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From Have to Have Not
by Lawrence Schall, President, Oglethorpe University
(GA)
Published in the Chronicle of Higher Education,
July 6, 2006
Last June I left Swarthmore College, which enjoys a top ranking in U.S.
News & World Report and a $1-billion-plus endowment, to become
president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. Oglethorpe is neither highly
ranked nor highly endowed. Downwardly mobile, some might call the move.
After 15 years at Swarthmore, I remain in close touch with many dear friends
there. Sometimes, almost too close. I am writing this from a hotel room
in Houston that I am sharing with a former Swat colleague who took over
my job when I left, in order to save Oglethorpe the expense of my hotel.
We have both come down to Texas to celebrate the swearing in of yet another
Swarthmore colleague who is being installed as the president of a national
association. Our conversation over the weekend has been mostly about Swarthmore,
the institution we hold in common. Yet despite the inequities of endowment
between my old institution and my new one, at this moment, I am struck
by an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I am where I am. Before you
write me off as some kind of career masochist, allow me to explain.
I know that money solves a lot of problems, and beyond that, provides
great opportunity. Swarthmore's experience proves that in spades.
Two years ago, for instance, a Swarthmore trustee in the communications
industry had the wild idea of creating a student-run radio show focusing
on the war in Iraq. We estimated the cost might be on the order of $100,000
a year and truly had no idea if it would work. Part of what we were trying
to accomplish (beyond providing students yet another unique educational
experience) was to put Swarthmore on the national map in a new way.
Well, turns out the thing worked pretty well, as an article in The
New Yorker, a spot on CNN, and a story on Fox News might testify.
Year one of Radio Iraq turned into years two and three, and I suspect,
although I don't know, that the $100,000 annual investment was just the
beginning. There's an example of a great and worthy venture that accomplished
its goals magnificently, thanks to that money. (I may not be doing a very
good job at supporting my thesis yet, but hang on a bit longer.)
My colleague and I also talked about a town/gown hotel venture that I
played a significant role in kick-starting at Swarthmore. I remain convinced
that it is a great thing for the college and the borough, and the latest
good news is that a trustee whose business is doing feasibility studies
for similar projects has volunteered her time to complete one for Swarthmore.
If and when the time comes to build that project, the college might sell
a little of the property it has amassed over the years to make it happen.
Again, bravo.
So, what is the good news on my new and far less wealthy campus? Every
year Oglethorpe struggles to balance its budget. Our endowment has grown
but is still only $24-million. (Pop quiz: What is $1.2-billion divided
by $24-million?) I have a list of 100 projects we need to undertake but
cannot afford. Our faculty is underpaid. We are short-staffed. Get the
picture?
In short, we have a fraction of the resources of Swarthmore and, honestly,
will never be able to provide all the opportunities to our students that
are available at Swarthmore.
Yet, despite those things, the two colleges aren't all that different.
I've never been a big fan of old sayings like "Where there's a will,
there's a way," but I have found that somehow there is always a way.
Some of that way involves money, and that's a big part of my job (OK,
that is my job), but energy, excitement, and a little bit of vision can
make something happen as well.
People who know what an amazing job Oglethorpe does educating and inspiring
students want to be a part of that enterprise. And every bit of extra
money makes life a little easier for all of us and allows us to focus
more intently on what matters.
So, what does matter? As the philosopher John Dewey wrote, "The ultimate
value of every institution is its distinctively human effect." I
would argue that what matters most about a college education is what kind
of people we turn out—what they learn, how they live, the ways in
which their lives make a difference to others.
Harold Shapiro argues in A Larger Sense of Purpose: Higher Education
and Society that the ultimate obligation of the contemporary university
is to influence the moral development of its students, their ethical judgments
and behaviors as leaders. We accomplish that, according to Shapiro, in
two ways: by assisting students in understanding the responsibilities
inherent in living in a moral community and by modeling for them how one
particular community can act morally.
I believe that Oglethorpe, because of its very struggle to flourish, may
eventually do those things even better than Swarthmore—and that's
a mighty high standard to shoot for.
In some ways, the amount of money available to Swarthmore makes the choices
they make a bit less significant. Money has certainly not corrupted Swarthmore,
but I know from being there over a long period of years that it does,
at least for some, bring a sense of expectation and even entitlement.
I can promise you that entitlement is not a word in the Oglethorpe vocabulary.
Expectation is, however, and my greatest hope is that it becomes a word
we use a whole lot more.
For spring break this year, I traveled to New Orleans with 26 of our students.
The trip reminded me in an odd way of a book I owned in the early 70s:
Europe on Five Dollars a Day. Well, 30 years later, our group
managed to live in New Orleans for quite a bit less than that, and we
made a real difference to the five families whose homes we helped to restore.
In April, to mark my inauguration, our entire community spent a day of
service at an Atlanta public elementary school, wearing work gloves donated
by one local corporation and eating lunch donated by another. The day
before was Oglethorpe's liberal-arts symposium event where our students
presented research conducted this academic year, including projects on
"The Significance of Scott Joplin's Opera, Treemonisha,"
"Master Timekeepers of Ancient Mexico: The Calendar and Cosmology
of the Mayas," and "Globalizing Humanitarian Aid: A Cooperative
Model for Nonprofits Communicating the Refugee Story."
To my mind, all of that is a great example of doing more with less, of
rising above obstacles to accomplish great things. No one expects us to
be as excellent as Swarthmore, and on some level, I know we will never
match an institution that well financed. But in the ways that matter most—
in having a distinctively human effect on the lives of young men and women—we
can be as excellent as anyone.
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