Excerpt from concluding remarks by Andrew T. Ford, President of the College

September 18, 2003

I don’t want this moment to pass… Rarely do I get to talk about an historic moment, and typically when we use that language "historic moment," I take that with a great deal of salt. But this has been an historic moment. One at least I can feel.

I regretted bringing down Waugh Hall because of what it meant in the lives of so many people. The process of building this building, getting to know so many of you and your families, fathers, brothers, extended family, and what they did with their lives for others, and what you are now doing for others, has been remarkable.

I’m a collector of Wabash stories. I can’t imagine long it would take if I were to go down the rows, face by face, and recall the stories I’ve heard, lessons I’ve learned from the people in this room who have been so generous to a college they love; a college they’re not always happy with, but it’s a college they love, and we keep coming back and keep talking, because the legacy and tradition is so much bigger than any one of us, and that enables us to overcome those difficulties, those moments we come together for the sake of generations and generations that will make this a better world in so many ways.

I really don’t want this moment to pass.