Wellesley's year is off to a fine start, as I hope you've had a chance to see for yourselves. Celebrating a milestone anniversary with panache turns out to be a terrific way to open a new academic year on an upbeat note. Spirits on campus have been uncommonly high all fall. Financial aid funds are so crucial. All the vital signs that trustees watch are exceedingly healthy right now.
College is as strong as it has ever been.
We did set the five-year timeline in part to allow for ups and downs, and we know there will be both. A propos of the campaign, those of you who were here at Council last year know that I've been fussing about the fact that so much of the lexicon of fund raising draws on a language of war. We have our front-line battalions and our headquarters staff. The problem is that the metaphor of war, so pervasive in our culture, is far more than a linguistic trope. It organizes our thoughts, structures our actions, defines our reality.