Traditions and ceremonies bring a community together, providing an opportunity to renew our connections to each other, the institution, and our shared values. We certainly did that on Saturday, whether by sharing in collective awe and silence during “Amazing Grace” at the formal ceremony, singing “Kokosing Farewell” in the rain in front of a brightly lit Old Kenyon, or screaming the lyrics of “Hey Jude” en masse in a packed Peirce Hall.
The college rankings address a deeper issue, one that colleges themselves have ignored for too long. Families want to make informed decisions about their college choices, and while the “fit” for determining a college is about much more than the statistics, we’d be naïve to suggest that the numbers don’t matter at all. Families are very interested in some measure that can suggest the educational outcomes for students. The After Kenyon pages on the new website are a first start to taking control over our own story, providing useful information to families to assess the value and impact of a Kenyon education.
I am very proud of my life accomplishments, not the least of which is becoming president of Kenyon College. A great deal of my success can be attributed to the support I have been given by my family and mentors throughout my career. But, I also owe a tremendous debt to the large numbers of brave men and women who fought for civil rights, many who risked their jobs, their safety, indeed their lives, in order to change the world. On the anniversary of the March on Washington, each of us should take a moment to reflect upon both how much has changed in the past fifty years in the United States as a whole and here on our Hill in Gambier, and how we can all live our lives with the courage, commitment, and determination that characterized the generation of the civil rights movement.
Powerful lessons sometimes arise from simple acts such as getting on a bike and riding farther than you thought you could do; volunteering with hundreds of others to support an important cause; or talking with a man standing on the road with a sign that says “Thank you for saving my wife.”
What is it about Kenyon that produces such outstanding scientists? At Kenyon students study the science in the context of the other liberal arts, and in these classes they are regularly challenged to look at difficult problems from multiple perspectives, to critically analyze scholarly writing, and to communicate effectively.