[Editor’s Note: Effective this year and upon consultation with the Faculty Senate, the President’s annual State of the University report will be presented in written form, rather than presented verbally as an address. This transition in format allows for a more detailed account and reflection that readers can peruse at their convenience. The President’s commitment to engage with members of the campus community remains strong, but those sessions achieve the richest results when they are part of a dialogue, rather than a talk-and-listen approach. We encourage readers to post questions and comments below; they will inform future communications President Snyder provides.]
The evening of Sunday, August 24, was a special moment for our university community. In one fell swoop, we dedicated the Tinkham Veale University Center, announced that our $1 billion capital campaign had passed its goal two and a half years ahead of schedule, and committed to expand the campaign to $1.5 billion.
I had the privilege of sharing this news with some 2,000 students, faculty, staff and friends gathered on Freiberger Field. I stood on stage in front of the musical group OK Go, smiling as people cheered the announcement.
Just over 30 hours later, everything changed.
The phone rang. The words came. And, all of a sudden, our campus faced an inconceivable tragedy. Four of our undergraduates had perished in a plane crash. Two were second-year students—Michael Felten and Lucas Marcelli—and the other two were first-year students—John Hill and Abraham “Abe” Pishevar. Faculty held moments of silence in their classrooms. Students organized a nighttime vigil that drew hundreds. And mourning families began to arrive, all asking the same question: Why?
Two and a half months later, we still have no answers. And, in truth, we never will. At some point, many months from now, the National Transportation Safety Board will issue its final report, and perhaps offer an explanation. But even the most accurate and detailed assessment cannot begin to address the fundamental question: How could four young men, each with such talent and promise, lose their lives before they had barely begun?
Like many of you, I think of those families often. And of their friends on our campus. And of the extraordinary people who stepped forward with such sensitivity and grace to give support and assistance when it was so urgently needed. As awful and heart-wrenching as those initial days were, I also was powerfully moved by the compassion and concern so many demonstrated. Those of you who attended the memorial service on September 5 witnessed some of the very best in our students; they spoke with remarkable eloquence and wisdom about their friends, their loss, and how they hoped to lead lives that honored their fallen classmates.
Homecoming, family weekend and fall break have now passed. Thanksgiving and winter break are soon ahead. Each is a marker, a time when students and loved ones reunite, when classmates come back together again, and so forth. For all of those who knew these four young men, the traditional rituals of the academic year are tinged with sadness, particular reminders of those no longer with them at each milestone of the calendar. Little can be done to ease that pain; the grieving process is unique for each of us.
Sadly, our campus has suffered additional deaths since these four in August. I want to express my deepest sympathies to every family member, loved one, and friend of these members of the Case Western Reserve community. I also want to convey my profound appreciation to members of our university who stepped forward to provide many hours of additional effort in support of those most directly affected by these tragedies. Your empathy, dedication and character all inspire. Thank you.
I cite these losses, and the way our campus has responded, because both are integral to the State of the University in this fall of 2014. We have suffered enormous pain, yet also have seen exceptional kindness. In one sense, our challenge going forward is to find ways to bring more of our ‘better selves’ to those circumstances that are less tragic, but nevertheless essential to who we are as an institution. Case Western Reserve needs every bit of your involvement, insight and inspiration if we are to capitalize on what we have achieved to date and hope to accomplish in the near future. Critical to that progress is an element often cited but seldom fully realized: Community. We have extraordinary people here. How do we ensure that each of them feels welcome, valued, and part of our momentum? How do we provide more of the encouragement and support that flows so quickly in crisis to circumstances less obviously urgent— but nevertheless vital to who we are and what we hope to be? I have spoken about community often in meetings with schools and other settings. I will continue to do so in the weeks and months to come. I know that we can do more for one another, and be more together. I seek your ideas about how precisely to achieve those aims.
The evening of Sunday, August 24, was a special moment for our university community. In one fell swoop, we dedicated the Tinkham Veale University Center, announced that our $1 billion capital campaign had passed its goal two and a half years ahead of schedule, and committed to expand the campaign to $1.5 billion.
I had the privilege of sharing this news with some 2,000 students, faculty, staff and friends gathered on Freiberger Field. I stood on stage in front of the musical group OK Go, smiling as people cheered the announcement.
Just over 30 hours later, everything changed.
The phone rang. The words came. And, all of a sudden, our campus faced an inconceivable tragedy. Four of our undergraduates had perished in a plane crash. Two were second-year students—Michael Felten and Lucas Marcelli—and the other two were first-year students—John Hill and Abraham “Abe” Pishevar. Faculty held moments of silence in their classrooms. Students organized a nighttime vigil that drew hundreds. And mourning families began to arrive, all asking the same question: Why?
Two and a half months later, we still have no answers. And, in truth, we never will. At some point, many months from now, the National Transportation Safety Board will issue its final report, and perhaps offer an explanation. But even the most accurate and detailed assessment cannot begin to address the fundamental question: How could four young men, each with such talent and promise, lose their lives before they had barely begun?
Like many of you, I think of those families often. And of their friends on our campus. And of the extraordinary people who stepped forward with such sensitivity and grace to give support and assistance when it was so urgently needed. As awful and heart-wrenching as those initial days were, I also was powerfully moved by the compassion and concern so many demonstrated. Those of you who attended the memorial service on September 5 witnessed some of the very best in our students; they spoke with remarkable eloquence and wisdom about their friends, their loss, and how they hoped to lead lives that honored their fallen classmates.
Homecoming, family weekend and fall break have now passed. Thanksgiving and winter break are soon ahead. Each is a marker, a time when students and loved ones reunite, when classmates come back together again, and so forth. For all of those who knew these four young men, the traditional rituals of the academic year are tinged with sadness, particular reminders of those no longer with them at each milestone of the calendar. Little can be done to ease that pain; the grieving process is unique for each of us.
Sadly, our campus has suffered additional deaths since these four in August. I want to express my deepest sympathies to every family member, loved one, and friend of these members of the Case Western Reserve community. I also want to convey my profound appreciation to members of our university who stepped forward to provide many hours of additional effort in support of those most directly affected by these tragedies. Your empathy, dedication and character all inspire. Thank you.
I cite these losses, and the way our campus has responded, because both are integral to the State of the University in this fall of 2014. We have suffered enormous pain, yet also have seen exceptional kindness. In one sense, our challenge going forward is to find ways to bring more of our ‘better selves’ to those circumstances that are less tragic, but nevertheless essential to who we are as an institution. Case Western Reserve needs every bit of your involvement, insight and inspiration if we are to capitalize on what we have achieved to date and hope to accomplish in the near future. Critical to that progress is an element often cited but seldom fully realized: Community. We have extraordinary people here. How do we ensure that each of them feels welcome, valued, and part of our momentum? How do we provide more of the encouragement and support that flows so quickly in crisis to circumstances less obviously urgent— but nevertheless vital to who we are and what we hope to be? I have spoken about community often in meetings with schools and other settings. I will continue to do so in the weeks and months to come. I know that we can do more for one another, and be more together. I seek your ideas about how precisely to achieve those aims.
***
By the numbers, the State of the University is quite strong today. I have already noted that we reached our capital campaign’s $1 billion goal two and a half years ahead of schedule. And that we are expanding the campaign to $1.5 billion, thanks to the members of our campaign committee and our trustees who recognized that our needs and opportunities were too great to stop raising funds now. Increasing the goal by 50 percent is ambitious, to say the least, but the results of fiscal year 2014 offer cause for cautious optimism. The university set 22 new records across a range of categories, among them:- $151.6 million: Overall university annual attainment, $5.7 million more than the previous year’s record-setting total;
- $52.6 million: Overall School of Medicine annual attainment, $1.1 million more than the previous year’s record-setting total;
- $32.8 million: Overall Case School of Engineering annual attainment, just over $1 million more than the previous year’s record-setting total;
- $10.3 million: Overall university annual fund total, $167,000 more than the previous year’s record-setting total; and
- $2.4 million, $1.1 million, and nearly $347,000: New annual fund records for, respectively, the School of Medicine, the Weatherhead School of Management, and the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.
- 21,733: Our total number of applications for the Class of 2018, a figure 15 percent higher than in the previous record-setting year;
- 38 percent: Our selectivity for the Class of 2018, an improvement of more than 3 percentage points over the previous record-setting year; and
- 13 percent: Our proportion of underrepresented minority students, a figure four-tenths of a percentage point higher than in the previous year.
***
The new strategic plan for Student Affairs cites “community” as this year’s theme. It is one I heartily endorse, and not just for students. When people feel part of a group, when they embrace something larger than themselves, they tend to rise to the collective expectations that exist. As much progress as we have made over the past seven years, we still have so much more to do. In our expanded capital campaign, for example, we continue to raise funds for our new health education campus with Cleveland Clinic. We are exploring ways to add additional laboratory and research space for the sciences and engineering, as well as essential renovations to the Mather Quad. We will see new ideas and opportunities emerge through the ongoing master-planning process we are engaging in with Sasaki Associates. The Massachusetts-based firm has completed an extensive data collection process over the past several months, and now is transitioning toward recommendations of potential scenarios to advance the campus in the near- and longer-term future. Another priority of the expanded campaign is student support. As of June 30, the campaign had raised $145.8 million for scholarships, fellowships and other assistance. This number is impressive, and we are profoundly grateful to all of the individuals and organizations who have contributed and pledged to date. But we still have far too many talented students who want to come to Case Western Reserve, but choose another institution because of cost. To address this challenge, we have launched a targeted campaign this fall to increase student scholarship funds significantly. As part of that effort, we have added a new “term scholarship” option, in which donors can make commitments in real time that directly benefit students now enrolled. We also are exploring new approaches to increase assistance for graduate and professional students. As the campaign continues, we will keep working to increase the number of endowed professorships and provide other support for our most promising and accomplished faculty. Among the latter is a dramatically expanded emphasis on finding new philanthropic resources for research as federal dollars become increasingly difficult to secure. We are deeply committed to all of these endeavors, but also realize the short-term limitations of development; the overwhelming majority of our commitments are paid over time, or as part of an estate. Therefore, we must become more creative and innovative to address immediate needs and opportunities. A starting point for increasing engagement can be found in the respective representative bodies on our campus: Faculty Senate, Staff Advisory Council, Undergraduate Student Government, Graduate Student Senate and the Graduate and Professional Council. Each includes members passionately committed to their own constituents as well as the university at large. We must continue to involve effectively these groups in constructive change—and help them involve significant numbers of those they represent. Based on my observations over the past seven years, I am confident that we can and will discover ways to engage more broadly and advance our mission more strongly. Our community includes individuals who are passionately committed to the power of ideas to make meaningful, positive change. Our task going forward is to pull even more of our community and supporters together, to identify ways to collaborate and cooperate to spur new initiatives, and to accept that others—no matter how appealing to some—may not be as relevant at this time. I would like us to engage these questions in a spirit of shared effort. I would like to see us be candid but not confrontational, and to differ without being disagreeable. I would like us to identify and even cheer areas of consensus in a debate, even when more remains to be resolved. Doing so in no way minimizes the work and the compromises still ahead. But it can and often does provide a needed boost of inspiration to complete remaining tasks. If we start by considering possibilities instead of obstacles, I believe we can move forward with a collective, coherent focus on exactly what we want to do—and how we will do it. Finally, through it all, I hope we will maintain our appreciation and respect for one another: that we will seek more opportunities to tell each other what we admire, applaud what we accomplish, and encourage those who strive to realize even more of our shared goals. I realize such steps might sound small compared to the substantial challenges we seek to understand and address as an institution of higher learning. And yet, as we saw demonstrated powerfully at the beginning of the year, sometimes seemingly modest gestures carry more impact than we imagine. During the September 5 memorial service for the four young men we lost, their friends spoke of individual moments—a welcoming smile for someone not yet met, an invitation to join a workout in Veale, a willingness to stop and support a friend in need. In the midst of the often-intense pressures that accompany an academic year, we sometimes forget the difference individual interactions can make. They matter, even when they are not part of a person’s last acts. As we seek to increase our community’s sense of engagement, we have a unique opportunity to follow the examples of compassion and wisdom evident in the wake of the tragic loss of these four young men. In so doing, we not only serve one another, but also take meaningful steps to extend their legacy. Even more, we will exemplify the very best of their university, Case Western Reserve.
