Dear Orange Friends:
One of the things that makes this University special is how people who believe in something strongly can and do come together to make their voices heard.
Last night’s turnout for Take Back the Night 2015 event was outstanding. A previous, long-term commitment off-campus kept me from attending, but nearly 1,000 members of the campus community were there.
Dear Orange Friends:
Syracuse University does many things well – indeed, better than at any university I have encountered. Our Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration is one of these.
Dear Orange Friends:
It is very quiet this week in Syracuse as we near the holidays and so many have returned to their loved ones. On Sunday, a hardy group of us gathered at Hendricks and at the Wall of Remembrance for a service to mark the anniversary of the loss of lives on Pan Am 103. The service reminded me how, in the midst of the holidays, a tragedy struck and caused us all at Syracuse such pain and doubt.
Dear Orange Friends:
On Sunday night in Hendricks Chapel, hundreds of Syracuse students, faculty, staff, and community members came together in the miracle that is “Holidays at Hendricks,” the Hendricks Chapel Holiday Concert at Syracuse University. These performers, from seven choirs and ensembles, were brought together by Peppie Calvar, artistic director, with incomparable accompaniment from Anne Laver, University organist.
Dear Orange Friends:
Four groups of Syracuse student-athletes have had amazing runs toward the end of the season.
Our field hockey team advanced to the National Championship game for the first time in program history. The Orange lost an incredibly close and exciting game 1-0 to the University of Connecticut. It was Syracuse’s eighth-consecutive NCAA Tournament showing and its third Final Four.
Dear Orange Friends:
Last week many members of the Syracuse University faculty and staff came to the University’s Chancellor House on Comstock. This is part of a series of ongoing receptions for 100 folks at a time from across all parts of the campus—custodians, faculty members, IT staff, food service workers, admissions counselors, and enrollment staff, just to name a few. We spend two hours together talking, seeing the house, and talking informally about the University to which so many have donated years. Most of the staff have never been in the house, and it feels good to have them at home.
Dear Orange Friends:
Yesterday, November 11, Syracuse University observed Veterans Day. As a university that is committed to being the best school for veterans, Syracuse works hard every day to do right by those who have served and are serving in our Armed Forces. But November 11 is particularly special here.
Dear Orange Friends:
We have just finished family weekend at Syracuse University. There were many hundreds of parents, grandparents, siblings, and other family members of our students on campus for a wonderful array of events organized by Division of Student Affairs staff with the amazingly dedicated oversight of Colleen Bench.
Dear Orange Friends:
Syracuse has just completed Remembrance Week, when our community comes together with friends from Lockerbie, Scotland and with families to “act forward” in the memory of those who died on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.
Dear Orange Friends:
Ruth and I had 103 emeritus faculty and their spouses and partners over for lunch this past week. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of stories, a lot of advice, and more than a few meetings of longtime friends after many years. Together, these citizens of Syracuse University have given more than two millennia of service to our University.
