Only a handful of rituals bring together the entire University community — a commencement, a Sweet 16 appearance, a sudden tragedy. On Oct. 30, the University gathered to celebrate a milestone that has come only 10 times in the University’s history, the inauguration of a new president.
In the presence of three past presidents, students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, and delegates from institutions across the country, Ronald A. Crutcher received the symbols of office and the congratulations of a wide range of speakers in the Robins Center. After a picnic on Millhiser Green, many of the attendees reconvened for a symposium, “America’s Unmet Promise.” There, the new president moderated a panel discussion that explored more deeply the themes of his inaugural address, themes that will inform the development of the University of Richmond’s next strategic plan.
Excerpt from Ronald A. Crutcher's inaugural address:
“It is absolutely critical that we ensure that all of our students are thriving and that they are part of, and see themselves as part of, our intellectual community. As we did with The Richmond Promise [the most recent strategic plan], we must not only profess these values but take concrete steps to live them.
It is only through the full engagement of every member of this community that we truly realize our common potential. It is not enough for our students to study diligently and earn high marks on projects and examinations. Their accomplishments take on much greater significance when they have learned to engage in the sharing of knowledge and creative expression everywhere — from their classrooms to their residence halls, their student organizations, the broader community, and the places they go after they have earned their degrees.
They must have the capacity for meaningful engagement not only with people already like themselves but also with others in whom they come to see themselves, particularly through differences. They must be able to respond to difficulties and setbacks with resilience, confidence, optimism, and renewed effort. More effective engagement with one another is the secret to unlocking and truly capitalizing on the potential of our students and of all of us. …
If we are building an intellectual community in which all of our students are thriving, they will be prepared throughout their lives to generate new knowledge and solve new problems, to engage in creative expression, to serve others purposefully, and to help those around them do the same. In short, to live meaningful, fulfilled lives not only for themselves, but also for others. This is the enduring outcome of a liberal education, which remains the best hope for bringing a diversity of perspectives and knowledge to addressing our most vexing problems. Our time here steers the course of not only our lives individually, but of our collective future together in this complicated, ever-changing world.
As we look around ourselves in this room now — at all of this ceremonial regalia, at this silver university mace and these ornate robes and caps we’ve earned at institutions of higher education around the world — we can see signs of the resiliency and enduring values of our fundamental, centuries-long work of preparing students, through a liberal education, for whatever may come. …
You, our students, are at the center of our work together, for you will lead the next generations into the future on behalf of all of us. As we begin the next phase of our history at Richmond, you, and the students who will follow you, deserve nothing less than our finest efforts and our commitment to thinking in the ways that we ask you to think:
- across boundaries, broadly, creatively;
- with ambition, compassion, and purpose;
- and with a genuine openness to varied voices and perspectives.
As Richmond’s new president, I promise this community my deepest commitment and tireless effort as we do just that and continue, through our embrace of the benefits of a liberal education, to shape our future together for generations to come. I am privileged to be part of a remarkable community gathered for this purpose.”
By order of the board of trustees of the University of Richmond, I invest you, Ronald Andrew Crutcher, with all the rights, privileges, honors, duties, and responsibilities pertaining to the office of the president. I charge you to build upon the remarkable accomplishments of your predecessors and to lead our University to even greater heights of achievement and service.
-Patricia Rowland, W'77 and GB'81, rector of the board of trustees
Excerpts from inauguration:
“When we think about what should drive all aspects of our planning, priorities, and hopes for the future, that driver is academic excellence, both in the exciting pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, as well as in the broadest sense — learning to live together in a world that needs leaders and role models who can influence positive and productive change.”
—Jan Hoffman French, president of the Faculty Senate
“Ron compels us to consider seriously the nature of a good society, of public morality, and of civic virtue. Indeed, he reminds each of us that we need to do more than to seek a good life; we must also seek a good society.”
—Lynn
Pasquerella, president of Mount Holyoke College
“We’re thrilled to have you, Betty, and Sara with us as part of the Richmond family. … It’s been fantastic to hear [your] enthusiasm and the vision for the University.”
—Connor Marsden, ’99, president of the UR Alumni Association
“We recognize and are aware of the many responsibilities of the president. Nevertheless, the time and energy that you and Dr. [Betty Neal] Crutcher have invested in the students has created an atmosphere of openness and excitement.”
—Olivia Karahan, ’16, president of Westhampton College
Government Association
“We, as students, have been inspired by your energy at orientation, your diligent workout regimen at the Weinstein Recreation & Wellness Center, your remarkable musical talent, and of course, seeing you and your signature bow ties at so many of our organizational events.” —Angelo Suggs, ’16, president of Richmond College Student Government Association
“He has the ability to transcend artificial boundaries and to go to the heart of the person regardless of gender or race or background. He understands what we human beings have in common and he connects to us. ... He is a leader, yes, but even more important, he is an educator in the best sense of that word.” —Freeman Hrabowski III, president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County
“The University of Richmond is already … one of higher education’s great success stories. You are now poised under his leadership to take your distinctive history to yet a new level of national and international prominence and significance.”
—Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities
From “America’s Unmet Promise,” the symposium that followed inauguration:
“My grandfather was a janitor. Another grandfather was a printer with an eighth-grade education. I have a Ph.D. I do not assume that I am smarter than they were. I understand that I am benefiting from my father, who was the only one in his generation to get to college and create opportunity for me. When I think just about my own family — and we can all think about that, all of the talent and potential that didn’t get the access to education — that’s the talent we need to tap in our society to fulfill the promise of being a democracy.”
—Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges &
Universities
“We have reports month after month that document inequities, but we seem to treat them like a natural disaster over which we have no control. … We have to stop doing that. … We have to understand this is a created problem. We have created it by our practices, by our policies, and by our structures, so only we can dismantle it.”
—Estela Mara Bensimon, co-director of the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California
“Merit needs to be redefined. It is not simply about your ability to take a particular test. It’s much more about your contribution to a democracy, where you are participating and contributing in a way that reflects your own studies but also benefits other people.”
—Lani Guinier, professor at Harvard Law School and author of The Tyranny of Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America