A lifetime membership
On the evening of Sunday, Sept. 2, more than 500 members of the Class of 2011 gathered in front of the President’s House, accompanied by their orientation assistants, and sang “Ode to Old Union.” The evening was picture-perfect and Judith and I stood on the front steps, surrounded by a sea of young people adorned in their garnet t-shirts, and were moved beyond words. These young people, hailing from 24 states, came together as one and sang Fitzhugh Ludlow’s now beloved composition well, and with great enthusiasm. The lyric, “Let the Grecian dream,” carried well down Terrace Lane. “Old Union, smiling o’er us” filled the yards of Fox House and Davidson House. While aided by the words of the alma mater printed upside down on the front of their shirts, there was no question that the Class of 2011 sang with pride. In this way, these newest members of our community began their lifetime membership in Union College.
On another picture-perfect evening in July, more than 30 alumni and guests ate dinner in the garden of the President’s House. The dinner allowed them to pause midway through the inaugural Alumni Symposium. The remarkably successful seminar allowed graduates, who represented Union classes from 1971 to 2005, to relive something of the educational experience they had in Professor Byron Nichols’ “Moral Dilemmas of Governing” class. Many came to honor Professor Nichols; all seemed to leave rejuvenated in the life of the mind. The conversations over dinner were animated. People voiced genuine excitement about the ideas that were being discussed. They were transported back to an earlier time in their lives when they were given the luxury of basking in new and often unfamiliar and even unsettling ideas. At the same time, they were reminded that Union prepared and expected them to be lifelong learners.
Many things draw graduates of Union back to campus. Certainly the friendships formed here serve as a magnet for Homecoming and ReUnion. So too do the sights and sounds of this remarkable campus: the chimes of Memorial Chapel; the way the light plays in the windows of the Nott Memorial late in the day; and the bowl-shaped arena of Bailey Field where many games have been etched in memory. Likewise, people are drawn back to Union by the relationships formed with faculty, the memory of foundational assumptions challenged, the sense of being overwhelmed at times by great ideas. In the years ahead, we hope to create more opportunities for people to reconnect in various ways with their Union experience. Such opportunities come with the lifetime membership that is Union College and I hope that you will take full advantage of your membership, over and over again.
And when you are back, be sure to visit “the brook that bounds through old Union’s grounds.” On most days, it still “gleams bright as the Delphic water.”