Remarks by Trustee Jefferson W. Kirby '84

• "Lafayette and you...perfect together." It was apparently thought that we might run into some copyright problems with that one.
• "The Lehigh Experience, only better."
• "Lafayette...where we pick a mascot and stick with it."
• And there was even one that focused on our hometown: "Easton - the Venice of Northampton County."

The assignment given to me by Professor Weiss was to speak briefly today on my personal journey through The Lafayette Experience, though I am not sure that my experience is representative of that of a typical Lafayette student.

• For many, if not most, the experience truly begins with the approach of one's freshman year and ends with a diploma some four years later. Five or six years later in the case of some old contemporaries of mine.
• For others, including many here today, the experience begins as a student and lasts a lifetime.
• For me, the experience began at the most tender of ages and presumably will end up being a cradle-to-grave sort of thing.

It was, however, a restless time for our country and increasingly so for this campus. Civil rights, the Vietnam War, feminism, co-education, The Great Society, drugs, Watergate...all of these things tore at our nation and our campus in the 60s and early 70s. Still, there was a cohesiveness on this campus that struck me even then as a schoolboy visitor. So well I remember my grandfather Allan P. Kirby's death in May 1973. As the war in Vietnam drew to a close and Watergate assumed center stage, anti-establishment fervor neared a boiling point. My grandfather's funeral procession wound its way from his local church in Morristown, NJ to his native home in Wilkes-Barre, PA via Easton and this beloved campus. Even as a young boy, I was cognizant of the so-called "generation gap", and so as the hearse paused for a moment in front of Markle Hall, it astounded me to see a shaggy-haired young man - presumably a student, but perhaps a faculty member - stand quietly on the Quad and place his cap over his chest in observance of the procession. The human element, perhaps; but most certainly the Lafayette Experience yielded common ground for these two souls of such differing perspectives.

The years that followed brought occasional visits by me to the College, the matriculation of my two brothers in the late 70s and then, wonderfully, my own in 1980. And for the next four years, I was able to enjoy a Lafayette Experience perhaps surprisingly similar to that of most students on campus. As is true for many, there were disappoints to overcome - in my case the realization that the football team didn't need me. But there was also great joy - in discovering vast new opportunities for academic, social and spiritual growth. And I immediately felt again welcomed and at home here.

I bring this up because it's a feeling that I have heard often repeated by people first visiting the College. Time and again I have been commended, as if I had something to do with it, for the personal care and consideration given to young people and their parents as they move through the admissions process. A few weeks ago, I spoke with the mother of a high school junior who said that she and her daughter had visited so many colleges along the east coast, but soon after they stepped out of the car at Lafayette, the mother anyway felt that they had found the right place. Sure they had done their research before arriving, but not until they got here could they perceive the warmth and embrace of this community.

A week ago today, I met with a high school senior who is applying early decision to Lafayette. She too had been struck on her first visit to the College by the friendliness not just of our students, but also very much of our faculty and admissions staff. And she noted that, unlike on any other campus, here she just kept repeating in her own mind with each new acquaintance: "Now that's somebody I could be great friends with." "Now that's somebody I could be great friends with." Hopefully, after our English Department gets through with her, she'll instead say: "Now that's somebody with whom I could be great friends."

As well, our own new president has identified the bright smiles and warm welcomes that first he, then his family, observed on visits to the College during the search process as meaningful to their decision to come here.

And so it goes as we try to characterize The Lafayette Experience. In addition to the rigor of the academic and co-curricular programs; the quality of the faculty, administrators and staff; the opportunities for extra-curricular involvement, which rival those available at far larger colleges and universities; and the unparalleled aesthetics and soundness of our physical plant, we must add the intimacy of the campus and the collegiality and supportiveness of our college community. These are characteristics that I have felt throughout my Lafayette experience, and ones that together I am told distinguish us.

Now as I mentioned, Dan asked me to describe my Lafayette Experience, and I have done a bit of that. But I also want to touch upon something much more interesting and exciting, and that is what The Lafayette Experience will be like for future generations. I don't know what the answer is, but now, with the inauguration of an energetic, inquisitive and thoughtful new president, we will certainly be asked to test old assumptions and biases and to consider new options.

• At just over 2,000 students, is the College appropriately sized given its resources and aspirations?
• Is our enviable student:faculty ratio too high, too low or just right, and how do we manage to the ultimate target?
• How do we size and structure our athletic endeavors?
• How do we incorporate technology - including distance learning options - into our curriculum?
• How do we structure the social scene on campus to optimize the opportunities for healthful interaction?

I mentioned earlier my childhood visits to the Chateau, which now belongs to the College. There's a beautiful fireplace in the Great Room of the Chateau, and inscribed in the mantle are the following words (forgive my French pronunciation):
"Qui coupe son bois se chauffe deux fois."
the loose translation of which is:
"He who cuts his own wood is warmed twice."

This wonderful aphorism constitutes another interface between my Lafayette Experience and my life's experience, and has been inspirational in two ways for a long time. First is its gentle reminder that the fruits borne of hard work - physical, cerebral or otherwise - are more satisfying than those garnered without effort. And second is the often overlooked truth that the journey can be as enriching as the destination.

We embark now on a journey with our new President to create the most fulfilling Lafayette Experience we can possibly muster. May we go forth with open hearts and receptive minds, forever trustful of each others' motives and confident of our mutual devotion to this outstanding institution and those it serves.