Lunch with Six Supporters

Good afternoon everyone. It is great to see you all here today. It is my honor to introduce our alumni speaker, but before I do that, I get to say a few words.

Almost a year ago, my husband Huff and I were preparing to come to Brunswick. There was a lot about Bowdoin that we had not yet experienced, but there were two truths about this College that shone through very clearly in what we did know.

The first was that Bowdoin was committed to providing the broadest possible access for students to this extraordinary place – that the College cared about opportunity.

The second was that Bowdoin was made up of a collection of amazing, and amazingly devoted, people.  From my first contacts with the search committee, it was clear that there was something special about Bowdoin people.

These two things drew me to Bowdoin, and I don’t go a day without thinking about how we can open Bowdoin’s doors more widely to students, and how we can bind our alumni, students, families, and friends together more tightly. The principles of access, and of support for each other, are woven into the fabric of the College. They are a huge part of what is so special about this place, and they are the commitments that we have come together to celebrate today.

These core principles are not automatic or accidental—they didn’t just appear and evolve – they are the result of intentional decisions over many years, and they are possible because you have supported them along the way.

Bowdoin promises that admission decisions are made on a need-blind basis, meaning that the ability of our applicants and their families to pay is irrelevant in the review of applications.

We also guarantee financial aid for our students that meets their full demonstrated need, and we commit to all families that their aid is made up entirely of grants, not loans.

These policies—need-blind, meeting full need for all four years, and no required loans—enable Bowdoin to assemble a remarkable group of students based strictly on their talent and promise, without regard for household income. Only twenty-two other colleges or universities in the country bend their resources toward access in such a profound way, and only eight—including Bowdoin—extend these practices to international students. I am very proud that Bowdoin is among both groups.

As you all know, the Bowdoin experience is a rich academic, co-curricular, and social blend. We want students not only to get here, but to flourish on our campus and to not miss out on anything because it has a cost. We want them to seize the many formative opportunities that Bowdoin provides: the chance to publish original research with a faculty mentor, for example, or to travel on a spring break trip with their team; the chance to trek to New York City to explore careers in creative fields, or to hike in the mountains of Maine with the right equipment.

This type of support for access to the full Bowdoin experience has been part of what we do for many years, at least since Paul Nixon became Dean of Students in 1918. Dean Nixon made sure that a student who needed a new pair of glasses, or the money to cover a medical school entrance fee, was taken care of; these grants are now supported by an endowment called the Nixon Fund, among others.

Our current promise to provide what students need to excel at Bowdoin follows this longstanding tradition. 

We continue to make these investments for the impact that Bowdoin will make on the lives of so many amazing students, and for the impact that they, in turn, will make on the world.

To the alumni, families, and friends here today: thank you for making all of this possible. We could not provide the Bowdoin experience without you. We are so grateful for your support, and I am personally committed to telling Bowdoin’s financial aid story as often and as strongly as I possibly can while I am president.

And to the students in the room: you are remarkable and inspiring. You earned this opportunity and I know you are going to change the world. Good luck to all of you as we reach the end of the semester and as you head off to your summers of work, research, travel and hopefully—fun. And to the seniors – I know you are also heading to the next chapter of your connection to Bowdoin.

Thank you all for making the time to be here today. We are grateful for the role that each of you plays in the life of the College, and I hope you enjoy getting to know each other.