he took all of the appropriate actions. White understands the criticism of his mandatory talk but believes he said exactly what he needed to say at the time.
“I think some walked into the Chapel thinking ‘here comes the big announcement about the verdict on the Delts,’” he said. “We weren’t ready for that. I didn’t know at that moment what was going to happen. And nobody told me to hold it back, that wasn’t the case. We were figuring it out. I got out what I needed to say and in a certain sense what I was able to say at that time.”
In order to understand these frustrations, White and senior members of his administration as well as faculty members met with students in all of the different living units over dinner last semester. He noted those dinner conversations helped him understand students’ opinions regarding his decisions.
“They (the conversations) weren’t always easy,” White said. “Sometimes you could see anger. Sometimes you could see disappointment, puzzlement, confusion. I think it helped me see how complicated our students’ understanding of the Gentleman’s Rule is and how committed Wabash men were to the Gentleman’s Rule.”
White acknowledged that many students felt his decisions were eroding the basic principles of the Gentleman’s Rule, but he said the opposite is in fact true.
“I’m not trying to do away with the Gentleman’s Rule,” White said. “I’m trying to protect it and hang on to it. Now, people might have their own view, but my stance was to try and hang on to it and really see how it gets lived out.”
White said what he did learn in those sometimes contentious conversations were how much students cared about their College.
“I came away from the experience realizing we have passionate alums, passionate students who care about the college intensely – no one could have set through those discussions and not have the sense that Wabash men care about the college and care about their experience and care about seeing it whole. And that’s huge.”
White said he saw this passion in College wide programs like the “6-Pack” series sponsored by the W.A.R. Council. He said the size and communication style of the presentations will find success in the Wabash community.
“Dean (Tom) Bambrey and I used to talk about the math of small numbers here at Wabash,” he said. “Five or six people can really make a huge difference. I think (with) alcohol education and so many other things that we need to talk about, it’s a handful of people influencing another handful of people.”
White noted while the deaths of Johnny Smith and Professor William Placher loomed high in the minds of the Wabash community, the undertone of impending budgetary constraints provided an unwelcome subtext for the past semester.
“We just didn’t wake up just one morning and found out that (Bernard) Madoff made off with our money,” White said, “that would be a different matter. But this is the endowment, this is the economy, this is people’s investments and our donor’s investments. This is a very big deal. This is a very scary moment.”
White was also quick to point out that any effect of the endowment slide on the College wouldn’t go into effect for several more years. In order to provide stability, Wabash budgets over a 12-quarter system. That allows the College time to prepare for fluctuations in the endowment.
“The stock market tanked, but it’s not like 2008-2009 is hard,” he said. “This year’s just fine. 2009-2010, that’s going to be some challenge. But it’s in the subsequent years when our 12 quarter rolling average is starting to catch up and we’re going to have to deal with less income coming from the endowment. The board will look at that hard, and we’ll have to have some conversations about that.”
That less income could translate into less money for staple programs like Study Abroad and Immersion Learning.
“The number of students we sent abroad is kind of ‘well, this is the number of students who applied,” he said, “and this is the number of guys who filled out the proper paper work;’ we haven’t costed that out very carefully. Probably next year we’ll be sending fewer students than this year.”
While the next few years may be difficult, White is still committed to what he sees as central to Wabash – education through discourse. While all of his decisions may not have been popular, White is willing to listen to what others have to say and be educated.
“I think any president, any dean, any faculty member, any student worth their salt is always being educated,” he said. “The worst thing that happens is when we make rigid our understanding of Wabash and make completely rigid our understanding of what Wabash students are.”