Hoff’s Corner
WE ARE A
“STIFF-NECKED TRIBE!”
During my time in athletics and on the football coaching staff from 1991 to 1997, we conducted our big recruiting visit days each Friday and Saturday in January and February. During each of these days, we would host a lunch for the prospective students and their families in the Great Hall inside Sparks Center.
After the lunches, legendary Wabash chemistry professor, Dr. Paul McKinney ’52, would address the group. At one point during each of his talks, he would shake his fist in the air and say with conviction, “We are a stiff-necked tribe!” Even though I had not heard that phrase before and didn’t know its meaning, the visual it produced seemed an appropriate description of Wabash men and our culture on campus.
However, when I looked it up, I learned the phrase is not typically used in a positive light. Merriam-Webster defines “stiff-necked” as “haughty; stubborn.” But when I looked further at synonyms for “stubborn,” I found some adjectives that, I think, describe Wabash well: “dogged, hard-nosed, persistent, unbending, unrelenting, and unyielding.”
There have been few other times in the history of Wabash when it has been more important for us to put this into action.
As we have dealt with the pandemic, our faculty, staff, and students have been unbending.
Our faculty have needed to be dogged as they prepared to teach their classes remotely, in person, or, in many cases, a combination of the two. Let that sink in. Faculty members who have taught for decades have now been asked to learn new technological and communicative skills, and they have done so brilliantly. Some are teaching classes in tents around campus and even in our baseball stadium, Goodrich Ballpark.
Our staff has needed to be persistent to keep the gears of Wabash turning and running smoothly while modifying established processes.
Our students are unyielding and hard-nosed. They understand that more is expected of Wabash men, and they have risen to the challenge. They have responded differently than students at many other schools by being unrelenting in holding each other accountable. We regularly see students walking around town wearing their masks, even when walking alone.
Faculty, staff, and students have approached this pandemic and shaken our fists in the air. “We are a stiff-necked tribe!”
STEVE HOFFMAN ’85
Director, Alumni and Parent Relations
hoffmans@wabash.edu