Southern Vermont College

In the aftermath of 9/11, I wrote an article on the Portraits of Grief that appeared in the New York Times over a period of months. These pieces profiled every person who died, describing their lives, their families, their legacies.   My piece was part of a compendium of articles written for the New York Law School Law Review as a way of showcasing the continuing value of both the Rule of Law and the work many of us were doing within the legal academy. 

For me, while these portraits focused on those who had died, I kept thinking about those who survived – the children, spouses, partners, parents and friends of those killed.  As I noted in the article, I worried about the survivors – the women and children especially.  I worried that whatever money they received to recompense them for their losses – whether from the government, insurance or employers — it would not enough to fill the void death created. 

So, it came as something of a shock when I opened today’s New York Times and saw a host of portraits of those living with loss – the very people I had been concerned about a decade ago.  What these new Portraits of Loss demonstrate, and I read each one of them, was a sense of courage, a willingness to continue life in the face of death.  The survivors had found ways to move forward, while remembering their lost loved ones.  No small feat.

Importantly, courage can be demonstrated in lots of ways, both big and small.  Courage can be saving lives in battle or during a natural disaster.  And, courage can also be demonstrated by simply finding a way to live in the face of overwhelming odds or sadness.

We can learn about courage from the Portraits of Loss, the counterpoint to the now decade old Portraits of Grief about which I had written. Courage is what the survivors demonstrated over the past decade and will no doubt continue to demonstrate as they move forward in the coming decades.   

In so doing, perhaps they will help the rest of us summon courage, as and when we need it.

In some respects, each start to the academic year is similar: faculty and staff return in mid-August to prepare for Orientation and the coming year; then new students arrive and settle in.  And there is my favorite part: personal cookie delivery by Dean Anne and me to all residential students!

There is excitement in the air – and the usual mix of trepidation and inquisitiveness.  Understandably, everyone wants the launch of the new academic year to be a success; the quality of the beginning of the year tends to set the tone for the year to come.

Yet, in several positive ways, the academic year 2011 – 2012 is different.  Here’s why:

SVC is welcoming a record number of new students — both first year and transfer students.  We have the largest Nursing I class in the history of the institution, led by a wonderful new head of the nursing program, Dr. Karen Clement-O’Brien.  Our dorms are over-capacity, leading us to get creative in our housing plans for a small number of juniors and seniors.

Our growth has led to several key changes, all designed to create more space, more options and more opportunities for students.  We have created a soon-to-be-opened food court in the lower level of Hunter Hall, offering food choices in the evenings. The library has been renovated to create more congregating and study space for students during the day and evening, including three new study rooms.  A designated room in the dining hall will provide an added place where students can just hang out in the evening.   We have opened new sections of popular courses.

Our ‘little gem of a school’ has reached new heights in popularity. How exciting is that! A wonderful academic year awaits us.