Why would a freshman at Union
organize a campus party for an alumnus born 200 years ago?
When the
student is Jeremy Dibbell – energetic chairman of the College's Republican Club
and longtime admirer of the alumnus, William Henry Seward – the answer is easy.
“Seward
was a national figure and our most famous alumnus, Chester Arthur
notwithstanding,” Dibbell says. “I think we should do a lot more to honor him.”
The
party was held May 16, Seward's birthday, and a small but enthusiastic group gathered
to hear speeches, eat cake, and view mementoes of the 1820 graduate who went on
to become one of the country's most distinguished secretaries of state.
The
party was the most recent of several activities in an effort that has come to
be known as the William Seward Memorial Project. It began in the spring of
2000, when five students — Phoebe Burr, Erika Mancini, Duncan Campbell Crary,
Jeremy Newell, and Cal Crary – decided they wanted to create a memorial to the
ideals that Seward held – the abolition of slavery, the bettering of the
American public schools, the improvement of the American political system, and
the boosting of the national economy. They raised more than $3,000 from
classmates, and Dibbell hopes for more from future classes. Exactly what form
the memorial would take is undecided, although a local artist has created
models of a statue.
“We
have Chester Arthur House, his statue, his desk, and other memorabilia on
campus,” Dibble says. “I think we should do more to remember Seward, who, in my
mind, should have been president.”
.