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Jerry McLain Wallace
Campbell University
Inauguration Address
April 2, 2004
Chairman Wells, President Woodard, Chancellor Wiggins, Secretary
Marshall, Dr. Royston, Reverend Horton, Principal Yoong, Campbell
University students, alumni, faculty and staff, members of the Board
of Trustees and Presidential Board of Advisors, delegates from
colleges and universities across the nation, representatives from the
military bases who host Campbell programs, and my dear friends...I am
honored and deeply grateful for this very special day in my life and
the life of Campbell University, and I thank you for your presence
here at this event.
I am
especially grateful to the Inauguration Committee, and so many
colleagues of the university family, for working hundreds of hours to
make this day a memorable and enjoyable occasion. Thank you for the
sterling efforts you have made to make this day a success.
Please allow me a moment for a few personal expressions of
appreciation. First, I thank my wife, Betty, for her abiding love,
hard work, and encouragement, which she has so unselfishly given to me
and my family, and for her willingness to walk with me in this new
chapter in our lives. I am also deeply moved by the presence of my
children and their families, my brother, Bill, and so many members of
our extended family who have made special efforts to be with us
today. Although my ninety-seven year old mother is not able to be
present, she will share the day by way of her two favorite
publications, the Campbell Prospect and the
Biblical Recorder. And, I believe the marvelous
provisions of heaven will allow my father and brother to be aware and
rejoice with us on this special day.
Two
of my favorite teachers honor me with their presence this afternoon:
Mrs. Ella Mulkey, who taught me at Rockingham High School, and who is
the wife of the late J. C. Mulkey, my high school football coach; and
Dr. Edgar J. Boone of North Carolina State University, who directed my
doctoral studies and encouraged me through experimental statistics.
Please know the depth of my gratitude as I am humbled by your
presence.
To
Dr. Wiggins and Millie, I say “thank you” for inviting me to come to
Campbell thirty-four years ago, and for having confidence enough to
allow me to share the great mission and calling of Campbell
University. Truly, you have been my brother and sister, my mentors,
my dear friends, and so I thank you from the depths of my heart.
I am
aware of the daunting challenge of a University presidency. It was
described so cogently years ago on the occasion of Henry Wriston’s
inauguration as president of Brown University. With a wry and
perceptive wit, he observed: “the president is expected to be an
educator and to have been a some time scholar;
·to
have judgment about finance; to know something about construction,
maintenance, and labor policy;
·to
speak virtually continuously in words that charm and never offend;
·to
take bold positions with which no one will disagree;
·to
consult everyone and follow all proffered advice;
·and
do everything through committees, but with great speed and without
error;
·to
raise money unceasingly without ever seeming to ask;
·to
eat splendid meals non-stop in service to one’s institution without
ever gaining a pound.”
Evidently, from my perspective and experience of ten month’s tenure at
Campbell, the challenges of the presidency have not changed through
the years!
Today’s inauguration service marks the ceremonial beginning of a new
presidency...but it is much more. It is a time to celebrate the great
achievements of Campbell University, to rededicate ourselves to
Campbell’s mission, and to set forth a vision for the years ahead.
Inasmuch as the imperatives of gratitude, rededication, and embracing
the future with courage and vision are major themes of the Bible, I
invite you to listen to Moses’ admonition to the Children of Israel as
they were bound for the Promised Land: “Take heed, and keep your soul
diligently, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest
they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known
to your children and your children’s children.” (
). We must not forget!
INAUGURATION DAY ENCOURAGES US TO CELEBRATE
CAMPBELL’S SUCCESS
All
about us there is evidence of great men and women whose lives have
been invested on this “Hill of Light” in Harnett County. The
legacies of our founder, the Reverend Dr. James Archibald Campbell;
his son, Dr. Leslie Hartwell Campbell; and his student, Dr. Norman
Adrian Wiggins, are enshrined in the toil of their labor, buildings,
and schools that bear their names; and students, through whom
the touch of their influence, live with us today. I know I speak for
the entire Campbell University family when I say how grateful we are
for their vision, persistence, and leadership.
We
also gratefully acknowledge the leadership of Campbell’s Board of
Trustees and Presidential Board of Advisers. Their loyalty, courage,
maturity, ability, and generosity have guided and provided for the
university in “the best of times and the worst of times.” Their
success is evident in the growth of the university in students,
programs, resources, and in the all-important area of fidelity to the
university’s mission.
Campbell
University has been blessed with a succession of outstanding teachers
who lived well and taught well in service to their students.
Illustrative of the highly esteemed teachers who have graced the
faculty is a woman small in statue, yet whose name dominates memories
like no other. I am referring, of course, to that extraordinary human
being named Miss Mabel Powell. She was a person whose years at
Campbell, 1924-1967, were described by former President Dr. Leslie
Campbell as those of a “great teacher of queenly character who was
divinely directed to Campbell College in our time.” Her distinguished
student and former historian of the University, Dr. J. Winston Pearce,
adds telling details when he states: “She came to the school at a
salary of $100 per month. At times during the years of the
depression, she received $30 per month. There were stretches when
there was no salary...but through dark and fair days, with boundless
love, amazing energy, steel determination, rare skill, and
understanding, she gave herself to Christ through the lives of young
men and young women who came to Campbell College. Her name is
remembered by Powell Hall which bears her name, but Mabel Powell’s
greatest monument is in the hearts and lives of her students who rise
up, and lie down, to call her blessed.”
I
stand as one with my faculty colleagues in cherishing the memory of
our predecessors who inspired students to ascend “to the stars through
difficulty.” Indeed, I count it a watershed event in my life to have
begun at Campbell in 1970 as an adjunct faculty member. Thirty-three
joyous years on the Campbell faculty have deepened my high regard for
the profession of teaching. No calling is more intrinsically worthy
of respect, and it is my privilege now as President to acknowledge and
congratulate the current Campbell faculty, more than 90 percent of
whom have earned the terminal degree in their discipline.
I
also remain keenly aware of the enormous contributions of our staff.
Success at Campbell requires cooperative endeavors. It certainly
includes faculty and students, but it also includes persons who ensure
that students are recruited, food is prepared, grounds and buildings
are maintained, accounts are settled, resources are available, and so
much more. These staff colleagues are, indeed, the very backbone of
the University, and we appreciate their efforts so very much.
Every
year, the happiest and most festive day in the life of Campbell
University is graduation day. Parents, spouses, family members, and
friends come to Buies Creek from communities throughout our state and
nation, even from places around the world, to celebrate a
life-changing event...graduation from Campbell University. The most
reliable evidence of the success and effectiveness of any university
is the character and achievement of its graduates. I am proud to
affirm that Campbell students and alumni are known and praised for
their competence, character, and good citizenship.
Students choose to attend Campbell for many reasons: location,
reputation, programs, and the university’s Christian mission. During
the years students spend on this campus, in undergraduate and
professional programs, it becomes obvious that Campbell presents a
different and compelling challenge for their lives. This challenge is
prominent in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, when He invites His
prospective followers to become “the salt of the earth and the light
of the world.” (Matt.5). This is the same challenge presented to
every student at Campbell, undergraduate, graduate, and professional
student alike. On graduation day, it is the last charge to our newly
minted alumni..., namely, “Go, and become the salt of the earth and
the light of the world.” Campbell students and alumni are challenged
to be attractively different, not as prideful and self-righteous, but
as persons who are committed to making a difference in the world for
the good of humanity and to the glory of God.
Today’s ceremonies must also include a celebration of the very special
place called Buies Creek. The destiny of Buies Creek has been settled
over the years by difficult and heart-felt decisions in the face of
temptations to re-locate; decisions which determined that this place,
where we stand today, would be the home of Campbell University. Time
has surely vindicated those decisions that have allowed Campbell
University to live in Buies Creek.
Today, the university is blessed with a prime location which is
forty-five minutes from the state capitol; forty-five minutes from the
research triangle; twenty-five minutes from Fort Bragg, and adjacent
to two of the fastest growing counties in North Carolina. Our
location has attracted the nation and the world to come to this place
from all fifty states of the union and more than fifty countries of
the world. Buies Creek has become the home of the second largest
private university in North Carolina and the second largest
Baptist-affiliated university in the world.
II
LEST WE FORGET,
INAUGURATION DAY IS A TIME TO REDEDICATE OURSELVES TO THE 117 YEAR OLD
PURPOSE OF CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY
Campbell’s history tells us that the university’s purpose has been the
anchor that has secured the university in fair and stormy times. The
common thread that has been evident in Campbell’s history has not been
merely a father-son presidency extending eighty years, or even the
fidelity of their student who became the third president. Rather, it
is a worthy purpose that has prevailed. On Dr. Leslie Campbell’s
inauguration day, January 31, 1935, he uttered a clear reiteration of
Campbell’s purpose:
“Campbell College has been and must be a Christian institution. The
ruling passion in the mind of the founder of this college was to make
it Christian to the core. Loyalty to him whose spirit still guides
her and fidelity to a great religious brotherhood, by whom this work
is sponsored, demand that we brook no compromise of this principle.
But an even mightier imperative comes from the witness of your spirit
with ours, that Christ is the supreme need of a storm-tossed world
today.” So, on this occasion, we rededicate ourselves anew to
Campbell University’s 117 year old purpose as a Christian University.
We
further acknowledge the longstanding and generous support of North
Carolina Baptists. Like all of the colleges and universities that
have been affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North
Carolina, Campbell would not have survived without the Convention’s
help. But, additionally, and of monumental significance, Campbell
University and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina have
shared the vision of an educational ministry which has been a vital
part of the ministry of the Convention since its founding in 1830.
And so, Campbell will continue to support and extend the traditional
Baptist hallmarks of freedom, responsibility, autonomy, and
soul-competency, with a vigilant awareness that these hard won and
defining distinctives are being challenged and eroded. Our signal
stance shall remain true to the commitment uttered by President
Wiggins, on the occasion of his inauguration on April 6, 1968; when he
stated: “The Christian College, with its trustees at the
forefront, must stand as a bastion to resist pressures, internal and
external, that would divert the college from its mission.”
III
INAUGURATION DAY RIGHTFULLY ANTICIPATES A WORD
ABOUT THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY
Having been closely, pridefully, and gratefully associated with Dr.
Norman Adrian Wiggins for thirty-three of his thirty-six years as
President of Campbell, and being privileged to participate in
the marvelous accomplishments during that tenure, I quickly say, “let
us continue.”
But,
at the same time, we are increasingly aware that the very nature of a
university community requires the university to respond to both
existing and future generations of faculty and students. The wisdom
of Habakkuk rings true today, as we remember that “without a vision,
the people perish.” (Hab. 2). And so, the vision we set forth is one
of many facets, all intended to strengthen and renew the university
into the next generation.
We
begin with continuing resolve to look ahead and courageously seize
opportunities. While the framer of Campbell’s motto, “to the stars
through difficulties,” may not have realized that it would be a
self-fulfilling prophecy, the history of the University has proven
this observation true. So many chapters in the decades of the
University’s life attest this fact. For example, planting Buies Creek
Academy in this place during the aftermath of the civil war;
establishing a Junior College in the depth of the depression, then a
senior college in the turbulent sixties; envisioning and developing
Campbell as a University in the late seventies with graduate and
professional programs in education, business and law; establishing and
gaining accreditation of a premier combined science program half-way
around the world in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; pioneering in establishing
a Pharmacy School, the first in forty years in the United States; and
responding to a very loud plea to establish a Divinity School.
Without question, Campbell has been visionary and courageous.
Although the birthing of these programs was not greeted by enthusiasm
from everyone, the decision to do so, and the supporters who shared
the vision with generosity, have vindicated these courageous and
visionary achievements.
For
another matter, Campbell will participate in the larger education
community by affirming the diversity and vitality of public and
private colleges and universities. Today’s assembly of delegates from
colleges and universities throughout our nation is an affirmation by
those institutions that Campbell University is a respected member of
the higher education community. We will work diligently to uphold
that high regard in a spirit of cooperation and service.
We
also acknowledge that Campbell will best serve our state and nation by
providing our students an education in the context of a Christian
community where there is no conflict between a life of inquiry and a
life of faith. Sadly, we are aware that the pluralism of American
society has resulted in the secularization of public universities and
many private universities, with the consequent result of diminishing
the presence and influence of the Christian faith as a vital part of
university life. But we will stand courageously in championing the
combination of excellent academics and faith commitments. In doing
so, we affirm a loyalty to our own faith, and an openness to other
religious traditions that will respect Campbell’s Christian purpose.
·Campbell will recruit faculty who unreservedly support the mission of
the university, who are competent in their respective fields of study,
who are committed to the primacy of teaching, and who perform research
that will inform teaching and extend knowledge. We recognize that
maintaining such an excellent faculty will require more substantial
support, more competitive salaries, and more appropriate recognition.
With full acknowledgment of the centrality of faculty to the learning
enterprise, we commit ourselves to those aims.
·Campbell will recruit and enroll students who will embrace the
university’s purpose, and whose abilities and commitments will make
possible their success in their chosen vocations and professions as
productive citizens. Campbell’s location in the heart of North
Carolina and the Atlantic seaboard, along with the predicted increase
of high school graduates in North Carolina and adjacent states, and
our increasing attractiveness to international students, offers the
prospect of achieving significant increases in enrollment in
undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. It will be our
aim to work progressively toward that end.
·Campbell will respond to the existing and developing needs of the
region, state, and nation by providing new undergraduate, graduate,
and professional programs that complement and extend Campbell’s
mission. Delivery systems for these new and existing programs will be
a blend of time-tested pedagogical methods, along with the developing
technologies which are impacting all areas of our society.
·Campbell will improve the quality of residential life on the campus
by providing new and improved academic, residential, student-life, and
athletic programs and facilities. This aim of becoming an even more
inviting and attractive campus will begin with the development and
implementation of a Campus Master Plan which will guide the
improvement, re-arrangement, and addition of facilities; resulting in
a more defined, useful, safe, and enjoyable campus environment for the
university community.
·Campbell will continue its mission to students in centers of learning
located on military bases, at the Research Triangle Park, and at other
locations across our state to enable working and older adults the
option of undergraduate and professional education.
·Campbell recognizes the reality of global society and will enhance
and extend opportunities for students and faculty to participate in
productive and meaningful programs.
·Campbell will challenge its alumni to a greater involvement with
their alma mater, by encouraging enthusiastic participation in
programs which will improve the university and engender a more devoted
pride in the Orange and Black as one of the outstanding Christian
Universities in our nation.
·Finally, Campbell will increase efforts to enlist new friends from a
broader constituency by developing a visionary marketing and
advancement plan that inspires and encourages support of a growing and
strengthening university.
Setting forth any
vision for the future of Campbell University is tempered by the
reality of an ever changing world, which brings inevitable
implications for the life and conduct of the university. When the
academy was founded in 1887, who would have ever dreamed of the shape
of this comprehensive university in 2004, with its multiple
opportunities and responsibilities? Or, conversely, who would have
predicted that the date 9/11 and, more recently, 3/11 in Madrid, would
shake the foundations of our democracy and all of its institutions?
These are matters for a world in which we participate, but cannot
control.
The
optimism and fragility of Campbell University’s future will require
wisdom, confidence, and courage. We do face the assurance of a
glowing future, undergirded by a confidence that God has guided and
blessed us for 117 years, and with reliance on God’s loving provision
for his servants at Campbell University.
Although I have been a member of the Campbell faculty and staff for
more than thirty years in many different roles, and under the tutelage
of one of America’s most successful university presidents, each day I
am discovering anew the awesome demands and responsibilities of this
office. But, I hasten to say, I enthusiastically welcome this great
opportunity and calling, being energized by the deep and humble belief
that “this is a day the Lord hath made, and one in which I am
rejoicing and being glad.”
I
welcome all who are assembled here today to join me in accepting the
great challenge of working together to ensure the success of Campbell
University. God being my Helper, I will do my best!
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