On a beautiful spring day four
years ago, Jeremy Dibbell turned to his mother
in the middle of a campus tour and said, “We don't have to visit Middlebury.
I'm coming to Union.”
So ended Dibbell's search for a
College. And so began a journey that would take him to the Frank Bailey Prize,
awarded to the senior who has rendered the greatest service to the College.
“The atmosphere of this place, the
beauty of the campus, draws you in,” explained Dibbell. “And I have a feeling
it probably never lets go.
“Union gives
so many opportunities, I've just jumped at a few of them,” he says. “It's a
matter of taking those opportunities and making of them what you will.”
Dibbell, a fixture at most campus
events, is perhaps best known as past editor-in-chief of Concordiensis, the student newspaper.
“It's hard for me to imagine how
anyone did this before we had computers to do everything for us,” he said
recently at the end of his term. Some of his predecessors, he noted, produced Concordy twice weekly.
“Having a product on Thursday morning
is a surprise,” he said. “Having it look good is a bonus. There will never be a
perfect Concordy, that's one
thing I have learned. But we can come close. It takes a lot of eyes and a lot
of effort.”
“One of the things I've really
liked is that you can tell people are reading and that [the paper] is sparking
debate. That's what we all need to be going for.”
He also has served on a number of
committees including Planning and Priorities, which gave him “the ability to
have a voice for students and to be involved in the nitty-gritty of the
College's budgeting process.”
A political science major, Dibbell
is a native of Bainbridge, Chenango County.
He recently completed his thesis on the origins of the Electoral College with
Prof. Clifford Brown.
He also held various positions
with the Office of Residence Life and has been on the Writing Board, Minerva
Committee and Commencement Committee.
Union offers case study in history
Union proved
to be a wonderful case study for the young history buff. “Every aspect of
American history is somehow encompassed at Union
College,” he said, “The institution
is so rich in history.”
Dibbell has worked in the
College's Special Collections, showing a special interest in Eliphalet Nott,
president of the College from 1804 to 1866, and William
Henry Seward (Class of 1820), Lincoln's
secretary of state and the driver behind the purchase of Alaska,
known at the time as “Seward's Folly.”
Dibbell, who spent much of the
past year researching Nott's speeches and letters will continue next year in
the archives planning the commemoration of the bicentennial of Nott's
inauguration this fall and assisting with other projects.
Dibbell's favorite Nott quote
comes from a speech he gave in 1811: “But what can a youthful adventurer, a
mere individual, hope to accomplish for the benefit of virtue or the world?
What! Almost anything he wills to undertake and dares to persevere in.”
He is also fond of the Talmudic inscription
on the domed roof of the Nott Memorial, which translates to, “the day is short,
the task is great, the reward is ample, and the Master is urgent.”
Last summer, he joined a dozen
college journalists in the 11th annual Anti-Defamation League Albert
Finkelstein Memorial Study Mission to Israel,
Poland and Bulgaria.
He met with government officials, historians, journalists and others to learn
about the Israeli-Palestinian situation and the history of Jewish communities
in Europe during the Holocaust. He published accounts of
his adventure in Concordiensis.
His plans include graduate school
in history and teaching at a liberal arts college, perhaps Union,
he says.