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David W.
Oxtoby Inaugurated As President of Pomona College
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| Pomona’s Ninth
President Discusses Diversity, Prometheus, and the
“Claremont Colleges Bubble” in his Inaugural Address |
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Moments after his ceremonial installation on Saturday,
October 11, as Pomona College’s ninth president, David
Oxtoby began his
inaugural address with a quote from W.E.B. Du
Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk.”
 “This monumental work from 1903, which Du Bois introduced
with the prophetic words “The problem of the Twentieth
Century is the problem of the color-line,” touches on the
role of higher education in ways that speak profoundly to us
today,” Oxtoby told more than 1,000 people who assembled to
witness his inauguration as Pomona’s ninth president. “In
his words, ‘The function of the university’ -- and, I would
add, the liberal arts college -- ‘is not simply to teach
bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public
schools, or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above
all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real
life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which
forms the secret of civilization.’”
In exploring this theme, Oxtoby suggested two complementary
views – the College as “cloister” and the College as
“crossroads,” both of which, he noted, are expressed in the
College’s architecture.
The cloister model, he noted, brings to the fore the concept
of a protected space where it is possible to take risks and
speak freely. He added, however, that the cloister has also
at times been associated with exclusivity. “We must work
consciously to make our own community one that welcomes
diverse students, faculty and staff,” he added. “Only in
this way can the dialog within the ‘cloister’ be a
meaningful one. One can never permanently achieve true
diversity in a world that is constantly changing; rather, it
is a target toward which we need to strive continuously
through our student admissions and faculty and staff
recruitment efforts.”
As an intellectual crossroads, he suggested, the College
should be placed more meaningfully in the setting of the Los
Angeles area, with its extraordinary range of opportunities
to connect with the issues of the day, from the environment
to modern culture.
Hinting at some of the areas of emphasis for his years as
president, Oxtoby also made a number of concrete
suggestions. These included an exploration of ways to
increase the international dimension of the Pomona
experience; state-of-the-art facilities for the creation and
display of the visual arts; the development of a top-notch
program in intramural sports to broaden student
participation in athletics; and efforts to engage Pomona
students more rewardingly with the myriad offerings and
opportunities of the Los Angeles area.
Enlarging on this final point -- which he described as
helping students break out of the “Claremont Colleges
‘bubble’” -- Oxtoby announced the creation of his first
presidential-level task force, “a committee to prepare a
list of the 47 things every Sagehen should do in the Los
Angeles area during his or her four years on campus.” The
group will be chaired by David Menefee-Libey, associate
professor of politics.
Oxtoby closed his remarks with a reminder of the
significance of the mural of Prometheus painted by José
Clemente Orozco in Pomona’s Frary Dining Hall.
“When I had lunch recently in Frary, I was struck by the
incongruity of munching brownies in a dining hall in front
of this dramatic mural,” he noted. “It felt a bit
uncomfortable, as I am sure it has to some of you. I
realized, though, that this is exactly the point. The
conversations we have in the dining halls, banal or
profound, are part of the Pomona education, and so it is
fitting that this dramatic image of fire coming down from
heaven is not locked up in a museum, but is right in the
middle of our everyday life. It symbolizes the passions that
break through into our daily activities. It reminds us that
education is not always easy, but that it can be
life-transforming. That is what we celebrate today; that is
what we will work for in the years ahead.”
Oxtoby’s inaugural address was the centerpiece of a weekend
of both light and serious events as Pomona celebrated his
inauguration with a mix of pomp and revelry.
The festivities began Friday night with a party in the Smith
Campus Center. In a nod to the Oxtoby’s former title of dean
of physical sciences at the University of Chicago, the movie
“Chicago” was shown, followed by a welcoming party, thrown
for Oxtoby by Pomona students, that featured a Chicago-style
jazz band and a “Taste of Chicago” food fair of hot dogs and
deep-dish pizza. Performances by student vocal groups kept
the entertainment going until 1 a.m.
At 7 a.m. on Saturday, Oxtoby led a 10-mile bicycle ride
with Dean of Faculty Gary Kates to start the festivities. A
total of 40 cyclists – including faculty, students, staff
and alumni – joined in the ride, which took them past all
seven Claremont Consortium colleges, through Claremont
Village, and then north to Claremont’s Thompson Creek Trail
before returning them to the Pomona campus.
At 10 a.m., the celebration took an intellectual turn with a
symposium titled "Pomona College and the Pacific Rim: A Look
to the Future." Keynote speaker Steven S. Koblik, president
of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical
Gardens, delivered the keynote address, pointing out the
importance of California in the world today and urging the
College to provide a place of importance in its curriculum
to the study of California and the American West.
The keynote address was followed by concurrent breakout
sessions on such topics as the environment, the media,
education, community outreach, and international education,
led by a range of distinguished Pomona alumni and trustees,
including Nancy S. Dye, president of Oberlin College;
Richard T. Schlosberg III, CEO of The David and Lucile
Packard Foundation, and former publisher of the Los Angeles
Times; Alexander Gonzalez ’72, President of California State
University, Sacramento; W. Benton Boone, M.D. ’62; and
William Keller ’70, Executive Editor of The New York Times.
Symposium attendees reunited for lunch and an address by
Walter Massey, president of Morehouse College and former
director of the National Science Foundation, titled “Liberal
Education for a Digital Society: An Oxymoron?”
In the meantime, a number of people gathered at the Coop
Fountain to hear a broadcast of a football game between
Pomona-Pitzer and the University of Chicago, a contest that
Pomona-Pitzer won in a 38-21 rout.
For the inaugural ceremony, a processional of more than 75
delegates from colleges and universities across the nation,
representatives from civic, church and educational groups
and Pomona College trustees, faculty, alumni and
administrators gathered at Bridges Auditorium. Mary
Patterson McPherson, president emeritus of Bryn Mawr College
and vice president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
addressed the crowded auditorium, followed by the inaugural
address from Oxtoby.
After the ceremony, the College community gathered for an
all-campus reception on Marston Quadrangle. More than 1,500
people assembled on the lush lawn, dotted with tables, for
the dinner, lit by the Hollywood glow of colored lighting on
all the surrounding buildings. The evening ended with salsa
dancing to the strains of Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca.
On Sunday, the inauguration festivities wound down with a
single, fitting event in the afternoon -- a faculty recital
in Bridges Hall of Music. Members of the Music Department
faculty gave the audience a taste of the talent on the
campus that Oxtoby now oversees with performances of works
by J.S. Bach, de Murcia, Schubert, Turina and Pomona Music
Professor Tom Flaherty. |
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