Inauguration Address

"Independent Minds, Working Together"
Grant H. Cornwell
April 26, 2008

continued...

If we speed over a century of history we see Wooster become the preferred institution for Presbyterian missionaries, spread across the globe, to provide their children's education. These connections opened wide pathways for international students to find their way to Wooster; these pathways have remained open so that today on campus we have over 100 international students representing 30 countries. But from its post-Civil War beginnings until today, the College has also been mindful of its commitment to African-Americans and other students of color traditionally underrepresented in higher education; today 10% of the students at The College of Wooster come from these populations. It is because of this history that we have a Black Alumni Council and an International Student Alumni Network, each with distinguished and committed graduates spanning many generations.

It is important to notice, then, that The College of Wooster was formed by movements and overlapping histories in a dynamic we now call globalization. This is a cosmopolitan institution in its bones, a place formed and framed with a social conscience. This is important to remember as we imagine our future; precisely because the pace of globalization has accelerated, The College of Wooster has to remain focused on the world we are preparing our graduates to lead.

Last night, many of you heard the wonderful lecture by Martha Nussbaum on the goals of liberal education and her concerns with its current state and direction. She made the case that, in order for our students to graduate with the moral, intellectual, and leadership capacities they will need to conduct themselves as responsible and effective global citizens, we must concentrate on cultivating certain abilities in our students. In Professor Nussbaum's words: "democracy needs citizens who can think for themselves, rather than deferring to authority, who can reason together about their choices rather than simply trading claims and counter-claims." A modern democratic citizen needs "the ability to see oneself as a member of a heterogeneous nation, and world, understanding something of the history and character of the diverse groups that inhabit it" and "the ability to think what it might be like to be in the shoes of a person different from oneself, to be an intelligent reader of that person's story, and to understand the emotions and wishes and desires that someone so placed might have." [2]

Notice that each of these abilities resonates with the words of Willis Lord, and fills out the answer to why communities of liberal learning must be inclusive and diverse if they are to fulfill their missions.

As a critical elaboration of Professor Nussbaum's talk last night, I would say this. As a liberal arts college, I believe we have the obligation to graduate students who have the intellectual and moral wherewithal to do well in the world and to do good. I believe we owe this to our students and to the world they will inherit. A Wooster education is a profound investment in the development of each student who passes through here. Families and students themselves stretch a great deal to make this education possible. Almost all of our students receive some sort of financial aid. But even those who shoulder the full burden themselves are benefiting from a subsidy provided by generous alumni and donors who have come before.

These material realities have ethical implications. First, it is right and fair that students and their families expect a Wooster education to empower them to do well in the world. An education of this quality provides access to leadership and, for many, prosperity. Access to leadership and prosperity is also, therefore, access to influence, and with the ability to influence comes the obligation to apply influence in the service of justice, fairness, respect, and decency.

Education is a social good that is deserved by all people simply by virtue of their humanity, but in reality only a small percentage of our population has access to an education of the quality offered here. If we consider only the U.S., less than 2% of those enrolled in higher education are pursuing their studies in selective liberal arts colleges. And, of course, the majority of our students' college-age peers do not attend colleges of any kind. If we think globally, the rarity of the privilege becomes all the starker; only a fraction of a fraction of our students' global peers will have the social access and life prospects that a fine liberal education promises. This privilege entails responsibility.

As Professor Nussbaum put it so well last night, and I quote:

An education for human development as responsible global citizenship has a twofold purpose. It must, first, promote the human development of its students. And it must, second, promote the students' understanding of the goals of human development for all, as goals inherent in the very idea of a decent minimally just society - in such a way that when they are empowered to make political choices, they will foster these capabilities for all, not only for themselves. [3]

It is this understanding of liberal education that is written so deeply into the text of Wooster's history and character. As Loren Pope says of Wooster, we are a college that changes lives, but not only the lives of our graduates. As I will develop further, Wooster alumni are engaged with the world in ways that have a positive impact on human development locally, nationally, and globally.

The College of Wooster ranks near the top of the nation's best liberal arts colleges in producing graduates who go on to earn their Ph.D.'s; we rank 20th out of 206 colleges in producing Ph.D.'s in physics and chemistry, 24th in the humanities, and 28th in the geosciences and in religious studies. I don't boast about this because these outcomes are our mission. They aren't exactly. But these data are evidence that transformative learning takes place here, that we are a college that changes lives. Why is this? What is it about the culture of teaching and learning at The College of Wooster that opens students to possibilities they never imagined and gives them uncommon access to higher learning?

To answer these questions I turn to the voices of our alumni themselves. What I will do in the remainder of my time with you this morning is focus on Wooster's unique approach towards mentoring students in the research process, the independent search for understanding, insight, and new knowledge, and link this cornerstone of our educational program to our overall mission.

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