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Standing
and shining
When
President Beggs addressed the campus community in a letter in the
days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he turned to an Oxford
University commencement address delivered by the English poet John
Masefield in 1948 as Britain and the world recovered from World
War II.
The
address talked about the value of a university, saying "Wherever
a university stands, it stands and shines."
Beggs
went on to say that foremost among the values that define WSU are
respect, tolerance and civility.
"We
will encourage and protect freedom of thought and speech, but we
will not tolerate acts of hatred, violence or bigotry," the
letter said. "Instead, we are hopeful that the responses of
our community and nation will be directed to a constructive recovery
and that no one’s actions exacerbate the crisis of the moment."
His
response drew praise from Faculty Senate, which met last week.
At
WSU, where international students comprise about 10 percent of the
student body, there haven’t been incidents of unrest as there
have been at some other campuses, Robert Kindrick, vice president
for academic affairs and research, told the senate.
For
the full text of Beggs’ letter, go to the "In the news"
section of www.wichita.edu.
–
Amy Geiszler-Jones
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