I appreciate the opportunity to say a few words today, and bearing in mind the admonition of Polonius that brevity is the soul of wit, I shall be brief.
Fifty years of college teaching is enough. I enjoyed it tremendously, but there is always a last time for everything, and time belongs to God. We only rent it. 80 years ago Hemingway had one of his characters say, “One must make use of what time there is.” I’ve certainly tried to make good use of the time I’ve rented.
It has been my honor and my joy to have spent my entire professional career working with the Society of Jesus, whose members educated me, befriended me, and inspired me to work as best I could for the education of undergraduates, the enlightenment of the general public, and the greater glory of God. They welcomed not only me but also my wife Jan, the great love of my life and also a graduate of Le Moyne College, and they became our lifelong friends. I have also been privileged to work with amazingly talented colleagues, in my own department and in others, who have come to this college from different backgrounds, experiences, and faith commitments, yet who have embraced our shared mission with passion and resolve.
And it has been my honor during the past 18 months to serve under this administration, which found itself faced with a global health emergency which it neither expected nor had signed up for. It provided the leadership necessary to create an enormous campus-wide effort to protect the health and well-being of every member of the Le Moyne community, and to defend the very existence of my alma mater in her hour of maximum danger. Those efforts should not be taken for granted, and I will not forget them.
I have lived in truly extraordinary times, and it has been my privilege to attempt to explain and interpret the significance of those times to anyone who took my courses or read the books that Ed Judge conceptualized and that I helped him write. Le Moyne gave me that opportunity, an opportunity that has given my professional life meaning and purpose.
I came to Le Moyne as a freshman in 1963, graduated in 1967, and embarked on doctoral studies. They were interrupted by service in the US Army, since there was a war on, and when I returned from active duty I was given the opportunity to teach one year at Le Moyne part-time while working on my dissertation. That Christmas at the annual party, Jan and I sat with my mentor and our beloved friend, Fr. John Bush, who asked me if I was enjoying teaching at my alma mater. I said that I was, and that I was grateful to have the chance to give back to Le Moyne in return for what it had given me, and thereby to balance the scales. He gave me a peculiar glance and said, “Good luck.”
I wasn’t sure how to take that comment at the time. Today I know. My efforts to balance the scales were doomed to failure, and he knew it even if I didn’t. For 50 years, no matter how hard I worked to give back to Le Moyne, Le Moyne just kept on giving. After 5 decades I am more deeply in debt to this place than I was when I started.
Given this reality, there is nothing left for me but to admit defeat, and to say to everyone – whether past or present, whether living or dead – who is now or has ever been associated with this remarkable college, my deepest thanks.