{"id":206,"date":"2007-09-05T16:10:32","date_gmt":"2007-09-05T16:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/president\/remarks\/move-in-07\/"},"modified":"2013-02-26T16:17:56","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T22:17:56","slug":"move-in-07","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/president\/public-remarks\/move-in-07\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Afternoon Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 1, 2007<\/p>\n

Members of the class of 2011, Oles, I extend, on behalf of the College, a heartfelt welcome to St. Olaf. Thirty-seven years ago I came to St. Olaf as a first year student. That was a long time ago, and things were different. We were called freshmen. The college had an event called First Nighter where the male students from one corridor of a residence hall lined up, by height, across from the female students from another corridor of another residence hall, also lined up by height, and that person was your \u201cdate\u201d for a dance the first night. You hear stories of people who met their future life mates on First Nighter, but I think for most of us it was a pretty awkward evening. We didn\u2019t have an assembly like this for students and parents. My parents drove up to Thorson Hall, we unloaded my suitcase and a typewriter from the trunk of the car, they gave me $100 as my spending money for the semester \u2014 this included money for buying my textbooks \u2014 told me to go to chapel and study hard, and drove away. I went to the student union and got in line for dinner, and that was how college started.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking that your arrival at the college today was quite different. You are first-years, not freshmen. We\u2019ve abandoned First Nighter, thinking that you can probably find ways to connect with each other on your own. I know<\/em> none of you came with a typewriter. And probably most of you are working with a different budget number than I was for your expenses first semester. I\u2019m guessing that in a few minutes your goodbyes will be a little more prolonged.<\/p>\n

A lot has changed at St. Olaf and in our culture since the fall of 1970, but I\u2019d like to talk for a moment about what hasn\u2019t changed, the fundamentals that will characterize your St. Olaf education. You have been given the opportunity to spend four years reading, writing, thinking, experimenting, computing, drawing, painting, dancing, making music, playing sports, discussing, disagreeing, traveling \u2014 in short, expanding your intellectual range, deepening your knowledge, and honing and developing the skills and abilities that will enrich your lives after college and enable you to do good work and to be of service to others. You will encounter ideas you\u2019ve never heard of, people you couldn\u2019t have imagined and places that are presently beyond your ken. You will have opportunities to think about your values, to learn to live in community with others, to grow spiritually and to deepen your faith and your worship practices. It will be wonderful.<\/p>\n

But not every day of college will be a happy one. That\u2019s to be expected: almost no one \u2014 college student or not \u2015 experiences four years of unremitting happiness. I vividly remember handing in my first paper in my first English course as a first-year student at St. Olaf. It was on a Hemingway short story called, \u201cA Cat in the Rain.\u201d I was proud of my writing, and I felt that I had nailed the topic. My paper earned a C-. My professor noted that \u2014 among the other deficiencies of the paper \u2015 I had no idea whatsoever about how to use a comma. I was crushed. He was right.<\/p>\n

You will encounter similar challenges. You will come out of a philosophy class and your head will hurt. In a sculpture class your clay will stubbornly refuse to take on the form you envisioned for it. In a lab your compound won\u2019t do what it was supposed to do. In a music lesson you will play lustily on a rest. Perhaps, like me in 1970, you will even run afoul of the comma.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s alright. I\u2019m telling you now that these challenges lie before you so that when they happen you will be better able to take them in stride. No one expects you to be perfect, and no one expects you to know everything. If you did, you wouldn\u2019t need to come to college. So don\u2019t let a fear of failure prevent you from taking some intellectual risks, or from experimenting with new ideas and disciplines. There\u2019s nothing wrong with being a little bit uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

You have to come to the college to be a student, and your work here is to learn. You will be guided in this project by the learned faculty that you see here today in their academic regalia. Don\u2019t worry: they won\u2019t come to class every day dressed like this, but I\u2019d encourage you to picture your professors from time to time in the academic robes you see them wearing here. The regalia tell you, if you know the code, where each person received her or his advanced degree and in what field. But more to the point the robes and hoods and caps communicate a sense of the dignity of purpose that lies at the heart of liberal learning and connect us with the centuries-long tradition of scholars and teachers who have dedicated themselves to advancing and communicating knowledge. You have now taken your place in that tradition. The faculty at St. Olaf are teachers, and they will have high expectations of you, as you do of yourself. They and the College will support your efforts to fulfill those expectations, and you will be learning in community with other students who will be invested in your success as members of the community. But finally it will be up to you to make the most of these opportunities and experiences. So this is the time to make a quiet vow to yourself: \u201cI have been given the gift of four years to learn and grow, and I\u2019m going to take advantage of every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents. If you want to know the truth, this ceremony is really about you. It is a valediction, a formal leave-taking, a good-bye. In a few moments I am going to invite you and your student to share one more hug before the class of 2011 goes to meet with their academic advisors and you begin the journey home minus one kid. One week ago I was standing outside the Minneapolis\/St. Paul airport having one last hug before we sent our youngest off to college 14 hours away for her sophomore year. She helped me out a lot by saying something to the effect of, \u201cDad, you can go now,\u201d but it was still tough. Less than a week ago I hugged my son, a senior in college, goodbye before he got in the car to go back for his final semester. It\u2019s hard to imagine \u2014 or perhaps tough to accept \u2015 that the person you watched grow up is really and truly ready to go it alone. Well, your student won\u2019t be going it alone. St. Olaf truly does have an extraordinary sense of community and the mutual investment we have in one another\u2019s welfare is among our greatest strengths as an institution. Dean of Students Greg Kneser was telling me the other day about a sign that students in Thorson Hall put up on the entrance last year: \u201cTake care of yourself. Take care of each other. Take care of this place.\u201d That pretty much sums it up.<\/p>\n

The faculty of the college care about your student. They are wonderful teachers. On a whim the other day I asked the Dean\u2019s Office how many total years of service the full professors at St. Olaf have contributed to the college. Any guesses? 2,474 years of service. Those two and a half millennia of seasoning and testing have served them well, and they will serve your student well. We are ready for the class of 2011. The President of the College understands that you are committing your student to our care, and that is a responsibility that I take very seriously.<\/p>\n

Now, let me repeat, not every day St. Olaf will be a great day for your student. So prepare yourself for the first message that conveys some frustration, some discouragement, a blow to the confidence. You\u2019re parents, you know what to do: listen, sympathize, encourage your student to keep at it, to solve problems for him or herself and to seek help when you need it. I\u2019d encourage you not to be like the parents of a student I spoke with the other day who told me, \u201cPresident Anderson, I hated to do it but last year I had to block my mom on my Instant Messenger Buddy List. She was driving me nuts! I couldn\u2019t study!\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents — you are always welcome on campus, and I hope that we will see you here from time to time. Family weekend is the last weekend in September, and one month into the semester is a good time to make a visual inspection of how your first-year student is doing. You\u2019re all invited. If you can\u2019t wait until then for the visual inspection, I\u2019m happy to report an innovation for this fall at St. Olaf called the \u201cHi Mom!\u201d camera. It is located in Buntrock Commons just to the left of the fireplace in the Crossroads Lounge area, and it is the perfect way to see how well your favorite Ole is doing. To use it, just establish a time that your son or daughter wants to stand in front of the camera (and remember that we’re on Central Time). The camera refreshes its image every two to three seconds. I have given this a trial run with my 84-year old mother, and it works just swell.<\/p>\n

Nor is this the only way to stay connected with life on campus. You can attend daily chapel and Sunday worship services online, as well as being part of concerts, speakers and other special events. After the broadcasts are aired live they’re archived online. And we\u2019re developing daily chapel podcasts.<\/p>\n

Students, I began these remarks by observing that you have been given the opportunity to enjoy four years of uninterrupted study and growth. Your friends and families have given you that gift, and by their presence here they show how much they care about you and hope for your success. This would be a great time to say thank you, so let\u2019s stand up and give them a great big round of applause.<\/p>\n

Students and parents. This is the time to say good-bye. Students — your future awaits in the person of your academic advisor, with whom you are now going to meet. Here\u2019s how we will do this. Would you all please remain standing after the blessing until the faculty has recessed? Then say your good-byes. Parents, I wish you a safe journey home. Students, proceed downstairs to the field house to meet your advisor. Have a great year!<\/p>\n

David R. Anderson \u201874<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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