Ripon College Days

At Ripon College we understand the role of the Board of Trustees and acknowledge that it is one of the utmost importance. We appreciate these people and hold them in high esteem. These men and women are responsible for making the decisions that have the heaviest impact on the quality of our education, and more than that, the quality of person this institution has the capability of producing.

To have the chance to meet and interact with these most important, yet sometimes silent and often overlooked (at least, by the average student) members of our community is a valuable opportunity, one that is rare and not to be squandered. Major events, such as the ethics in the media conference afforded many students who wouldn't otherwise be in contact with them, to sit down and have discussions with the decision makers of our school. That discourse is an effective method both for opening channels from the trustees to the students, for the benefit of the students and for maintaining the trustees' connection with the student body.

We would like the school to take into account how much we enjoy that interaction. We would like to see more events in which the students can reach out to the trustees, opportunities which otherwise often do not not exist. It is our observation that when the trustees are here for their meetings, they are personally not shy about making an attempt to reach out into the community, yet often when they are here it seems there is very little interaction on a large scale between them and the students.

We feel as students that we would be better served if we were not only able to establish a direct line of communication with our Board, but encouraged. It seems foolish to have even the suggestion of separation between the two bodies. Students profit in many ways by establishing a camaraderie with the trustees. Our trustees are individuals of great importance, not only to us, in the context of their position, but off campus, where they serve society as a whole. Open discourse serves them, as they seek people to take their place as future successful Ripon College graduates, but serves us, as we seek our place in the world, perhaps working for one of them.

The Ripon College community extends beyond the borders of upper and lower campus-it extends beyond those who currently take up residence here, but across generations-it is to the benefit of everyone included in that extended family, to see increased interaction between Red Hawks of all ages. Our trustees are some of the greatest examples of successful Ripon College graduates, and their integration into discourse at our level-the level of the students, would be a perfect example of what Ripon has to put forth as a educational institution. There would be nothing more appropriate than to see decades of alumni and scores of current students talking about what is uniquely our "Ripon Experience."

Article Tools