Doyle Blogs with Doyle Boggs

A November Journal

Around the first of November, I seemed to be incredibly busy.  So I decided to make a few notes on my calendar, as if I were keeping a diary.  Sure enough, I found I had made some interesting observations over the past couple of weeks:

On Thursday, Nov. 12, I went to the second program of the Santee Cooper Lecture Series on “Sustainability through an Energy Lens” presented by Dr. John Doggett, an expert in the field from the University of Texas-Austin. Doggett called the current situation in the world a “strategic inflection point,” where almost every rule and assumption that has guided us through the industrial revolution seems about to be overturned.

Developing sustainable, environmentally sound energy sources, Doggett said, will be the key to prosperity and progress in this changing world. Business conglomerates that can reach across boundaries will be more influential than national governments. Policies in China and India will have far more global impact than what we do in Europe and North America. Fortunately, the technologies that we so desperately need seem to exist. We can, if we are willing, make major advances in the use of safe nuclear power, and we can do much more to exploit water, sun and wind as power sources.

All of this is provocative, yet hopeful stuff, particularly during the month when NASA first confirmed that there is water on the moon.

During the weekend of Nov. 13-15, Wofford played the last home football game of the season, the men’s soccer team won the Southern Conference championship, the volleyball team wrapped up a winning season, and the very promising Terrier basketball team split tight road games with Pittsburgh and Georgia. Yes, I mean those Pitt Panthers from the Big East, and those Bulldogs down I-85 in Athens.

Wofford's men’s soccer team has undergone one of the most impressive turnarounds in the NCAA. After finishing last or tied for last in the past six seasons in SoCon play, the Terriers posted a 5-1-1 conference record to win the regular season title. Then, they went on to sweep the post-season tournament and secured a berth in the nationals. “What these guys have done in the 18 months that I have been here has been amazing,” said SoCon Coach of the Year Ralph Polson. “It’s NOT unbelievable, but it is amazing how hard they have worked and what they have worked towards.”

Thank you, Terriers, for all your good sportsmanship, and for what you have done to promote your sport in Upstate South Carolina.

On Saturday, Nov. 14, Wofford entertained one of the most important visiting groups of the year‑ more than 150 candidates for early decision admission and the Wofford Scholars program for 2010.   I had a special opportunity to meet and talk with four of these outstanding high school seniors — Kenneth Hill from Sumter, S.C.; Naomi Kingsley from Woodruff, S.C.; Katherine Poston from Greenwood, S.C.; and Carson Putnam, from Shelby, N.C.  Also, I really enjoyed the chance to renew acquaintances with several alumni, Dr. Walter Hiott ’86, Dr. Matthew Grover ’01, and Jeff Owen ’04.  I really appreciated their being back on campus, and Jeff, it was very flattering and nice of you to admit to reading Doyle Blogs from time to time!

As a “Jeopardy!” Teen Tournament fan for decades, I rushed home and cranked up the recorder on Friday night, Nov. 13, to see Dr. Byron McCane, Albert C. Outler Professor of Religion, give a clue in a category aimed at promoting National Geographic’s “Expedition Week” programs. The correct question was “Who was Augustus?” appropriately asked by a South Carolinian, Will Dantzler. McCane will be featured in the documentary “The First Jesus?” at 9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 20, on the National Geographic Channel.

And although I won’t have a chance to see the play until this Friday, I would like to mention that Wofford Theatre is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a production of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses. The play is “a profound reminder of our connection to the myth, to the past, and to each other.” Wofford Theatre productions always have been interesting over the years, performed with skill and energy.

I always look forward to late November at Wofford, and I think the faculty and students do so as well. The academic business of the fall semester, other than final exams and a term paper or two, is winding down.  We have set the clocks back to Eastern Standard Time, meaning that even the 8 a.m. classes meet after sunrise. The fall sports seasons are ending, and the leaves in the Roger Milliken Arboretum are falling. Soon, students will head home for Thanksgiving, loading into the trunks of their cars baskets of dirty laundry and a couple of books that they know they are quite unlikely to open. Maybe, we’ll all catch our collective breath, eat a good meal, and enjoy being just a little less busy for a few days.

 

 

Doing Charleston

I try to make a trip to Charleston at least once a year, sometimes on Wofford business, sometimes with my family.  Lots of special memories are connected with those travels.

I remember my first boat trip to Fort Sumter with my folks.  I remember seeing the city through the eyes of the late Sam Stoney in the winter of 1968 during Wofford’s first Interim.  I remember taking my in-laws from Wisconsin to Charleston. Rainbow Row, the Caribbean-style house gardens, the Palmetto trees, and the Lowcountry cuisine and ambiance fascinated them. And, when in Charleston, I always enjoy getting a chance to see several classmates and Wofford friends of long standing, particularly at victory celebrations after football games against The Citadel.

Along with 54 other Wofford alumni and friends, we journeyed to Charleston this November to participate in a "seminar in orbit" to explore the work of the Historic Charleston Foundation. Special thanks go to Kitty Robinson, executive director, and to Leigh Handel for their work in opening doors for us not only south of Broad Street but in the Ansonborough and Mayzck-Wraggsborough neighborhoods along the Cooper River.

Every stop on the entire two-day trip would be worth a paragraph here, but let me just mention a few places we saw that were new and exciting to me.

We enjoyed a rare opportunity to tour the Robert William Roper House on East Battery, one of several homes that are owned, restored and furnished by Richard H. Jenrette.  Built in 1838 as Charleston’s golden age was drawing to a close, it offers distinctive architecture and wonderful examples of period furniture and portraits.  It eventually will enter the public domain as a great asset to the city and indeed to our state.

At 93-97 Broad Street, at the business and governmental heart of the city, we visited the complex known as the Boucquet-Simmons House (1738)/Mordecai Cohen Tenement (1835). Through the efforts of James Meadors ’81 and his contracting team, these buildings were cited in a recent editorial in the Charleston Post & Courier as a model for collaboration in reclaiming a historic structure for adaptive reuse after years of shameful neglect.  Project director Rick Rockwell and architect Becky Fenno explained the process of getting LEED certification for a historic building and provided insider details about the project.

Almost every Charleston visitor sees St. Michael’s and St. Philip’s Anglican/Episcopal churches, but there are dozens of other fascinating houses of worship in what has been called, “the Holy City.”  We were able to explore the Unitarian Church and its unique graveyard, Beth Eloheim Synagogue and the Second Presbyterian Church.

On our second day in the city, we enjoyed lunch on the terrace of the Gateway House, where we saw special pieces of furniture and art from the collection of John Rivers, and marveled at a spectacular view of the Ravenel Bridge over the Cooper River. We were pleased to hear about plans to relocate State Ports Authority docks upriver to make way for a new cruise-ship passenger terminal, improving the appearance of the historic waterfront along East Bay Street and no doubt adding tourism dollars to the economy.

The Historic Charleston Foundation is one of several preservation organizations in the city that plays inspired variations on the theme, “Don’t celebrate the past- use it to create a unique sense of place and a livable, pedestrian-friendly city.” Charlestonians are good teachers of history and urban design, and it’s always worthwhile to take a weekend to listen to them.

 

Graduations first, trophies second

Over this past weekend, U.S. News & World Report released its November 2009 issue.  Part of the featured theme is “The Path to Leadership,” and one of the featured stories, beginning on page 42, is about Wofford Head Football Coach Mike Ayers.  You will want to read it. Then, you will want to think about it.

That’s what I have been doing today.

First, I remembered one afternoon when Coach Ayers and I were in the same large group of white-water rafters up in the Carolina mountains. As we headed downstream, my team of neophytes managed to get turned around backwards, and then we flipped.  I found myself moving all too quickly through the rapids, separated from the rocks and trees only by my life vest.  Suddenly, I felt myself (roughly 220 pounds in those days) lifted clear of the water and deposited on the bank.  It took me a minute to realize that it was Coach Ayers, acting alone, who had been quick-thinking enough and strong enough to pull me through. Of course, I said thank you, but I didn’t realize until later how amazing this all was. Did Mike save my life that afternoon? Perhaps not. But did he save my day? You bet. And I’ve always been grateful.

Second thought: Coach Ayers and I were born just a few months apart in 1948. At this point, I am coming to realize how difficult it sometimes can be to move gracefully toward senior citizenship in a vocation that one has been practicing over a long period of time. Being part of a genuine community like Wofford is incredibly helpful, but I think what is more pivotal is the ability to figure out what is important and what is not, and to live one’s life accordingly. Mike Ayers always has been a great role model in that regard, and I hope he’ll continue to show the way for us for many years to come.

My father, a high school principal, had a distinctive but very effective method of assessing leaders in education. When graduates return to the campus, he would ask, who are the first people they go see? They are the folks who come along at an individual crossroads to motivate young men and women to be all they can be. They exemplify lasting values, such as love of learning and willingness to work hard. They are the ones alumni want their children to meet.

So it’s not really necessary here to catalog Mike Ayers’ two decades as Terrier Head Coach. He has won lots of great victories and suffered through a few long afternoons, but everything he does, he does with class. He’s had championship seasons, competitive seasons, and rebuilding seasons, but his teams, coaches and players always have represented our college exceptionally well. For Wofford people of several generations, I suspect Coach Ayers will be on the short list of our memorable educators, right up there with the great professors and deans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

           

           

 

            

Stories Numbers Tell

During the month of October, just as students plunge into their mid-term exam schedules, Wofford takes a good look at itself. Jason Womick, class of 1994, is Wofford’s vice president for information technology and institutional research.  He and his team are leading the way in preparing reports and updated statistical profiles for presentation to the Board of Trustees when it meets on campus Oct. 19-20.

Most students and parents who have gone through a college search are familiar with the art of basic statistical benchmarking.  For example, they may be aware that Wofford’s Class of 2013 numbers 392 students, drawn from a pool of 2,442 applicants, and that 57 percent of the first-year students graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. They may have discovered the faculty to student ratio at Wofford (full-time equivalent) is 1 to 11, and that 93 percent of the teaching faculty members have earned doctorates or equivalent degrees.  They may know some of the 15,587 living Wofford alumni, of whom 803 are attorneys or judges, 924 are physicians or other health-care professionals, and 1,155 are CEOs of businesses or non-profits.

Having worked with college profile numbers such as these a great deal over the years, I take delight in slightly obscure but equally revealing details.

— The size of the full-time teaching faculty at Wofford has increased from 70 to 117 members since the fall of 2000.  Virtually all the academic departments have added a faculty member or two over that time; there are now 15 full-time professors in the Department of English alone.

— Wofford led all of the NCAA Division I football teams (FBS and FCS) with a 2008 Graduation Success Rate score of 97. Eight Wofford teams posted GSR scores of 100, the highest available. All 13 Terrier intercollegiate teams achieved scores above the national average of 79.  Considering the student body as a whole, more than 80 percent of entering students will earn a degree within six years, compared to a national average of about 56 percent.

— One of the fastest growing fields of study at Wofford involves major work in the Department of Foreign Languages: Chinese, French, German and Spanish. In fact, 13 percent of Class of 2009 graduated with a first or second major in an international, language-based program. This appears to be one of the highest such totals in the nation. In annual Open Doors surveys, participation in international programs of study at Wofford ranks in the nation’s Top Ten.

— Campus life clearly is evolving into a more diverse and interesting social environment, even as Greek life still attracts 47 percent of the men and 56 percent of the women. At least one publication, Princeton Review’s 371 Best Colleges, identified Wofford the nation’s number one frat and sorority scene.

— The “new urban” Wofford campus is developing at a rapid pace.  Counting the new village housing, there now are 71 buildings in use for all purposes, including the Environmental Studies Center at Glendale Shoals.  Altogether, more than 170 acres have been incorporated into the campus for the Roger Milliken Arboretum and for current or future development.

— As of 2009, college operations can be held responsible for putting 12,867 total metric tons of green-house cases into the atmosphere.  To put it another way, that’s 9.8 metric tons per full-time student and 14.7 metric tons per 1000 square feet.  It won’t happen overnight, but the ultimate goal is to bring that number down to zero.

— In the fall of 2008, 42 recent Wofford graduates became first-year law students. The college also sends about 20 graduates each year into M.D. programs, and other alumni choose alternative professional health care education.

In many ways, colleges and universities are composites of experiences, stories, traditions, dreams, places, and yes, numbers.  Sometimes, its fun to look at, learn from and share even small pieces of the mosaic.

An Opportunity for Beauty & Reflection

The first European settlers of the Southern highlands brought with them a “sense of place” that is deeply embedded in the Celtic culture of old Scotland and Ireland. In certain locations at quiet times, they supposed, the membrane of reality can become thin enough for human senses to reach across barriers of time and space and experience a new level of enlightenment. In a Christian context, the idea might be identified with one of the many forms of contemplative prayer. 

On a cloudy, breezy October afternoon when the light (if not the temperature) definitely hinted at the coming of autumn, I could definitely relate to this tradition as I visited one of my favorite places on the Wofford campus, the Liberty Trail. The pathway begins just west of Gibbs Stadium, follows a creek and the James R. Gross Cascading Steps, and then ends at our boundary with the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. I paused every few steps to contemplate the Lumber-Wrap Banners of Kristofer Neely, Class of 2002, Presidential International Scholar, and currently the executive director of the Wofford Success Initiative. 

During his recently completed Master of Fine Arts studies at Goddard College, Kris developed a professional artistic practice, often making marks on found materials and installing pieces in the local landscape of Spartanburg. Experimenting with easily transportable and weather-resistant materials, Kris found the discarded shipping wrappers around the local lumberyards that his great-grandfather and his sons established after the Great Depression. The large banners "repurpose" the utilitarian black and white surfaces of the lumber wraps. Some are covered with paintings, others with text — ideas, poems, and images drawn from his thesis and portfolio work. 

I talked to Kris about his show, asking about his use of angelic figures on several banners. They are neither beautiful humans with wings nor fanciful gargoyles, but highly stylized figures similar to those in the Coptic tradition, warm, colorful and vaguely comforting. “I don’t see my angels as being protective in and of themselves,” Kris told me, “but they are reminders of the love that is all around us. It is an image that goes back to a deeply personal experience that I shared with my family."

"There is something about guardian angels that human beings seem to acknowledge instinctively, regardless of the culture,” Kris added. “Very recently, a poll showed that 55 percent of Americans believe that there are spiritual beings and forces in our world who care about us as individuals and protect us in a way we cannot understand.” 

Kris also shared his great effort to link this exhibit and all its symbols to South Carolina artistic roots, particularly the graphic designs of Shepard Fairey, perhaps best known for the Obama Hope poster. “I didn’t want my graduation show put up on a white wall in a gallery somewhere. I thought there was a great opportunity for truth, beauty and reflection in the the roughness of the lumber-wrap material and the outdoor setting.” 

Kris considers the current Wofford exhibit to be a good reflection of his vision. He credits a good part of that accomplishment to Wofford’s Dean of the Library Oakley Coburn, who has played a major role in creating an outstanding series of exhibits involving several artistic media, many of which are the achievements of students and alumni. 

Kristofer Neely is a remarkably creative genius on multiple levels.  It is fortunate that he has chosen to work in his hometown, Spartanburg, and at his alma mater, Wofford College.

Was Socrates a democrat?

Dr. Jim Keller, Samuel Pate Gardner Professor of Philosophy and a former chair of the department, is celebrating his 70th birthday this year.  He has been a member of the Wofford faculty since 1972.

Keller’s colleagues and students past and present have chosen to honor him this year with the “Philosophy 70” visiting lecturers series. It features topics of interest to undergraduate philosophy majors as well as others from the campus and the Spartanburg community. (See below for the schedule.)

Dr. David Curry ’81, who is now a professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Potsdam, opened the series on Thursday, Oct. 1, with a nice tribute to his mentor.  “When I left Wofford and began graduate studies at the University of Virginia, I found that a large percentage of the professors had studied and written dissertations at Oxford and Cambridge.  I quickly learned that the British approach to philosophy differed from how the subject was taught in most U.S. undergraduate programs, but several courses under Dr. Keller had given me the depth to adjust and to be successful.  I will always be grateful for that.”

Was Socrates a democrat? Curry chose not to read the scholarly paper he had prepared for publication, and instead framed his basic argument with quotations from Socrates and contemporary philosophers.  At the risk of serious oversimplification, I will report that Curry challenged the arguments of some Cold War American writers such as the journalist I.F. Stone. They opined that Socrates favored democratic governments over the oligarchies that ruled most of the cities of the Greek world in classical times, around 400 B.C.

Curry countered that while Socrates was interested in political systems and which ones seemed to work best, the ancient philosopher is best viewed as an equal opportunity harasser, never really settling on a preference for a theoretical model. Instead, Socrates left us with a tantalizing question: “What sort of governmental arrangements make it possible for all citizens to live the good life?” The quest for individual knowledge and virtue ought to take precedence over seeking illusive political perfection.

It occurred to me that a similar point was made by the Roman poet Horace, when he wrote the following lines and gave us our Wofford College motto.

Virtus, replusae nexica sordidae,
Intaminatis fulget honoribus,
Nec sumit out ponit securis
Arbitrio popularis aurae.

"True worth, that never knows ignoble defeat
Shines with untarnished honor,
Nor takes up nor lays aside the axes
At the fickle mob's behest."

Thank you so much, Alumnus David Curry, for these insights, laid out and presented in an understandable and provocative way. Come home again soon.

The programs in the Philosophy 70 Lecture Series follow:

Fall 2009

Was Socrates a democrat? Oct 1
Dr. David Curry ’81, SUNY Potsdam

Honor Oct 21
Dr. Lad Sessions, Washington & Lee University

Faith, Reason and Virtue Nov 11
Ben McGraw ’06, Graduate Student, University of Georgia

Spring, 2010

Dr. Robert Audi, Notre Dame University

Dr. Ashley Dunn Sherman ’92, University of Georgia

Dr. Derek Malone-France ’95, George Washington University 

The Mighty Quinn

            For a good number of years, I sat with Lucy Quinn and some other experienced members of the administrative staff helping evaluate financial aid appeals. Most of the time, we looked at letters from students who, for one reason or another, had not met minimum academic standards to continue on scholarship and hoped for a second chance. We took these appeals very seriously, because we knew what we decided could mean the end of dreams and/or a financial crisis at home. We all were committed to giving every student a fair and very confidential hearing.

            In these meetings, I learned what was really special about Lucy Quinn. She always seemed to come into the meeting with a just and wise suggestion for a resolution to each individual situation. Student A was doing her best, but she simply had drifted into the wrong major, and she was working with Ms. Quinn to get on a better track. Student B was capable of making Phi Beta Kappa, but he was “goofing around” and a wake-up call was appropriate. Student C had confidential personal problems and just needed some time, counseling and support.

This kind of caring, individual and personal concern is a reason that Wofford consistently graduates more than 80 percent of those students who enter, and it also accounts for the honor that the Wofford College National Alumni Association will bestow on Lucy Quinn this weekend with its Alumni Distinguished Service Award. It is not so much that Lucy has devoted much of her life (46 years) to Wofford. It is not so much that she earned her Wofford bachelor’s degree and then a master’s one-course-at-a-time while she worked as the primary assistant to two registrars.  It is not so much that she earned a much-applauded promotion from the clerical staff to the administration when she became registrar in 1987. And it’s not so much that she has done a very solid job managing student records and orchestrating commencement, both of which are part of her job description. Simply put, she has made a difference in the lives of a great many Wofford students.  More than a few alumni owe their degrees to the wise counsel she provided. The award was a way for the Alumni Executive Council to acknowledge that fact and say thank you.

            The Homecoming awards of the National Alumni Association go back to the college’s Centennial Year of 1954.  To put my friend's Alumni Distinguished Service Award into perspective, only seven members of the faculty and staff have earned this expression of gratitude from the alumni. In 1966, when the criteria for the awards were slightly different, three retired alumni faculty members (now deceased) who taught at the college for multiple generations were honored— W. Raymond “Peg” Bourne ’23, Charles F. Nesbitt ’22 and Raymond A. Patterson ’16. The late Dr. Lewis P. Jones ’38 earned the award in 1992. Dr. B.G. Stephens ’57 was recognized in 2001. Dr. Talmage Skinner ’56 and his wife, Beverly, were honored in 2005.

This Saturday, Oct. 2, at 10:30 a.m., the presentation of the alumni association awards will be featured as part of a Homecoming convocation in Leonard Auditorium.  Others honored will be the Montgomery Family of Spartanburg who will accept the Distinguished Citizens Award and environmental attorney and activist Kristen Hite ’00, who will be recognized as the Young Alumna of the Year. The program will also include a state-of-the-college address by President Benjamin Dunlap. If you will be at Wofford for Homecoming, please try to make this convocation part of your day. That is especially true if you have not have a chance to see the beautifully renovated Main Building.

To find out more about the Alumni Association Awards program, visit the Alumni section of the Wofford Web site.  For a complete list of the past winners of all of the official awards made on behalf of Wofford, go to www.wofford.edu/library/archives.

           

 

           

           

            

A Golden "What If?"

The closing days of summer 2009 have given us a flood of news about the economy.  Amid all the talk of a shaky recovery in the financial markets, double-digit unemployment, and the urgent need for health care reform, I encountered a footnote. The value of gold has passed the milestone of $1,000 per ounce.

At Wofford, when we take note of such historic moments, we often sigh and think about the college’s original 1851 endowment. What could it have been worth if the Trustees had found a way to shelter it from the economic upheaval of the Civil War?  What if they had invested their money in gold rather than in those Confederate bonds and other securities that now are in the college vaults?

Expressed in terms of circulating currency, the value of gold in the United States has fluctuated just like any commodity. After large deposits of the precious medal were found in California and other places in the West around 1849, the price of gold became relatively stable at $21 per ounce (that’s right, twenty-one dollars per ounce) until the Great Depression. When James Bond thwarted Goldfinger’s plan to irradiate Fort Knox in the early 1960s, the price of gold hovered at about $40 per ounce. Then, in the 1970s, inflationary and trade pressures brought a change in federal fiscal policy and fluctuations in the gold market that continue to this day.

So, let’s do some mathematics. Let’s imagine that the Wofford Trustees in 1859 decided to take their $100,000, invest it in gold bullion, and bury it beneath the cornerstone of the Main Building. Divide by $21 per ounce, giving us 4,762 ounces or just under 500 bullion bars of the yellow stuff.

So in 2009, having found the cornerstone that actually was lost until the centennial observance of 1954, we could convert our gold treasure into currency and pocket $5 million. It’s a lot of money, but far less than I would have expected.

As Professor Emeritus Matt Stephenson explained to me years ago, we need to understand that $100,000 went a very long way in the middle of the 19th century.  About half that sum was enough to acquire land for the campus and erect the six original buildings, including “Old Main.” The faculty basically worked for housing and a token stipend, although their homes were quite comfortable with plenty of room to have a garden and to keep a horse and a cow. There were no bills coming in for water, electricity or central heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Health care? Medicine was an art, not a science. A small-town physician could do little more than hold your hand, set a leg, pull a tooth, or give you something quite dangerous to ease your pain. Vacation?  Well, maybe a camping trip to the North Carolina mountains or a train excursion to Columbia. And we must never forget that enslaved African-Americans did the manual labor and cooking.

So the final point in this whimsical little essay is that market values are not necessarily the most important thing to consider when the subject is endowment. The real issue is how much return can be received on an investment and how we can use that income to make the world a better place. For the next three years, Wofford is facing some daunting challenges related to the endowment income and the operating budget. Consider digging a little deeper when you calculate your contributions to the Annual Fund this year.

"Where Hugo, We Go"

Every South Carolinian ought to take a moment during this third week of September to think back to a traumatic weekend 20 years ago. Sept. 21-23, 1989 was the time of Hurricane Hugo, a big, nasty Category 4 storm when it came ashore in the Charleston area. It then moved north and west over land, leaving in its wake tens of billions of dollars in damages and weeks of disruption of normal life.

At that time, in addition to my daily work at Wofford, I was a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard, serving as the S-1 (personnel officer) on the staff of the 218th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized).  On the day after the hurricane, when a damage assessment had been completed, most of our unit (almost 4,000 soldiers) was alerted for duty in the Charleston/McClellanville area. Other Guard units were called to serve elsewhere in the state. Our brigade headquarters was located under the stands at Johnson Hagood Stadium, where The Citadel plays its football games.

I remember that week vividly as a series of snapshots:

Only in very recent times have human beings developed the technology to be as destructive as nature can be on the proverbial dark and stormy night. I remember a helicopter flight over the Sumter National Forest. Acre after acre of mature pine trees had been snapped off at precisely the same height, about shoulder height if I had been standing on the ground.

Our country definitely has both the private and governmental resources to respond to effectively to most crises, but the response always seem to start sluggishly, taking days rather than hours. How can we do better? How can we avoid making the same mistakes over and over?

During the day, the neighborhood around our Citadel command post seemed almost normal, except that there were no classes and the cadets were gone. A few residents who had foolishly decided to ride out the storm could be seen out walking their dogs and cleaning up their yards. At night, however, everything was quite disconcerting. The storm surge had left standing water all through the streets, and the tropical mugginess was overwhelming. The only lights came from our military generators and occasionally, a moving vehicle. You could hear our troops communicating on their radio nets and at times, there was tension in their voices as they analyzed and dealt with a potential situation. (Since then, I suspect many homeowners have purchased their own portable generating units, which is fine as long as fuel can be found.)

Late one night, a news crew from a major television network visited our headquarters. The reporter, a woman whose face we instantly recognized, asked me if I was in charge. As responding to news media fell in my area of staff responsibility, I told her to ask me her question. “Can you tell me where I can find some looters and gougers?” she said. I yielded to the temptation to tell her, “With all due respect, if I knew where to find them, they wouldn’t be looting and gouging, now would they?” Actually, thanks in part to a curfew and the presence of “boots on the ground,” looting and price gouging never became a serious problem in Carolina Lowcountry, as in had been earlier in a few places across the Caribbean.

All of the disaster relief agencies with whom we worked did a superb job, but the most impressive response came from the Salvation Army. Their professionals and volunteers were there first with just the right stuff, including coffee and wonderful hot soup. Since then, I have always had a dollar bill or two for every Salvation Army kettle I pass.

Across the back wall of our operations center under Johnson Hagood stadium, one of our South Carolina National Guard sergeants hung a homemade banner— “Where Hugo, We Go.”  I’ve never forgotten that bit of offbeat humor and genuine wisdom. “Hugo” can be seen as a metaphor for any kind of trouble, and “We” as a collective pronoun for all who go to the aid of our neighbors.  The thought reflects civic values central to living well in a good and free community.

 

 

 

 

           

            

Labor Day at Wofford

Throughout my life, Labor Day always has been rather special to me. I grew up in the town of Hartsville, S.C., only 14 miles from the Darlington International Raceway. In the 1950s, when NASCAR racers really looked like Pontiacs, Fords, Plymouths and Hudsons, they ran the Southern 500 on Labor Day. My father would pile us into the family Chevy on the Sunday evening before the race, and, although none of us were racing fans, we drove through Darlington just "being there." The scene was a thousand times more interesting than the Ed Sullivan Show on the black-and-white TV in our living room.

Since then, other than one very memorable weekend hiking at the Grand Canyon in 1973, my Labor Days invariably have been associated with the start of a new academic year. At Wofford, at least since the 4-1-4 academic calendar was adopted in 1968, Labor Day has been the time when most of the orientation sessions have been completed, and the faculty and students are getting down to the business of learning. So I always go on a Labor Day walkabout just to "be there." The scene is a thousand times more interesting than the incoming You-Tube posts on my office computer.

Here are some things I noticed about Labor Day 2009.

The September weather has been post-card perfect. Mornings already hold the promise of the coming autumn, a feeling in South Carolina that often is delayed until late September. I can also remember a number of years in which students had to move into the residence halls or apartments carrying heavy furniture and suitcases through torrential rain. Nice weather on "moving-in day" is a good omen for the year.

I appreciated the opportunity to stop and introduce myself to some of the new faculty taking a break under the oak trees. We begin our 155th year with a record number of 118 full-time teaching faculty,110 of whom have earned a doctoral degree or the equivalent. The faculty and staff earned their doctoral degrees at 64 different universities, including Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins and Stanford. Geographically speaking, the faculty member I envy most (Dr. Cynthia Fowler) did her graduate work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Again this year, we expect more than 92 percent of our fall class and lab sections to enroll fewer than 30 students, and the full-time-equivalent faculty to student ratio is 1 to 11, competitive with America's very best colleges and universities.

As they come and go across the campus, the students definitely represent the millenial generation — the giveaway comes from the fact about half of them are plugged into personal electronic devices. If some of the national statistical data is accurate, they are checking in with their parents, relaying an instantaneous description of that first college class. Be that as it may, they certainly are bright and attractive. Details about the Class of 2013 profile are elsewhere on this Web site- take a moment to look it over.

What are Wofford folks talking about on Labor Day, 2009?

• The exciting new major in environmental studies and Biology 150, an innovative introductory course for first-year students.
• Fascinating work done by faculty and students in this summer's Community of Scholars program.
• Interesting new friends and acquaintances— faculty, staff, students, parents.
• The opening football game Saturday night against the University of South Florida in Tampa— the score was disappointing, but this year's Terriers have talent and depth. 
• The new MyWofford portal on the campus network, and how to use it.
• National political and economic issues that influence daily life on the campus in very personal and unpredictable ways.

Some years ago, there was a popular song with a theme that eventually became an American proverb. For Labor Day on a college campus, it seems applicable.

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life — make the most of it."