Inaugural Ceremony Archive
Abel McDonnell '07
President, Vassar Student Association
It's my pleasure to speak with all of you today. And it is my great pleasure and honor to formally welcome President Hill on behalf of the student body. The selection of a college president is no easy task. A place like Vassar attracts hundreds of highly qualified candidates. And after months of interviews and hard work, the selection committee and the Board of Trustees chose Cappy Hill. After getting to know her some over the course of the past two months, I'm starting to understand why.
While this ceremony marks the official start of Cappy's presidency, she's already been hard at work for four months getting to know the campus-meeting the thousands of people who make up our community, learning about the issues both on and off campus. Throughout that process, Cappy has made a favorable impression on nearly everyone she's encountered. Students I've spoken with have referred to her as friendly, warm, engaging, and, above all, approachable. I've found Cappy to be someone who places tremendous significance on student participation in the governance of the College. When asked my impression of Cappy Hill, which happens a few times a week usually, I've taken to telling people, Cappy is what Vassar needs now. We need her warm nature, her inclusive leadership style, her vision of the liberal arts college, and her sense of values.
At Williams, as many of you know, Cappy's academic work focused on low-income access to higher education. She understands that socioeconomic diversity in higher ed is important not just to Vassar as an institution, but to us all as a society and nation. Her selection to be Vassar's 10th president is a testament to the college's commitment to progressive and just policies of admission and financial aid. It also speaks to an eagerness to do more, to make the system even fairer.
Admissions and financial aid policies are about more than just who gets in, and how much it costs families. They're a statement of who we are as an institution and who we want to be. In recent years, Vassar has gained much repute, and our pool of applicants has expanded dramatically. But what have we been building? We need to take a good hard look at what we want to accomplish as an institution and why.
The idea behind a generous financial aid policy is a noble one, and pretty straight-forward: to give disadvantaged kids an opportunity to attend a great school. But schools like Vassar aren't quite living up to this principle. Cappy's own research reveals that among the nation's top colleges about 10% of matriculated students come from the bottom 40% of family income levels. 10% from 40%. Part of the problem is a broken education system; a whole generation of children being left behind. So many students from disadvantaged backgrounds who might have thrived at Vassar just simply aren't prepared to meet our admissions standards. To get in and to excel here, you need a solid academic foundation. If Vassar waits until disadvantaged kids are college age, it's going to be too late. Guaranteeing to meet students' needs, or going need-blind, or recruiting more in inner cities isn't going to be enough to solve the education problem. What are we to do? We can't lower the bar of admission in the name of economic diversity; that's not a long-term solution and isn't going to address the underlying issues. But what we can do is make the bar more reachable to disadvantaged students. Not only can we level the economic playing field for those admitted to the college, but Vassar can be a catalyst for revolutionizing American education, at all levels. We can train a new generation of educators, thinkers and policy makers who are committed to educational fairness. Vassar can produce citizens with a strong sense of public service and civic engagement. And we must contribute loudly, clearly, and productively in a national debate on the roles and responsibilities of higher education in America.
Vassar College was founded on the radical idea that women not only can excel academically, but that they deserve the opportunity. That spirit of social progress, which defies assumptions and refuses to accept an unjust status quo is central to our institutional fiber. It's in our blood. It's what makes Vassar so special, so powerful, and so very important. Our new president has the talent and the power to continue that proud Vassar tradition of expanding educational opportunity. In selecting Cappy Hill, the board made a wise choice. Her inauguration is a great moment for the college and has the potential to be a great moment for education, more generally. It is a humbling honor that in my last year I get to be a part of her first year as we chart a new course for Vassar, as we dream bigger and reach further than we ever have before. Thank you.