Baccalaureate Remarks
June 16, 2007
Stephen C. Ainlay
President
Constructed in 1925, the building in which you sit today was intended to honor Union graduates killed in wars up to that time. Over the ensuing years, it has evolved into a site for remembering the passing of all graduates of the College and other members of the Union community. In fact, each year at this Baccalaureate event, we remember those members of the Union family – alumni, faculty and staff – who died during the last year. We do so again today. Their names are listed in the program, and I would ask that you join me in a moment of silence to remember them, their many contributions and their love of Union College.
As you know, Memorial Chapel has also become a gathering place for many College events. Admissions open houses, fashion shows, concerts – they all take place here. But while it has multiple purposes today, Memorial Chapel continues to ask us to remember. This first became apparent to me through conversations I had with one member of the Union family who befriended me during my first year: Dick Roberts, Class of 1950.
Some of you may have known Dick Roberts: he was a fixture at Union College and on the sidelines of many Union sporting events. In fact, my first meeting with him was on the sidelines of the Union-RPI football game in the fall of 2005. My appointment as the 18th President of Union College had just been made public. Dick was very ill but nothing could keep him from participating in this great Union sporting tradition. I learned much from Dick Roberts but one of the things I came to understand was how special Memorial Chapel was to him and to many Union graduates. For Dick, it was the site of his own commencement ceremony and the site of his child’s wedding. Just last fall, he stood where I stand today to bring greetings from the alumni at my Inauguration. Regrettably, it was the site of his memorial service when he died. But Dick wanted it that way. In fact, he called me just weeks before he died and asked for this one consideration. I was happy to comply with his request. For me, then, Memorial Chapel will always demand that I remember Dick Roberts, the embodiment of what it means to be loyal to a college.
Of course, Memorial Chapel demands that we remember others. The portraits of my 17 predecessors remind us of their contributions and our storied institutional history. They start with the first President, John Blair Smith, to my left and end with my immediate predecessor, Roger Hull, to my right. Eliphalet Nott appropriately hangs in the center of the west wall. His 62 years of service as president constitute a record in all of higher education – no college or university president has served longer. On the opposite wall you will find John Morris who, along with his wife Enid, attended the Union Graduate College ceremony in this very place this morning. The presidency of John Morris provided stability to this institution at a time when stability was desperately needed. The remains of one of our former presidents, Charles Alexander Richmond, along with those of his wife Sarah, are interred here. The Richmonds were in office when Memorial Chapel was built. President Richmond brought prosperity to the College and, when he announced his retirement in 1928, he was presented with a resolution of regret signed by every member of the student body. In this place, we should remember all of them for the part they played in building and maintaining Union.
Similarly, the windows in Memorial Chapel demand that we remember: a few of the window panes that survived from the early days of North and South Colleges and are installed here. For me, they are a reminder that Union was the first American campus to be designed with a master plan and arguably remains the most influential campus in America due to the fact that 90-some college and university presidents, who spent their undergraduate years on this campus, considered Union to be the ideal campus and replicated it all over America. These windows also remind me, by their simple elegance, that Union was among the first institutions to have an educational mission not wedded to the aims of any particular religious group but rather a mission that celebrated multiple voices and perspectives. I hope you will remember this too and always look for ways of carrying Union’s mission into the world.
I hope this place will be as special to you as it was to Dick Roberts and as it has become to me. While you will commence your post-Union days from the porch of the Schaeffer Library tomorrow instead of inside this chapel, I hope that you will always think of the special-ness of this weekend every time you re-enter Memorial Chapel. I hope that every time you enter this Chapel you will remember the teams, clubs, Greek organizations, and governance bodies you joined and in which you participated. I hope you will remember your other activities like your post-Katrina relief work, tutoring in Schenectady schools, tying the Nott, participating in relays for life, preserving Vale Cemetery, and rolling for autism. I hope you will remember your efforts to make this a more inclusive place, to raise consciousness about the needs of our environment, and to remember the loss and sacrifice of men, women, and children in conflicts around the world. I hope you will remember the friendships you have formed during your years here. I hope you will remember the faculty members who shared their love of learning with you and who made a difference in your life. I hope you will remember the person you were when you entered Union as a freshman and how you changed over four years. Dick Roberts remembered all this whenever he walked into this chapel. I hope you will too.
The members of the class of 1957 remembered all this when they returned just weeks ago for their 50th Reunion and celebrated in this very space. They understood clearly the difference Union had made in their lives when they shook hands with members of the Class of 2007 in the center aisle. By looking into your eyes, they remembered the feelings they had 50 years ago as they commenced the rest of their lives.
This weekend your four years living and working on the Union campus come to an end. Be proud that you are part of a very special family, a family held together by a special bond to this institution. I hope you will return many times to the campus and to Memorial Chapel in the years ahead and that when you enter this place you will remember what it was to live and work here and what it is to be a son or daughter of Union.