Liberal Arts

What struck me about Leigh Anna Logsdon, above left,was her Molecular Biology book. She was among about 20 students who attended a conversation with Congressman Charlie Gonzalez (D-San Antonio) on October 17 at Trinity. Over my 20-some years at Trinity I have learned to embrace the liberal arts. Our students often embody the qualities of life-long learners. Leigh Anna is a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major with a minor in Religion. And she knows the Congressman through her family and because she served as an intern for him. She took time out of her schedule to hear from a member of the U.S. Congress a day after one of the televised presidential debates. I snapped the above photo after asking her to prop up her book. She obliged, not really knowing why.

The liberal arts aside, Congressman Gonzalez spoke about the election, the Congress,and his relationship with the President. He was charming, candid, insightful, and funny. He was introduced by Ana Price, senior, and president of the Political Science Honor Society. She is also on the Student Conduct Board and is a swimmer. The Congressman used her - and me - to illustrate the different health care risks we may pose for potential insurers. She would be less risky, he opined, while I would likely have high cholesterol and other health problems not sought by insurance companies. I was pretty offended, though I do have high cholesterol and other health problems.

While citing Ana's fine conditioning the Congressman noted that he and I were not necessarily in the best condition despite both working out at the YMCA.

Congressman Charlie Gonzalez poses with senior Ana Price.

Good thing he retires after this term, as he was starting to lose my vote. I actually met him at the Y. Having great respect for personal space and boundaries I introduced myself to him several times. This eventually led to me inviting him to campus and he very graciously obliged.

In the audience Wednesday were many students from a Legislatures course taught by Professor Thomas Hayes. While I think they learned some things from the Congressman, I was actually struck by some of the other students that were there. Like Leigh Anna, at least three other students specifically came by because they knew Charlie or had worked with him as interns. He remembered them all by name and clearly had warm personal relationships with these students.

In a room nearby, prospective students were being prepped for a tour of the campus. While they didn't know a U.S. Congressman was holding court next door, I hoped that somehow they got the message of what we offer. Personal and professional connections, engagement, breadth and depth in learning, and a blended experience in and outside the classroom. There it was, right under their noses - a chance to be a part of something special. The Liberal Arts.

Gone, not forgotten

The dog days are over. On October 3, The Dog Jurgens was returned to TSA at Lackland Air Force base after ten months as a Trinity foster puppy. The previous evening we held a roast and reception to say farewell. Jurgens was housed in the office of Katharine Martin, Campus Publications Coordinator, during the week and at my home with my family on nights and weekends. But she really lived on the whole campus. Students played with her during her office hours, saw her at campus events, and most importantly, signed up to walk her. She had boundless energy, so the walking was very important. She also has a sense of humor, as evidenced by her "routine" when Katharine had to put her in her crate. This was the only time a group, rather than a single family, served as a foster family.

TSA bomb-sniffing dogs are named for victims of the 9/11 attacks. Our puppy was named for Paul Jurgens. Paul's sister and brother-in-law, Alice and John Sheldon came to campus from Maryland on 9/11 this year to meet Jurgens, who they had been following on Facebook. It was a tremendous visit for all of us.

This fostering program was intended to be fun and give students a puppy to play with as a stress reliever. It turned out to be much larger than that. The training/behavioral regimen was different than with most puppies. We had to try to evoke certain qualities from Jurgens, such as toy drive, that would be used later on in her training. We benefited greatly by learning of Paul and meeting some of his family. And we were able to more appropriately reflect on 9/11 than since we dedicated a memorial on campus in 2003.

Mostly, we learned about a heroic man, a loyal and devoted family, and the personal nature of a national tragedy -- and the pain it continues to inflict. And we learned about a puppy who will also serve in protecting others with drive, energy, and relentlessness. To commemorate this experience, an etching from the World Trade Center Memorial commemorating Paul Jurgens, hangs in my office. It was done by staffer Raphael Moffett when he visited New York last summer. A photo collage and a letter from Alice Sheldon complete the grouping.

This will be placed in a more prominent location, probably in the University Center, next year. It includes a QR code to the Web page so future visitors can learn more about the man, the dog, and the program. All are too special to be forgotten. Our puppy will now spend up to a year in intensive training. If she is successful she will be assigned to an airport to assume bomb-sniffing duties. It is not uncommon for foster families to attend graduation. I hope they will be ready for Trinity University. We look forward to seeing her again. And remembering.

Breaking Bad

Rick and me at student move-in this year.

It takes a special person to be my friend. Just ask Rick Roberts. He is the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back. Me? Not so much. I am more of a germ-o--phobe. I have in fact loaned Rick running gear, at his request, but I never give him my best stuff... because I would never feel right wearing it again.

The last few months have been difficult for me. I have been losing many of my best Trinity guy friends. I have known Rick for a long time. He and his wife, Dacia, are godparents to my daughter Kellyn. Rick and I have logged a lot of running miles together and he is a great listener. He is going to Texas Lutheran University to be their vice president for advancement. He deserves it. But... personal wing man: Gone.

Raphael Moffett WAS the director of Campus & Community Involvement here. He was actually the first to go. One day in August he told me we needed to talk about this great opportunity he had to be a vice president. I tried to make my pitch to keep him but I never had a chance. He had already taken the job. He skipped being a Dean of Students and went right to VP for Student Affairs at Langston University in Oklahoma. Raphael was becoming my go-to guy in Student Affairs. He was also becoming a close friend. But for the sake of scoring... professional wing man: Gone.

Ben Newhouse skipped a step too. He was slated to take over Raphael Moffett's position, but instead took the Dean of Students position at Birmingham Southern College in Alabama. He was actually stolen by a good colleague (and now FORMER friend), Dave Eberhardt. Ben has been here twice now, professionally. You really should only leave Trinity once. But I can't begrudge Ben his decision either, though I do. He will be a great Dean of Students and that was evident this week hearing students speak about him at his farewell reception. He is my combo guy (personal and professional): Gone.

Losing Rick and Raphael is especially tough for another reason. They were key members of our "The Administrators" basketball team. Mark Detterick also left this summer putting us in serious rebuilding mode.

So I will respond the way any normal guy would. I will watch TV, eat chips, and stop doing laundry. Oh wait, I already do that. But I will eventually need some testosterone-based companionship. VP Chuck White and I are friends, but he doesn't know it. So he's out. Chris Ellertson, Associate Vice President for Enrollment, would be great but he works too much and has nicer clothes than me. Eric Maloof travels too much. So he's out. Soccer coach Paul McGinlay is cool, but he's British. No. This is going to take some time. Desperate times call for one thing, and one thing only -- a  survey. That's right, I am taking friendship requests through Survey Monkey.

So candidates, step on up. Please take my survey! I might be a little high maintenance and somewhat self-absorbed. I don't drink, smoke, or eat meat. But I'm a lot of fun at parties. Well... at small gatherings. I am loyal. I am not needy. And for as long as the University will have me, I'm not going anywhere. I am a great catch.

I will miss you Rick, and Raph, and Ben. But someone will want me. Won't they?

Remembering The Man, Paul Jurgens

Alice and John Sheldon on the San Antonio Riverwalk, September, 2012.

Alice (Jurgens) Sheldon and her husband John Sheldon visited Trinity University this week to meet our TSA puppy - and to help the campus community commemorate the 9/11 eleventh anniversary. Their visit was covered by the local newspaper and a local television affiliate. Those outlets had previously covered the story of The Dog Jurgens in print and on the air.

In short, TSA breeds and raises puppies to become bomb-sniffing airport working animals. In the first year, the puppies are sent to foster families with intermittent visits back to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio for more specialized training. The puppies are all named for 9/11 victims. Trinity University students and staff put in a request to foster a puppy and were rewarded with a year-long experience with The Dog Jurgens. She will be returned to TSA on October 5, 2012.

The TSA doesn't contact families about the namesake puppies, but they don't prohibit foster families from doing so. We received The Dog Jurgens last December and reached out to the family of Paul Jurgens in mid-winter. John Sheldon was the initial point of contact. As Paul's brother-in-law he has remained active in maintaining a We and foundation presence and he still closely follows the fate of terrorists awaiting justice.

Over the course of the last several months, John, Paul's widow Maria, and a number of other relatives have followed the adventures of The Dog Jurgens from afar. In our budding relationship with John, the University asked to host him and Alice for a visit to meet Jurgens in person. They gave up their usual family-oriented ceremonies with the family in New York City to be with the Trinity community.

Over the course of their two day visit they visited the campus 9/11 memorial garden, toured the TSA training facilities at Lackland, were interviewed by students in a 9/11 program, and met and spent play time with The Dog Jurgens, with whom they forged an instant and lasting bond. Most chilling was learning that the family didn't know that Paul would be near ground zero. He called in to his department to say he was headed there after the first plane hit. Only later in the day did suspicions arise and worst fears were realized. he was missing.

Their visit was extremely meaningful for the Trinity students and staff. Learning more about Paul Jurgens helps personalize - for the rest of us - the national tragedy of 9/11. In fact, Alice wasn't sure that there was still much interest from those outside of the hardest hit communities. I recently heard a woman named Jo Lucker give a talk about how you can't take away grief but you can show you care. This foster program and the Sheldon visit helps us show one family that this little campus in San Antonio cares about what happened. We hope John, Alice, and their relatives feel that they are part of the Trinity family now. They were a huge hit here and everyone loved them!

John did something I wish more guest speakers and lecturers would do. He did his homework on us: He looked at our Website and spoke to people in education about us. Having spent time with him this is not surprising. He and Alice are warm, personable, humble, caring, fun, and interested in others. That shouldn't be surprising either. That's how people describe Paul Jurgens.

Welcome Class of 2016 (You should listen to me)

Having listened to opening speeches from extreme orators Coleen Grissom, Gage Paine, and Felicia Lee, I have to admit I am always a little nervous about delivering goods at the same level. Frankly, I am more comfortable blogging or  ad-lib-ing But maybe they taught me something. Below are my remarks to the Class of 2016. I have linked images from the slide show.

President Ahlburg addresses new students and their families in Laurie Auditorium on August 16, 2012. The orientation "home away from home" was where I addressed new students the following night.

Welcome new and transfer students! It has been a true pleasure to meet many of you, and many of your family members, over the last two days.

To keep you visually engaged this evening, I have prepared an accompanying slide show for your entertainment in a desperate attempt to have you focused on something other than Facebook and texting.

As you entered the Auditorium you heard Drake Bell with his Greatest Hit – It’s Only Time. It's probably the only time that song has, or will be, played in Laurie Auditorium. You, of course remember him from the hit show of your youth, Drake and Josh.

Tonight is kind of our sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll session, and I like to get the rock-and-roll part out of the way early. I considered playing "Cell" (mistake intended) Phone by Maroon Five and "Queen Latifa" (mistake intended) or the latest song from "Gotya" (mistake intended).  But I settled on Drake Bell so you wouldn’t think I was trying TOO hard to be hip.

I would have played Bruce Springsteen, as I did last year, but the class of 2015 seemed underwhelmed by my choice for them. Now I don't trust them. So I decided to play it safe, and not risk Bruce Springsteen on the Class of 2016.

I consider tonight's program a sort of triage event. It is our chance to welcome you, and in some ways, to try to save you from yourselves. Everything about your experience here is about your education, your success, and your health and safety. So that is where we begin.

There are just three things I want to talk about before we bring our panel up here in a few minutes:

First, I want you to understand where our simple rules and policies come from. They are really more a code of care - for one another - than a list of thou-shall-nots.
Second, I want to suggest to you that there can be a different way to do college than the movies have shown you.
And third, I want to try to convince you that we are “we,” rather than we are "us" and you are "them." In other words, that we are here to support you, and are here because of you and not in spite of you.

Care and respect, a different way to approach college, and trust: Those are my themes for tonight.

This week you have begun your Trinity journey, and joined a community with a tremendous tradition of respect for others: One where we embrace those of different races, religions, cultures, sexes, and gender identities. We have a national-award-winning program, Sunday about our dynamic campus. Pay attention. You are lucky to be with, and among, artists and athletes, and Texans and Yankees and international students, and engineers and poets and musicians and computer programmers. That is our community.

In this community, then, our policies are built upon respect and are values based. 

This may frustrate you if you are legalistic, if you need a long list of what you can and can't do, or if you like things spelled out in black and white. But try to get used to it. In college, you will learn much more by spending time in the gray area than in the more clear cut, but stifling, black and white. You really don't even need a student handbook of rules, though we do have one on line. Just remember these simple things:

Respect yourself, others, the community, and property. If something is against the law, it is against policy. It is really that simple.

The values that matter here are that you take care of yourself - and those around you - and this place. One of the points I took away from our summer reading, is that regardless of the time in history, people can be cruel and violent. I am never sure how people can lack empathy without conscience. Sometimes that happens with college students too, though on a different scale.

Recently, we had students appear before Conduct Board because their elderly neighbors off campus complained to us that they couldn’t sleep with the disruption from the parties our students were hosting. Those students were more upset that our policies could reach off campus than that they had been rude, hostile, and intimidating to elderly neighbors. Granted, this isn’t as extreme as the horrors of the old west, but it is about empathy - and caring about others - more than one’s self. Most times here, when you find yourself in conflict with policy, it is probably because you are not being sensitive to others.

Sometimes, as with this example, some students think that the rules shouldn’t apply to them -- that college is an exception to the rules because it is the "best time of your life." But you don’t get a four year pass just because your email address ends in Edu.

We won’t expect more of you than those who preceded you at home, nor, from those who will follow us in your lives after college. So you may not like the residence hall balcony policy, for example, but it is no different than what you had in your neighborhood association back home, or that our Trinity seniors have to abide by in their off-campus apartments.

For the most part, just remember, that your right to swing your arm stops at other people’s noses, and you will be fine.

Okay, second: there are other ways to experience college than what you have been taught from the movies.

I am so sorry that you have been raised on films about how college is all about beer, parties, and sex. To be sure, there are these things, and they can be fun. Plenty of older people frequently engage in sex, booze, and rock and roll. And that’s just your parents.

So don’t carry away from tonight’s session that we are prudes. Indeed, we know this is a time when some of you will experiment, make mistakes, and explore and refine your values. We want you, and those you affect, to be safe, though, in doing so.

The movies leave out things, you will learn, like homework, grades, sexual assault, addiction, and more. So while you have been fed a myth that it is fun - and perfectly acceptable - to be berated, or to carry a chicken around campus, and that keg stands, beer bongs, and degradation of women are standard college fare, I ask that you consider that there can be more to your experience than what you have been shown. Indeed, there may be a different way to succeed in college.

Consider sophomore Andrea Medina, who came here to college hoping that students would engage in meaningful conversations. She created TU Speaks, a campus-wide blog where students are encouraged to participate and engage in dialogue and discussion on meaningful issues. She leads TU Students for Social Change - a group engaged in topics aimed at making a difference and challenging standards.

Consider the students who started, and have joined, HOPE Hall. They looked outward at our community, saw the needs of the homeless, and without judgment have organized to serve their fellow men and women. And they want you to join them.

Consider two students who last year stood up to bullies on a gossip web site, and stood up for others, suggesting that with no audience, anonymous gossips have no message. They were vilified, unfortunately, by a chorus of those extolling their own rights to free speech.  In this scenario, which role would you play??

And finally, consider ASR President Joe Moore and his friends, who lost their dear classmate Alex Reinis last year. I urge you to download the Website about Alex at the memorial bench across from Miller Hall (there is a QR code right there), to learn about his spirited life. I challenge you to take time and click on the link of the Skyline Room memorial service that was held in Alex's honor. Hear the testimonies of his friends to learn about college done right. You will be moved and inspired. 

College can offer the greatest years of your life, but that doesn’t mean they have to be lived based on what you think will play well on your Facebook page the next day. You can choose to play to the lowest common denominator, or not.

You can be the stereotype of a college student. Or you can be more. I urge you to consider that with what has been invested in you, and with the privilege that comes with this experience, that you make the most, and not the least, of these four years. Prohibition isn't coming back. Pace yourselves. And consider that two out of three students don’t drink or drink very little. The drinkers just make more noise and seem to talk about it a lot.

Alright: Respect for Others, Alternative ways to experience college. Two down.

Finally, I want you to understand that the members of the faculty and the staff are all here to serve, support, and challenge you. We are here by choice because we love college students. Please see us as allies, not enemies.

We know from experience that some of you are coming to us with difficult personal histories. You may have overcome an addiction, been assaulted, or experienced racism or homophobia. You may be children of poverty, divorce, and single parent families, and you may have lost people near and dear to you. You might have faced difficult psychological issues. It is also possible that you will experience some of these things when you are here at Trinity.

My own college experience was bittersweet. My parents separated, my mother took her own life, and I became dependent on alcohol. I think this makes me a better Dean of Students. I understand the breadth of highs and lows that students experience. I was the one-third who drank too much, was too loud, and talked about it way too often. I was the stereotype I urge you not to become. And I was one of those students who needed to be picked up and supported by the caring people in my University community. I think I can be empathetic and serve as someone whose mistakes you can learn from.

So I want you to trust me and to lean on me. If I could survive, you can thrive.

Likewise, everyone on the Student Affairs staff and throughout campus has their own stories. Despite us being older, more formally dressed, and lurking beyond facades of professionalism, we are just like you. In most cases, even more so. So trust us - and our intentions.

The lasting message I want to leave with you, is that if you ever need support, or if you feel lost or broken down at any time over your four years here, let us help. My promise to you is that you never, ever, have to feel alone here. We are all in, and are accessible, available, and hopefully approachable. This is what you get when you get us.

So Class of 2016, I ask you to care about each other, to be more than what you and others may expect of you, and to let us help you whenever you stumble. I am so excited to welcome you to this very special place at this very special time for you. Thank you.

Fresh Start: In Living Color

Michael Yancey, Resident Mentor, gives the new year a big thumbs up!

Members of the Residential Life Student staff and Orientation Team spend time in a session on August 10, 2012 in preparation for the Class of 2016 and the return of older students. Since I became Associate VP and relinquished my Director of Residential Life responsibilities, last year, I have to say, August is a lot less stressful and much more enjoyable and energizing. It helps remind me just how hard the Residential Life staff works to prepare for the new year. Everyone knows how hard Ben Newhouse and his O-Team work as well.

That is true for everyone who returns early to kick-off the year, whether it is the great Trinitonian staff preparing their first issue under a lot of time pressure or Team Trinity students, who help our new students move-in. The move-in crew of students, faculty, and staff, received LOTS of kudos from the families and students they helped move in. I tip my hat to all of you!

With the new year, it is time to start posting on the blog again. I have changed the look a little bit just for kicks. Welcome, and welcome back everyone!

Team trinity, looking like Skittles, goes piranha on a U-Haul.