The Campaign for St. John's College
Campaign Dinner Toast, July 25
Ray Cave
Hi, I'm Ray Cave. I'm the last hurrah. I used to be a perfectly normal person. Then I got involved with twenty years of St. John's College Capital Campaigns.
So I walk in here tonight. I look at those beautiful banners. And I think.
Wow!
I can auction those off!
Don't worry. I wouldn't do that to you. Not tonight!
Instead I will propose a toast, one that is somewhat unusual. Essentially, it is a toast to all of us for what has been achieved--plus a toast to 100 or so people who can't be here tonight.
You heard details earlier of what the Capital Campaign accomplished. And how much this means to St. John's.
The draft of a new mission statement for the college sums it up in a striking passage, which reads:"Mere survival is no longer an issue for St. John's. We are now (and I insert "at last") on stable ground. We can address challenges and take advantage of opportunities as never before."
That achievement is surely worthy of a champagne toast. BUT If we have saved something, what is it we have saved?
The opening passage of the mission statement tells us--and it is good for us to pause right now and be reminded. I quote:
"St. John's College is a community dedicated to liberal education. Such education seeks to free human beings from prejudice and unexamined opinion; to help them reflect on the nature of things, on the ends and means of human endeavors; to enable them to make thoughtful choices in their public and private lives."
So I propose a toast. First: To a St. John's where "survival is no longer an issue"--and where all must learn "to reflect on the nature of things."
Second: To the glorious prospect that, once again and for the foreseeable future, with due thanks to a successful Capital Campaign, the following teachers will return to St. John's each fall: Homer and Plato, Kant and Descartes, Tolstoy and Twain, along with 100 of their friends.
Let's drink to that!