Happy 2025!

My first higher education meeting each year is a gathering of the NECU (Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities) presidents. This group is the 26 colleges and universities (25 U.S. and 1 Canadian) currently affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

There is great variety among the NECU member schools. Some are overtly Lutheran; some are just historically Lutheran; for most, the enrollment of Lutheran students is between 5% and 10%; and at least one has three times as many Jewish students as Lutheran. The smallest is just over 700 students, and the largest is just over 3,000. They are all residential liberal-arts colleges.

What we share is an ethos that stems from our respective founding. Each of our institutions has a historical commitment to access, an educational tradition tied to vocation (the calling type), and a foundational emphasis on service.

Our institutions embrace a set of forward-looking values that have grown out of historic educational and theological precepts. This seeming dichotomy is summarized in the document, Rooted and Open: The Calling of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities. It highlights our common commitments to free inquiry, service to our neighbors, and radical hospitality, “So That All May Flourish,” which is also the title of an excellent recent anthology of the “Aims of Lutheran Higher Education.”

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging efforts on our campuses are integral components of our missions and our Lutheran roots. Much of our time together later this week will be focused on articulating our shared commitment to these principles and working to clarify how they are embedded in our work to prepare the next generation of leaders, and how we strengthen these efforts to sustain the campus communities all our students deserve.

This puts us at odds with the ascendant divisive efforts to dismantle DEI programs across the nation.

In this season of resolutions, I am looking forward to being with my NECU president colleagues as we resolve to embrace our shared heritage, celebrate every student, and lead open and inclusive campuses, so “So That All May Flourish” indeed.

We are in richest seam of campus tradition: Christmas Candle Light, our Celebration of Mid-Year Graduates, and Be a Kid Again (the night before finals, hundreds of students show up in their pajamas for cocoa and cookies, and to hear a musical rendition of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas) all unfold during the week following the Thanksgiving break.

Our campus Thanksgiving Dinner was this past week. It is my favorite of Susquehanna’s many traditions because it shines a bright light on what a remarkable and tight-knit community this is.

This annual celebration began in 1981. There are two seatings on Thursday and single seating for seniors on Friday. Many students form tables of friend groups, majors, teams, or student organizations. The traditional meal is served family-style by faculty, staff, and family members with lots of back-of-house support from O & M Dining.

At each dinner, I encourage the students to think about what they have accomplished and to reflect on how fortunate we are to be together in this wonderful place. With the seniors, I also ask them to appreciate what they have done over the past three-and-a-half years and how they have been changed, and I challenge them to make the most of their remaining six months as SU students.

For me, the best part is seeing how truly grateful everyone is. Their authenticity is heartwarming and humbling.

In that spirit, a few days ago, the Alumni Office sent out this Thanksgiving “Fireside Chat.” I provided a “State of the University” and answered some questions from our Alumni Association President, Jamie Hindman.

As we enter a season of giving and gratitude, it gave us a chance to thank alumni and friends of the University for all they do to make our work with students possible . Not unlike our student reflections, it was truly gratifying to take stock of what we have accomplished and the exciting opportunities that lie before us.

We have so much for which we are grateful. Thank you to all of you who have played a part in supporting the University and helping us to transform students’ lives for the better every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For most of our students, this will be the first time they have been able to vote in a presidential election. In keeping with our mission, we have undertaken many non-partisan efforts on campus under the heading, Achieve, Lead, Vote to promote voter registration and to provide objective resources in support of voter literacy.

This fall, over 400 of our students have registered to vote through these on-campus efforts, which have been supported by the All In Campus Democracy Challenge led by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) and the PA Department of State.

College students can choose to vote in the communities where their families reside, or they can vote here as residents of our campus, and thereby, Selinsgrove. For the latter, we also provide transportation to our two polling places.

I recently received a message from a colleague at a sister institution encouraging campus leaders to use their voices to help shape the outcome of the election stating that this is not a moment for campus neutrality. The issue isn’t one of lapsing from the campus neutrality of the Kalven Report, it is a Title IV concern that institutions receiving federal financial aid cannot be partisan.

As I was advised by a senior colleague a number of years ago, college presidents must be political, but they must not be publicly partisan. Therefore, I can’t endorse a party or a candidate. There can be no political signs in my yard, nor candidate bumper stickers on my car, but I can and should advocate for issues that support our mission and our students and argue against those that oppose them.

For years, when students have asked me for whom I will vote, I have replied “For the candidate who will best support education and the arts.” It plays by the rules, but it also signals to them that I am voting on issues rather than party or personality.

I do vote based on the issues, although more than just two. Sound economic policies, civil rights, the environment, healthcare, infrastructure, and diplomatic philosophies are also important to me. It often yields a mixed ticket.

We tell our students that they should vote, but we don’t tell them how they should vote. We encourage them to reflect on which issues are important to them, and we provide them with the tools to draw objective conclusions as they exercise their civic duty. If that were how all people approached the election, we would surely be enjoying a much more civil national ethos.