HISTORY ON THE HILL: A Centennial Celebration
The year UMW turned one hundred included turmoil at the top, a presidential candidate on campus, and a towering intellectual who charged an appreciative audience, "On you go!"
By William Crawley
GUEST COLUMNIST
“History on the Hill” is an occasional series detailing the rich history of the University of Mary Washington penned by William B. Crawley, Distinguished Professor of History and founder of the Great Lives lecture series.
As the University of Mary Washington approached its Centennial in 2008, there was much to celebrate at an institution that had evolved from a normal school to a liberal arts college for women to a co-ed state university. Plans for the celebration began several years earlier with the appointment of a Centennial planning committee by President William M. Anderson, who retired in 2006, having headed the institution for more than two decades.
Before the celebration got underway, however, the college community was shaken by the news that Anderson's successor, William J. Frawley, had been arrested twice for DUI infractions. The news was met with utter disbelief on a campus where the new president was uniformly believed to be completely abstemious, a teetotaler whom few had ever seen so much as holding a glass of wine, let alone drinking from it.
In any case, following intense and emotional debate, the institution’s board of visitors voted to fire the scholarly, hard-driving (some would also say hard-edged) new president after only ten months on the job. Though many expressed personal sympathy for him, the consensus was that his behavior had rendered him unfit for the position.
Despite the administrative turmoil, and with the Centennial year only months away, the university managed to turn its attention to the upcoming celebration, a development that was facilitated by the board's appointment of Richard V. Hurley as acting president.
Hurley, then serving as the university's executive vice president and chief financial officer, brought to the job a sound knowledge of the Commonwealth’s educational bureaucracy as well as the university’s own administrative structure. But he brought something else as well — something vastly more important at a time when the institution was in a precarious situation: a genial demeanor and informal manner that enabled him to re-establish a pleasant environment on campus.
One of Hurley's first duties as acting chief executive came only weeks after his appointment when, during the 2007 graduation week, he presided over the ribbon-cutting for the Centennial Campanile. Completed only days earlier, the magnificent structure, located proximally to George Washington Hall, was a gift to the University from John Chapell of Philadelphia in memory of his late wife, Carmen, a member of the class of 1959.
A tiered brick tower with white trim and graceful arches, it stretched 85 feet into the air, making it by far the tallest structure on campus. The campanile was topped by a cupola housing specially tuned bronze bells cast in France at the renowned bell foundry of Paccard-Fonderie de Cloches. Despite its newness and its great height, the campanile was so perfectly integrated into its surroundings that it seemed (as so many observers commented) “it had always been there.”
Following comments by several dignitaries, John Chappell’s own eloquent remarks struck an emotional chord with the audience. Standing in the shadow of the towering structure, he said, “I see its radiance, the gleaming whiteness capped by the colorful cupola, a vision which might suggest the quest for truth, which is central to learning. We see its grace, its spirit, its positiveness, and its charm as the tower provides new elegance on campus . . . . Every day the peal of the bells will remind us that we are a community, working together to make our mission successful.”
With that came the first chiming of the bells, and the centennial celebration officially began. It seemed certain that, in years to come, the Carmen Culpeper Chappell Centennial Campanile would stand as one of the University’s most visible and enduring symbols.
Meanwhile, students returned in August to a campus bedecked with banners celebrating the centennial. The porticos of all major buildings displayed huge blue and white banners proclaiming “UMW 1908–2008,” and similar pennants, in smaller sizes, adorned lampposts throughout the grounds.
From that point onward, special celebratory events were sprinkled throughout the year. In addition, almost every one of the University’s traditional activities had a centennial focus, including Homecoming, Family Weekend, the “Great Lives” series, and the Historic Preservation Center’s holiday “Deck the Halls” program. There were also special musical performances, exhibitions, historical displays, and academic symposiums focusing on the anniversary.
In addition to these long-planned activities, the centennial year was enlivened by several unforeseen but serendipitous events – one of which arose literally overnight. On Sunday evening, February 10, University officials were asked to make arrangements for a campus visit by former President Bill Clinton, who was campaigning in Virginia for his wife, Hillary, in advance of the state Democratic presidential primary the following Tuesday. News of the visit spread rapidly among students on Monday morning. Anticipating Clinton’s midday appearance in the Great Hall, some had camped as early as 7 a.m. outside the security-laden building. The room quickly reached its capacity of 600, with another 400 remaining outside or downstairs in the Eagles Nest. It was, said the Free Lance-Star, “a greeting more fitting for a rock star than a politician.”
The former President wasted no time in endearing himself to the audience, declaring “This school was founded 100 years ago this year. It started as a school for women, when they were segregated and defenseless. I think this would be a good year to elect the first female President.” It was an exciting day for the student Democratic partisans — though not enough to produce victory for Hillary Clinton in the primary, which she lost by a substantial margin the following day to Barack Obama.
As for the Centennial celebration itself, the culmination came in early spring, highlighted by a convocation on Founders Day, March 14. The ceremony began with the academic pageantry typical of the university’s celebratory occasions, as a robed academic procession filed into Dodd Auditorium at 3:00 p.m., heralded by the Eagle Pipe Band.
Following a welcome from Rector William Poole and introductory remarks from Acting President Hurley, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine delivered felicitations from the Commonwealth and Barbara Burton Micou ’69, president of the Alumni Association, brought greetings from her organization.
Then came the sentimental high point of the program when Fredericksburg attorney O'Conor Goolrick Ashby, grandson and namesake of the institution's founder, spoke on behalf of his family. Ashby ended his eloquent remarks by presenting to Rector Poole a silver loving cup that had been originally given to Delegate Goolrick in 1909 by the institution's first president, Edward H. Russell. In doing so, Ashby quoted the cup’s biblical inscription: “Well done, good and faithful servant” — words that prompted a lengthy standing ovation and produced not a few misty eyes.
Lastly came the event’s featured speaker, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough. He was an appropriate choice, inasmuch as he would be the third in a line of distinguished historians who had spoken on previous landmark occasions in the University’s past: Arnold Toynbee at the fiftieth anniversary, Daniel Boorstin at the seventy-fifth. Eminent as they were, they did not eclipse McCullough, for in 2008 there were few, if any, historians in America who were better known or more revered than he.
McCullough, whose forte was making history accessible (and enjoyable) to a popular audience, proceeded to deliver an address that was at once charming and challenging. “To be here on Marye’s Hill,” he began, “to commemorate such good work over one hundred years, is an honor I will never forget, a pleasure beyond my expression, and my gratitude could not be greater.”
With his imposing presence, avuncular manner, and mellifluous voice, McCullough was repeatedly interrupted by applause from an audience that clearly appreciated his call for greater emphasis on liberal education generally and the study of history in particular. What a university should do, he said, is teach its students “to have ambition to excel.” He paused, then concluded: “On you go!”
A hearty rendition of the alma mater brought the convocation to a close, after which visiting dignitaries and University officials repaired to the foyer of Trinkle Hall to cut the centennial birthday cake.
From that point the final six weeks of the year sped by, as spring semesters always do, rushing toward the events of commencement weekend, May 8–10. The weather forecast for the weekend was not propitious, and the prediction turned out to be accurate. On Thursday night, the Fredericksburg area was struck by violent thunderstorms, including a tornado packing winds of 120 miles per hour. Although the campus was spared a direct hit, the storm forced Graduation Ball celebrants to flee inside the Jepson Alumni Executive Center ballroom from the adjacent courtyard where an elaborately decorated tent had been erected especially for the event.
Stormy conditions lingered throughout the following day, making it likely that commencement on Saturday would have to be held in Dodd Auditorium, rather than on Ball Circle, for the first time in more than thirty years; as late as one hour before the scheduled 9:00 a.m. beginning of the ceremony, rain was still falling. University officials, however, trusting National Weather Service reports that the front was moving out, decided at the last minute to take a chance on holding the ceremony outside. Their optimism was rewarded, as the ceremony proceeded (albeit somewhat apprehensively) with graduates and guests dampened by intermittent sprinkles, but with their spirits undiminished.
The featured speaker was Virginia’s United States Senator John Warner, who had recently announced his intention to retire at the end of his current term, having served almost four decades in the Senate. For the graduates, of course, the highlight of the ceremony was the conferring of their degrees, a joyous process accompanied (for some) by bittersweet tears, the result of commencement’s unique emotional blend of euphoria and nostalgia.
Once the diplomas were handed out, the alma mater sung, and hugs and handshakes exchanged, the class of 2008 filed out of Ball Circle, marking the close of the historic session. Moments later, as the newest alumni prepared to leave their haven on the hill, the clouds lifted, and upon the centennial class the sun shone yet again, bringing a warmth to match their memories and a radiance to match their dreams.
Quite a year it had been. Indeed, quite a century.
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