The Dean’s Blog

Been off Comm Ave and off the grid for a few days. Was in a small town in South Carolina where my connections to a cell hook-up were scarce and any connection to the internet did not exist. At best, I could catch a cable signal in the local supermarket for a news, business, and sports updates. On one frequency, this was a refreshing change. I am one to stop and smell the roses, but during the last three days I inhaled so deep that my chest hurt.  I was able to focus and re-affirmed my commitments – especially to family. On another, I realized how dependent my world is on a cell phone, the Internet, thought-provoking articles, cable television, radio, the substance of culture, and soulful pop. I confess – I had a serious (and perhaps disturbing) jones for a wireless connection. (Got to find a way to take care of this!) Also made me wonder how a child in school in this neck of the woods ever gets from here to the rest of the world.

I was in the S.C. on a mission involving legacies – to see a manifestation of legacies and to visit with a sample of students creating legacies.

In the days of pen and parchment, horses and boats, broadsides and passed-around pamphlets, I am impressed that a person like Lee Claflin was able to get to the rest of the world. (I wonder what people like Claflin could have done with a network connection or a pulpit message that could have been sent anywhere and anytime.) I had a chance to see the fruit of one of Boston University’s founders, the good Lee Claflin. After being a righteous trend-setter  with juice in New Hampshire and Boston (in “co-founding” Boston University), Claflin represented in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where he was named as founder of Claflin University (in 1869). Considered a historically Black university, like Boston University, Claflin University opened its doors on day one to anyone who wanted to attend, regardless of race or gender – a truly loving, forward-thinking, bold, courageous, and death-defying act for the time. You go, Lee! – hope I have the honor of counting myself as part of your legacy.

COM Dean Thomas Fiedler, Professor Jo O’Connor, and I got a chance to visit with the inspirational and visionary president of Claflin University, Dr. Henry Tisdale and his hard-working, caring staff.  We laughed, traded history, and agreed to work hard on figuring out ways to exchange ideas, student talent, and faculty with Claflin University. Not only are the folks at Claflin “good peoples” but the insititution is a sibling.  I hope I get a chance to take students there for a visit and to facilitate the opportunity for Claflin students to experience our hospitality.

The highlight of my stay in the S.C. was dinner with the Greenville ASBers.  The Greenville crew rolled into my parents’ home in Blackville after a great week of serious service to the people in the area. They encountered and engaged issues of poverty, race, how we care for out children, disaster relief, hunger and homelessness – my parents, uncles, and aunts thought a meal of great food in the Black Southern tradition would be a humble contribution to our BU heroes and sheroes who worked so hard all week in Greenville and each day in their lives.

Finally, you can’t keep me of the net entirely. Despite the isolation, I was forwarded a neat, short, and inspiring video – a little tough to read but worth checking out:

Looking forward to hitting the homestretch of this community’s life. See you on Comm Ave. Peace.