Remarks at the Launch of
"The Wellesley Campaign"
October 12, 2000

Diana Chapman Walsh
President
Wellesley College

 

Come into this place of peace, and let its silence heal your spirit;
Come into this place of memory, and let its history warm your soul;
Come into this place of prophecy and power, and let its vision change
your heart.

These words were spoken by a Wellesley College student at a gathering we hosted two years ago for hundreds of visitors from colleges and universities across the country, an exploration of the theme: "education as transformation."

And here we are in a space that has been utterly transformed. As I see us now, resplendent in our "festive attire," I hear echoes of a crucial volleyball match, when the swimming team came dashing out, dripping wet, from practice in the pool to lead the crowd in a rousing cheer for the "Big Blue." I feel the pulse of the rock concerts that shook these rafters far into the night last year. I see the sea of attentive faces, listening to Toni Morrison's riveting account of writing her book Paradise. I sense the excitement and impending loss filling this cavernous space as the first-year students and their families prepare to bid their farewells at the conclusion of the dinner we host in August to mark the end of moving-in day.

We can think of this protean field house as a metaphor for Wellesley's special alchemy. In this era of ours that tends to fragment and isolate, this College of ours can still assert an exuberant and insistent "we!" And when we gather together, joined in a collective response -- joy, tears, cheers, communion, concentration, celebration -- we create a potent community. It is in such moments that we experience the value of our shared life, and expand anew our aspirations for the common good.

And so… we are here tonight in this space we have again transformed, preparing, once again, to set out on a journey together that will transform this College that for generations of authentic and inquiring women has been a place of peace … of memory … of power -- a place our graduates have carried with them through full and meaningful lives, as a living repository of their highest standards and hopes, a reminder to keep on striving and learning--and serving --a place, paradoxically that supplies both comfort, and unrelenting challenge.

One quirky and quite vivid memory from this space that comes back to me now is of an entering first-year student a few years ago at the orientation event in which students begin to select their courses from a bewildering wealth of choices. At an "academic fair" we hold here in the field house, representatives of the academic departments display their wares and answer students' questions. From a distance, it's almost as if the whole of human knowledge is assembled, temporarily, under this roof.

In the middle of it all, there happened on this day to be one unclaimed table and my enterprising student had quietly taken it over. Her notes and materials were strewn across it and she had the look of someone who was not going to budge until she had mastered the whole course catalogue, by hook or by crook. In a brief conversation (she had scant time to waste loitering with the president), I was amused to see in her that Wellesley intensity I have come to know so well, that thirst to learn it all, be it all, see it all, that absolute passion for living "life to the lees" in the words Tennyson gave Ulysses -- for making of this "one wild and precious life" "something particular, and real" as the poet Mary Oliver would have us do. Now here is a student, I thought as I left her to her task, who has found her college; she will be nourished here.

And so many women have been--and are being -- so richly nourished here. Today's first-year students will be transformed before they leave. Our faculty and staff will see to that, as will the other excelling women, the students in whose company our students come here to excel. Having been transformed, they will take their places among women who are transforming the world, have done so for a century and more. Women like those who formed a silent honor guard through which you drove this evening on your way to this celebration. The banners you passed on the lamp-posts tonight commemorate winners of the Alumnae Achievement Awards who are now deceased. Women who did (make a difference in the world), inspiring those who will. "Women who will"three words extracted from our mission statement as the theme for this new Campaign for Wellesley.

We assembled here tonight are the people -- women and men--who will make a difference for Wellesley in the decade ahead. I thank you all for coming and for the commitment that has brought you here. You support Wellesley in so many vital ways. I want particularly to thank our magnificent campaign co-chairs -- Sue Newhouse, Betsy Knapp, and Beth McNay. They will provide us with exactly the leadership we need. I want also to acknowledge our two honorary co-chairs, Kathryn Davis and Lib Davis, two extraordinary women, two lifetimes of service to this College that have left it far stronger than it would be without their attentive and creative care.

As we launch this campaign, in this anniversary year, we celebrate 125 years of leadership in higher education, while we chart our course for the decades ahead. The last campaign secured Wellesley's position as the leading college for women. By the end of this one we want the world to see what we already know: that Wellesley offers the finest residential liberal arts education available anywhere.

The 400-million dollar goal we have set is ambitious, we know. And yet it represents a fraction of what we would like to do. It also represents what we believe we must do to secure Wellesley's position for generations to come.

"Many creatures must make," Frank Bidart reminds us, "but only one must seek within itself what to make." We have sought within ourselves what to make of Wellesley College for the 21st century. And in that making we can imagine how we and the College will be remade. You've had a flavor of that remaking in the words you've heard tonight. And we shall send you, shortly, a blueprint of our specific priorities for the campaign. I want to leave you now with just two large aspirations.

Among many privileges of this job, traveling for the College ranks high, especially to places where we have a devoted following. In Taiwan, the Wellesley president is greeted like visiting royalty. When one high-ranking official asked me how big Wellesley is, I told him and he looked stunned. "Your influence surpasses your size," he remarked, after a pause. I smiled and nodded. He thought for another long moment, then he smiled and added, "You have concentrated on quality."

This campaign builds, first and foremost, on that legacy of quality. And on our awareness that there are two very big contributions the world needs of our little college, an institution that has been blessed with exceptional loyalty and extensive reach. First, the world needs Wellesley College to be a standard bearer for the liberal arts ideal. For 125 years, this College has been a place of refuge for people committed to the life of the mind and especially for women, long marginalized in such places.

Women and men crafted on these 300 rolling acres a community to embody their deepest values and stoutest hopes. They wanted to cordon off a space where scholars could reason well together, respectfully, mindfully, responsibly, and with the eros or love of truth that animated the Greeks. And now we live in an era in which pressures on our young people scream that what matters in life are celebrity not substance; money not values; speed not depth; style not standards; transactions not enduring relationships. At such a time as this, if we can inculcate in our students habits of critical thinking and responsible stewardship the discipline of choosing thoughtfully what is worthy of their care and then organizing their lives to exercise that care with passion and compassion -- if we can teach that ethic of stewardship, then we have accomplished something of abiding value. And our history says that we can, and do.

Second, the world needs little Wellesley College to stand as a beacon for women around the world -- for the special gifts they can bring to bear on increasingly urgent problems. What it means to be a Wellesley woman -- always has, and I hope always will -- is to be a woman who will … make a difference somewhere in this complicated world. And tonight as our first Wellesley astronaut pilots the shuttle Discovery in outer space -- she was launched at 7:17 p.m. last night -- we can say with just a touch of hyperbole that we are now making a difference in the universe.

The story of Wellesley College is the story of women (like Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Melroy) who live their lives with courage, commitment, and zest; who never stop questioning, learning, growing ... and giving; women, who, at every age, alive with curiosity, greet triumphs with humility and face tragedies with dignity, who make their way through the world with generosity and grace.

Over the next five years we will watch unfold stories of thousands of people stepping forward to play their part in ensuring the future of Wellesley College by helping us transform it again to meet the challenges of our times. As we launch this new campaign, with panache and optimism, we owe to everyone in this room the boldness of the vision we are daring to pursue.

And we owe a very singular debt to two special women. Lulu Chow Wang '66 and Kathryn Wasserman Davis '28 have inspired us to set our sights much higher than we dreamed possible. Lulu and Kathryn have each pledged 25-million dollars to this new Wellesley Campaign, Lulu with her husband, Toni, Kathryn through the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation.

Separated by 38 years, Lulu and Kathryn have much in common: They are active and seasoned trustees who know this College inside and out. They appreciate its past and relish its future. They care deeply about our students--how they learn, and who they are. They have profound respect and affection for our gifted faculty. They have boundless enthusiasm that energizes us all. They married special men whose pleasure in their achievements enabled them to flourish. These are selflessly generous women of broad vision and far-reaching ambition for an alma mater that is so very fortunate to have the support of friends such as these … friends such as everyone assembled under this roof.

Would you join me in (again) thanking Kathryn Davis and Lulu Wang as they make their way to the stage? And would the three campaign co-chairs join us up here as well? Now, if everyone would please stand, raise a glass and join us and the Wellesley Widows, we will sing "America the Beautiful" and launch The Wellesley Campaign for women who will … make a difference in the world. We have liftoff!

Mary Ann Hilll mhill@wellesley.edu
Office for Public Information
Last Modified: October 25, 2000