Editorial

Reflecting on the next president

By Editorial Staff

In the last week of the fall semester, the Presidential Search Committee summoned the campus community to the Chapel to announce that David Wippman will be the next president of the College. Wippman’s selection was met mostly, but not exclusively, with praise from students. As a leader in the international law community, all are impressed with Wippman’s scholarly and humanitarian work. The announcement came, however, at a highly-charged time in discussions of diversity on the Hill. The trustees introduced Wippman a week after the group that calls itself The Movement demanded the next president be a person of color. The search committee was clearly cognizant of this demand, made after they had pegged Wippman as their choice. Co-chairs Steve Sadove ’73 and Robert Delaney ’79 worked to play up Wippman’s diversity work in the international community at a press conference. Still, some expressed frustration at the selection of a white male.  

The Spectator acknowledges that disappointment. We hope, however, that Wippman will embody the spirit of inclusion not by his career background, but in the way that he choses to be a part of the community. A few members of our staff had positive conversations with him and those who interacted with him talk about a genuine, kind man, interested in the lives of students. While a college president’s job certainly goes well beyond garnering favor with students, it is important that the leader of a school that prides itself on personal interactions and a tight-knit community makes connections with students.

Mr. Wippman: We ask you to see your job as not one of administration but one of community building. If you do no more than learn to address all students, faculty and staff by name, you will have made incredible strides in making each member of the community feel as if they have a place here. That feeling is at the core of what we are, at the heart of what we should be. Knowing every name may be a big undertaking, but it’s a good place to start. We need a president that will make us again feel like—well—us.

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