Colby Magazine Colby Magazine

Volume 90 Issue 1 Winter 2001 Article 7

January 2001

The Colby Difference The Colby Difference

Gerry Boyle Colby College

Alicia Nemiccolo MacLeay Colby College

Stephen Collins Colby College

Robert Gillespie Colby College

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/colbymagazine

Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Boyle, Gerry; MacLeay, Alicia Nemiccolo; Collins, Stephen; and Gillespie, Robert (2001) "The Colby Difference," Colby Magazine: Vol. 90 : Iss. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/colbymagazine/vol90/iss1/7

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T H E A R T S M A R Y L 0 W C O M M O N S

f very Tuesday Night, They're Just Folk

M ath professors Thomas

Berger, left, and W i l l i a m

Berli nghoff, perform in t h e

Colby Coffeehouse d u ring

festivities m arking the

i naugurat ion of Pre sident

Bro Ada m s . Berger and

Berl i nghoff lead a fol k-m u s i c

gathering ever y week.

The -+O or so people assembled in the Coffeehouse in Ma1-y Low already had been treated to fiddler John Kuehne (information technology services) and his bluegrass band, and singer/guitarist Eli zabeth Leonard (history) was waiting in the wings. Filling the middle of the inauguration weekend bil l were math professors \Vi l l iam Berl inghoff and Thomas Berger. " I 'm Bill and this is Tom," Berlinghoff said, giving his guitar strings a last tweak. "vVe're from the math department, but we have other l ives, too."

Three years ago the pair attended a math department get-together at the home of another member of the department. Berl inghoff brought his guitar, fo lk music was played, and a chapter in Colby Coffeehouse history had begun. Every Tuesday night since, they have hosted a hootenanny in Mary Low Hal l . (Berl inghoff, who teaches every other semester as a visiting professor, comes even during terms when he is not teaching.) They typical ly attract 20 or more students, and a sprinkling of area folk musicians, for two and a half hours of participatory music. "One student was interested in playing the harmonica," Berger said, "so T gave him a harmonica. I have a variety of [Hohner] Marine Bands. They just play and play and play."

And so do Berlinghoff and Berger, nearly -+O years after each first picked up an instru­ment. ow their repertoire includes songs by Bob Dylan, Y\'oodie Guthrie, Gordon Bok, James Tuylor and a lot of artists in between .

This acoustic music from before the beginning of recorded-at least in terms of CD burning-time might seem the last thing that would appeal to the generation of rap, hip hop and tech no. But Berl inghoff and Berger find that today's Colby students have folky roots. "Often what we'l l hear is, 'Oh, yeah. I know that stuff,"' Berl inghoff said. "':\ l y parents had those albums."' -Geny Boyle '";8

"We are gratefu l for the opportunity to work in a community that renews itself each year with bright, energetic young people; to be invigorated by such splendid faculty col leagues; to meld our life work with a passionate belief in the l iberal arts; and to be part of a

team that fervently bel ieves in this great institution. " Dean of the College Earl Smith, bringing greetings from the administration

C O L B Y · W I N T E R 2 0 0 1 I 7

S C I E N C E A N D T E C H N O L O G Y

A hand-held global positioning system (GPS) unit can pinpoint a pot on the surface of the earth within one meter. t Colby, re­earcher use GP to record the location of geologic samples and to

record the range of indi\·idual birds, among other applications. C ing GP to turn an old-fashioned campus scavenger hunt into a high-tech tri\·ia chase was part of The Colby Difference.

fi\·e team of students, faculty, ta ff, alumni and trustees raced from clue to clue Friday afternoon, their locations were recorded e\·ery fi\·e seconds.

E\ ent co-chair . ociate Profes or of Chemistry D . \Vhimey King dreamed up the trea ure hunt after he heard Larkspur Morton Lalk about her research rndying gray jays. "I Tere' technology being used b� people on campu and in society in general ," said King. "\\'ouldn't iL be neat ro do something fun that incorporates that?"

\ course \l as mapped clues \1 ere prepared, and a computer program \1 as \I ritten b� John Kuehne (TT ) u ing GPS and G lobal I n f ormation S� stem (C I S) to display on an aerial phorograph where the teams 11 em.

D A N A

Whitney King (chemistry) instructs a

team competing in the GPS

scavenger hunt on campus during

inauguration weekend.

D I N I N G H A L L

A Race Walk for the Times

King arranged an elaborate handicap system for the hw1t, using average team ages and bonuses for recruiting trustees, staff and community members.

One (fairly easy) clue, "A solid reminder of the promise of research in the pursuit of levity," sent team s scurrying for the anti­gravity monument near the tennis courts. Afterward GPS data was loaded inro a computer, which plotted courses and speeds. Results were presented that night in Dana.

Organizers were able to verify that each team reached required destinations in the correct order, and it was clear how quickly and how far afield teams traveled. Though the hunt was conducted over a two-kilometer course, teams averaged five kilometers in their wanderings . In the end the electronic evidence helped decide the winners. " I t was pretty obvious when people were in a car," said King, who assessed a penalty for the vehicular transgression and threw the race into a tie. -Alicia emiccolo NfacLeay '97

"You wil l bring to Colby an exacting intell igence, great enthusiasm mixed with great stamina, generous confidence in people at their best and l imited interest in them at their least, an eagerness to stretch Colby mixed with a firm respect for its traditions, and, above al l , your sense that a good laugh can carry us further than any expression of worry. "

T Villiam ;w. Chace, president of Emo1y U11iversity, Adams's friend rmd fo1111er colleague

8

" I bring you greetings and a warm welcome from the 22,373 Colby Col lege alumni . . . a diverse organization with representatives

from all fifty states, three U.S. territories and an impressive seventy foreign countries. " John B. Devine Jr. '78, president of the Altmmi Association rmd chair of the flluumi Council

S E R V I C E C O T T E R U N I 0 N

In the Fishbowl, between the Cotter Unjon lobby and the Spa, past and present snidents from Professor Phyl lis Mannocchi's American snidies course, American Dreams: The Documentary Film Perspec­tive, projected The Colby Difference on screen. Documentary videos showed dispossessed teenagers, \ tVatervil le firefighters, a Latino bodega, convicted felons who visit schools to scare students straight and women who perform as exotic dancers in Lewiston.

The course description reads: "Through a series of essays, students work toward a creative resolution of our issues and di lem­mas." Mannocchi says the course gets students in touch with a larger community and i ts problems. The students are transformed, sensitized to worlds outside the Colby campus and empowered by their own success as video technjcians and storytel lers.

" I had no idea my team was capable of creating something we would be so proud of," said Lindsay Hayes '99, who came back to Colby to introduce a video about Watervi l le teenagers struggl ing on the margins of society. " I t's amazing how invested we got," she said. " I t makes me want to make a difference. It makes me want to be a thoughtful and present parent when that time comes for me. It shows how important parents and teachers are," said Hayes, who is applying to graduate programs in education. " I keep a copy of that video with me always; I 'm so proud of i t."

New Perspectives Transform Students

Mark Edgar '0 1 showed a documentary on Watervi l le firefighters. The son of a police officer, he volunteered at the \IVatervi l le Fire Department and got the feel ing that "no one ever l istens to these guys."

After an intense semester in production, Edgar and his team showed their video last spring in the annual American Dreams presentation. Six fire trucks parked outside Given Auditorium that njght, and the firemen watched. Said Edgar, "All eight of these big, burly guys had tears in their eyes," watchjng the video probe feelings about accident victims they couldn't save, risks they l ive with and a comrade who succumbed to cancer. At the encl it was the firefighters who received a standing ovation.

"This is the thing I ' l l take away from Colby and show people," Edgar said. "Phyllis has the power l ike I 've never seen in a professor to motivate students." -Stephen Collins '74

From left, M atthew Reeber '01 , Lindsay Prich a rd '01 and S a rah Belanger '01 , m e mbers of Phyl l i s Mannocc h i ' s American Studies course, American Dream s :

T h e Documentary Fi l m Perspective , at t h e v ideo edit ing station i n M i l l e r

Library. The t r i o produced " At Th is Poi nt i n My Life , " a v i d e o about prison

inmates who travel to schools to speak about the m i stakes they've m a d e .

C O L B Y · W I N T E R 2 0 0 1 I 9

colby INAUGURAL address President William D . Adams, Sat urday, October 2 1 , 2 0 0 0

Presidential inaugurations have been uncommon i n the modern

l i fe of Colby-only six in the entire 20th century and only two in the

last 40 year . I contemplated this day and what I might say to you,

these facts were \·ery much on my mind. If Colby's h istory is in any

way predicti\·e-an d I \·ery much hope it is-this moment will not

come agam soon. \\nat ort of moment is it? In the most common meaning of the

word, it i of cour e a moment of beginning, the start of something

new. And what i new, what begins today, is only partly connected to

the relatively unfamil iar face among you, though that is not uni mpor­

tant. The ful lest meaning of this day embraces the entire Colby com­m u n i t:y a n d s ign a l s a col lective begi n n ing, or more p recisely a re-begi n n i ng, of the common enterprise. It is a moment, then, that lead u naturally to recal l our most fundamental commitments and

the way in which we currently meet tl1em. In a till broader ense, howe\·er, the moment is also about the future

and things not yet known. This sense of anticipation is wonderfully in­scribed in the ro t of tl1e word "inaugurate," which has to do with "au­gur" and "auguration" and the interpretation of signs and omens.

The classicists among us know already what the 0-'ford English Dic­tio11my says about this matter. The augur was "a religious official among

the Roman whose du�· it was to predict future events and advise the course of public busine s, in accordance witl1 omens derived from the

flight and singing and feeding of birds, the appearance of tl1e entrails of sacrificial \·ictims, celestial phenomena and other portents."

\ \'ishing to leave no stone unturned, the inaugural commi ttee has cle\ erly arranged for pigeons and the sacri fice of the represen­tati \ eS of certai n neighboring l iberal arts col leges. Your names wil l be ca l ied short! r

\ bit more seriou ly, I want to share witl1 you today some tl1oughts inspired b) these related meanings of tl1e inaugural moment: the sense of collcctin� begi nning and purpose, and the sense of looking ahead ro sec \1 hat might be coming.

I· ngaging fi rst in the role of the augur, I would tell you that many of the 01m:ns hO\·ering about this remarkable enterprise of ours are mmt encouraging. I ndeed, 1 think that it may not be too stretch ing to SJ) that th ings ha\ c nc\ er looked more promising in se\•eral impor­t•llH \I a) s.

I he most encouraging omen of a l l , of course, is the level of inter­est rn the cducauon \1 c prm idc. L ike other highly selecti\•e liberal .I ris col leges, Colll) has seen applicatiom gr<)\\ steadily and impres­'>I\ d) rn recent ) e;1rs . \ l ore and more high school seniors are seeking u-. out , • l lld the student \I C ulnmatcl) enrol l are b) e\ ery measure

more 1.1 lcnted 11 ith C<Kh pa.,.,rng ) C<lr.

Transformed for the inaugural bal l , the College field house was

packed with students. staff, alumni and friends. Opposite, the three

11 ing Colb presidents shared a moment. From left, Bro Adams ,

Robert E . L. Stnder I I and 1 l l iam R Cotter.

1 0

\Nh at those students fi nd when they a rrive has al so changed in

many ways over tl1e past several decades. The physical changes­

from academic and residential spaces to the ubiq uity of new tech­

nologies-are notable and exci ting. But in sti l l deeper and more

consequential ways, the power and range of our teach i n g and learn­

ing have a lso advanced appreciably. \Ve offer more in more compel­l ing ways tha n ever before, and tl1e creativity, professional aspi ration

and competitive pressures that fuel tl1ese changes wi l l certa in ly not abate any time soon.

The College's capacity to respond to these pressures and opportu­nities has depended in part on our recent success in augmenting the financial resources available to us. That success has had a great deal to do with the remarkable vigor of the U.S. economy during the past decade. Partly as a result of that vigor, several du ngs are true. First,

the financial markets have permitted us to i ncrease our endowment even as we i nvest su·ategical ly in tl1e i nstitution . And second, philan­tl1ropic support of tl1is and similar i nstitutions has expanded dramati­

cally in recent years.

Other encouraging omens might be observed here, but I tl1 ink this is sufficient to suggest that the picture of what tl1e world has in store for us is reassuring in several important ways.

But you wi l l probably not be surprised to hear me say just as quickly tl1at tl1is is not tl1e whole picture. And while it may not have been political ly correct for the augur of ancient times to mention less than perfectly reassuring things, let me tel l you what else I thi n k the " fl ight and singing and feeding of birds" a re currently tel l ing us.

Nearly 40 years ago, Clark Kerr, chancel lor of the University of California, published The Uses of the University, a short but remark­able book on the future of An1erican higher education. The basic pren1ise of tl1at important work was that the American system of 11-igher

education had entered a new and altogether

d i fferent ph ase of i ts h isto ry, which Kerr cal l ed its "second great transformation . " At the very heart of that trans formation, he ar­

gued, was the growing importance of the "knowledge industry"-our industry-to the basic structure and fundamental health of the American economic system.

At the risk of being sl i gh tly hyperbol ic , I th ink it is the case that American higher edu­cation may be approaching i ts "th ird great transformation," or at least an im portant new cycle within i ts sec­ond. And that transformation is rooted in the steady i ntensification of the reciprocal dependency between our enterprise and the nation's productive l i fe and organizations.

The evidence for this amplification is everywhere, but nowhere is i t more obvious than i n the closer and more consequential collabora­tion between col leges and universities and the many small and large corporate concerns committed to the elaboration of new technolo­gies-informational , biological and productive. These "kJlowledge­industry cl usters," as Kerr cal led them, have emerged across the coun try, in both fami l iar and new places, and in many forms of indus­tria l and economic col laboration.

Principal ly because of these connections, American colleges and universities have experienced deeper and more insistent demands for a perfectly obvious kind of programmatic relevance. The demands come from two directions-from the corporate and industrial consumers of tl1e products of tl1e knowledge industry and from parents and prospec­tive students who clearly and correctly sense tl1e increasingly tight cor­relation between higher education and the prospects for professional

success in an economy so dom inated by knowledge. A related change of much recent discussion is tl1e no­

tion of "the virtual un iversity." The u ltimate promise of this formation is unclear, but i ts advocates are already chal lenging the core assumptions and condition of the l ibera l arts col lege-the campus, the classroom and the real (as opposed to virtual) relationships among students and teachers in a residential setting.

Another even more radical prospect, less broadly dis­cussed but every bit as fateful, is the possi bi l ity tl1at tl1e lmowledge industry wi l l begin to migrate, in part or in whole, outside the nearly exclusive control of colleges and universities and into for-profit corporate settings of ei­ther the virtual or embodied \'ariety.

1 \.vo forces are driving this prospect. First,

and in spite of tl1e recently strong economy, powerful concerns about the steadily grow­

ing cost of our enterprise remain very much al ive. That concern wil l surely reemerge, and when it does so too wi l l the notion that other, more efficient means of transferring knowl­edge need to be developed.

In the meantime, and in light of the mag­n i t u d e o f the e d u c a t i o n m a rk e t in t h e U n i ted S ta tes, there is p l e n ty of interest

among i nvestors and en trepreneurs a l i ke in the prospect of profit­making a l ternatives to traditiona l , not-for-profit public and private educational i nstitutions.

All of these trends and pressures have conn·ibuted in \'arious ways to tl1e erosion of the ideals and practices of l iberal education. That erosion has not a lways been noisy, but i ts effects have been steady and incontrovertible: of tl1e roughly 1 4 mil l ion students enrolled today in this country's col leges and universities, fewer than 2 5 0,000-ahom 2 percent-are enrol led in residential l iberal arts colleges l i ke Col by.

And herein l ies the precise and im portant irony of our situation. \t\lhi le Colby and other highly selective national l ibera l arts col leges flourish and grow stronger each year, tl1e practice of l iberal learning in the broader context of American h igher education i s in decline.

This trend is worrisome for se\•eral reasons. First, the relevance and impact of our enterprise has in part to do witl1 i ts reach across the American social landscape. \Ve ought to \1ew tl1e narrowing of that landscape witl1 some concern .

Second, one of the important characteristics of l iberal learning has been its commitment to a un ifying vision of the educational enter­prise across discipl inary and professional academic boundaries. The weakening of that vision wil l lead to the further compartmenta l iza­tion of our intel lectu a l practices, with distressing consequences for our public l i fe.

Consider how much shared intel lectual purpose and interdiscipl i­nary dialogue it wi l l require for us as a nation to deal with the mas­sively complex issues that tl1e knowledge industry has a lready placed in our laps and that are now matters of high public policy debate. The moral and pol itical conundrums created by the inf ormation technol­ogy revol ution and the biological sciences, for instance, arc not vague apparitions looming somewhere dmm the track; they are going by us even as we speak. How will our students-the ultimate arbiters of many of tliese matters in tl1e pol i tical realm-acquire the intel lectual capacities to deal with them i f we do not teach tliem?

" It is a moment both solemn and joyous, both excellent and fair, as the poet Emily Dickinson puts it, and l ike the conferral of an honorary degree, this inaugural that welcomes William D. Adams into our diverse community of

scholars is for all time-irrevocable. No one else can or ever wi l l be the nineteenth president of Colby Col lege . " Lee Family Professor of English Cedric B1yn11t, bri11gi11g greetings from the faculty

C O L B Y · W I N T E R 2 0 0 1 I 1 1

What do a l l of these omens-the encouraging and the worri­ome, the comforting and the not so comforting-mean to

us as \\ e con ider the other side of this inaugural moment, the mo­ment of col lecti\·e beginning and renewaP

\\'e hould agree to recognize, fi rst of a l l , that the encouraging omens I mentioned earlier ha\·e a great deal to do \\'ith the commit­ment and accomplishments of this community over many year . The Colb� of thi precise moment-so admirably aro·acti\•e and strong­is something that e\·eryone as ociated with i t-students and faculty, administrarors and upport staff, trustees and alumni , parents and friends-should \·iew with enormou pride.

Fspeci a l l ) in this inaugural moment, that recogni tion should give us comiderable confi dence-confidence in our fundamental quality .111d capabil ities, first and f oremost, and confidence in the l ikelihood that \\ e can be e\ en better and stronger in the future.

But better in \\ hat speci fic \\·a)·s: \\'ith an eye on all the omens, let me mennon hriefl� se\ eral that are on my mind.

'\o\\ .111d in the years ahead, I think \\ e must be committed to the stead) rei m ention of the practices of l iberal learning. I say this not becau'e I fear that demand for the particular brand of l iberal learning \\ e prm ide \\ i l l someho\\ e\ aporate-the omens here suggest some­rh 1ng \ e� different-but rather because our rrength and excellence c.:re.He the opportuni� ro do some stri king things, and because the d� n;1 1 1 1 1c leadersh ip of places like Colb) \\ i l l hm·e a great deal to do \I nh the pro pec:rs for l iberal learning in the broader conte:-.t of \meri­c:.1 11 h 1!,d1er educ.nion.

\1 the rhk of 'ounding i ronic and perhaps e\ en contradicto�·. let me.: 'll!!!!C.:'L th .11 the.: gu iding spirit of th1, rc.:1m ention should be a kind

o! pr.1 !!111 .Hhlll . B� th1' I do not me.1n a n;1rro11 I � uti l i tarian \ ision. I nw.1 11 1 11'1c.:.1d 11 1 1 11\ okc.: the.: ph i lmophic.11 pr;1gm<1tism that \ \ l l l iam

Flanked by dignitaries and friends of the College, Bro Adams, right,

waits to deliver his inaugural address. From left are Colleen A.

Khoury '64, v ice chair of the Board of Trustees; Congressman Tom

Allen and James B. Crawford '64 , chair of the Board of Trustees.

James h ad in mind when he spoke of h is own philosophy as being

concerned with "the conduct of l i fe . "

\\'hat Jam es had i n mind, I think, m ight be best understood i n

terms of several closely related q uestions. And t h e first a n d most im­

portan t relates to our \�sion of the h istorical moment we i n habit and

the challenging terrain that a l l of us encounter as members of a com­

mon enterprise. \\'hat are the broad and broadly shared contours of

the experience our students \1• i l l have as members of American soci­

ety at this moment in our col lective h istory? \\'hat demands and chal­

lenges wil l they confron t as cit izens, as professionals , as private

persons' And what in l ight of those experiential features and demands

are we certain they wil l need to encounter and experience in their

time with us' Answering this last question in this forum is both difficult and

risl'}'· I w i l l try nevertheless, knowing I w i l l have years to explai n and defend myself:

• A pragmatic conception of l iberal learning wil l be i nterdiscipl i ­

nary in spirit, striving t o acquaint students with the interconnec­tions among thi ngs and the means we have of understanding them;

• It wi l l be multicu l tural and i n ternational in perspective, provid­

ing the intel lectual foundations for engaging the cultu ral diver­sity and complexity of American society and the world;

• I t wi l l be committed to the values of democratic citizenship, com­munity senrice and social justice, and to understanding the prin­cipal forms of institutional and orga n i za tional l i fe and how individuals shape and change institutions and organizations;

• I t will be concerned with the forms and history of technology and \vith the methods and practices of the natural sciences, which form the i ntellectual foundations of those technologies;

• T t \vi JJ be committed to providing the intellectual foundations of moral judgment and the ability to negotiate complex moral terrain;

• It will be committed to the creative imagination and to the works and practices that embody and exempl ify that imagination;

• I t \1· i l l be com mi tted to fundamental intel lectual capacities-the capacity to com municate, to think ana lytica l ly and critical ly, among others.

The democratic thrust of this view of l iberal learn ing is closely related to a second major clement of our ambition in the coming years: let us make certa i n that the education we provide remains accessible to all those qual ified to benefit from its riches. Thi involves at least two additional areas of concern and effort.

First, and in spite of the recent and surely tempora1-y hi atus in public anxiety about this matter, we must continue to worry about the cost of what we do. The social relevance and impact of the form of education we practice will have a great deal to do with our capacity to '>t<l)' \1 ithin reach of a diverse population of prospective students.

" President Bro Adams. Cathy Bruce-your predecessors, Bi l l and Linda Cotter, brought Colby into the first rank of American col leges. We can only imagine where this college wil l go under your leadership. "

C S. Cong;resr111r111 Tom Allen, bm1J!,111g .f(l'l'cti11gsfro111 the Stnte of,\ /ai11e

1 2

"With both your father and your grandfather hai l ing from the Pine Tree State, there's no denying you come to us

with impeccable credentials . " U. S. Senator Olynipia Snowe, bringing greetings from the State ofiHaine

Second, we must continue to expand the permanent resources avai l­

able to us to provide fi nancial assistance to those who cannot other­

wise afford the ful l freight of what we do. Especial ly in l ight of the highly competitive company that Colby now keeps, financial aid wi l l

become an increasingly important part of our commitment to access and to the broader ambition we must have to remain a viable and

compel l ing part of the landscape of American higher education.

The concern for access is closely related to a third major challenge for Colby-the need to continue to diversify the institution. That am­bition has been prominent on the agenda of the Col lege in recent years.

I hope we can agree to seek its fu ller realization in the years to come. Doing so wi l l require several things of us. The first and perhaps

most important is for all of us to place this matter at the head of our busy individual and professional agendas, wherever we find ourselves in the institutional framework. Everyone needs to be on this train a l l

of the time. The second is the wil l ingness to admit that all of us, regardless of

our backgrounds or current commitments or places in the i nstitu­tional sn·ucture, have a great deal to learn about this matter and its complexities. Seeing ourselves as learners wi l l be helpful in at least two ways: it wi l l give us the eagerness and openness of learners, while it also wil l promote understanding of the inevitable false starts and temporary setbacks of the learning process.

The third and last requirement is the recognition that we are in this together. \Ve cannot get to where we want to go unless we a l l understand ourselves to be pul l ing on the same rope.

I nnovation in l iberal learning, accessibi l ity, achieving greater diver­sity-these are some of the important chal lenges this moment places

i n front of us. What wil l we need to succeed? Since I have focused on three challenges, let me also mention three

virtues: confidence, aspiration and commLmity.

Our confidence, as I noted earlier, sptings from an objective and healthy

regard for our achievements and the excellence of the educational expe­

rience we provide. And that is where we must remain focused.

At the same time, this is a place that rather natural ly aspires, and

m ust aspire, to be better. And better not in relative or comparative

terms but in the fundamental qual ity of what we do-in the teaching

and learning that forms the core of our enterprise, in the qual it y of

the human relationships that define the l i fe of the campus, in the ways we support and are supported by alumni and friends, and in the gen­

eral aspiration to excel lence.

But nothing wi l l be more important to our success than our sense of community. And here Colby has a great deal to rely upon.

My own acquaintance with that sense of community is brief com­pared to the famil iarity that most of you have. But it i s long enough for me to know something about its prominent features. Colby is blessed with an extraordinary level of comm itment and affection among those who work here, in every part of the institution. I t is a place of remarkable friendl iness and warmth, as I have come to know in a personal way over the last several months. And i t is a place that i nspi res and relies upon the generous and continuous loyalty of many thousands of alumni, parents and friends across the country, and in­deed around the world, who have benefited from what we do here and who feel a part of our fortunes and future.

In the long run this deep and extensive sense of community may be our strongest asset. For it is what we have to rely upon as we change and grow; it supports evetything else that we do and wi l l aspire to do. vVe must therefore consciously appreciate, nourish and preserve it.

I look forward to that work and to the many other cha l lenges, large and smal l , that accompany this office and the moment in which we find ourselves today. Thank you for sharing that moment with me, for l isten ing so patiently to these inaugural reflections and-most of a l l-for your company on this extraordinary journey.

crashing the INAUGURATI O N party Each time the Col lege selected a new presi­

dent during its fi rst 100 years, "the new presi· dent forthwith became such, and that was a l l

there was to it. There was nothing but a change of stenographers , " wrote Ernest C. Marriner '13

i n The History of Colby College.

Simpl icity certa inly marked the inauguration of President J. Seelye Bixler in 1942. Colby op· erated year-round as war raged across the world, and on J u ly 18, Bixler assumed the executive

duties of the Col lege in a special assembly at which he addressed the student body on the

future of education after the war. The new presi· dent, reported the Echo, "was very wel l received in h is in itia l appearance in an official capacity. "

But t imes were good back on Friday after­

noon, J une 14, 1929, when the inauguration of Franklin W. Johnson, Class of 1891, set the stan· dard lived up to by the subsequent inaugura-

tions of presidents Strider, Cotter and Adams. J o h nson took h i s oath of off ice i n the

Watervi l le Opera House before a large company of graduates, undergraduates and friends of the College. The 125 people on the platform included a l l of the faculty, members of the board, Gover­

nor Gardiner of Maine, the ex-governor and 4 1 representatives o f col leges and American ph i l­

anthropic and scientific institutions. The processional, a hymn and an invocation

preceded an address that was followed by the presentation to Johnson of a charter and key as

the insignia of his high office. A hymn led u p to the new president's inaugural address, in which he sti pulated-remember, this i s only months before the stock market crashed-that his ef­forts " shal l be d irected to the bui lding u p of the Col lege as an educational institution, rather than

to canvassing funds for endowment and equi p-

ment . " After the conferring of the degree, a hymn and a benediction concluded the proceedings .

I t i s certa in , though, that n o Colby inaugura· tion ever matched the excitement of President Jeremiah Chapl in 's back i n 1822, when the event was concurrent with Colby's first commence­ment. A mi l itary company and a band led a pro­cession of professors and students and the governor i nto the commun ity meeting house­where the local Watervi l le citizenry crashed the proceedings . Although Chapl i n ' s wife wrote of her in it ial encounters in Watervi l le that "They

do not seem to be such ignorant, uncu ltivated beings as some have imagined, .. the locals grew restless with the lengthy pageantry and overlong speeches and final ly bolted back outside. Order was ultimately restored, however, and Colby's first president at last was able to del iver the College's inaugural inaugural address. -Robert Gillespie

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