Boston-based alums, eager to reminisce about Brown, gathered Thursday night to mingle with University administrators and President Ruth Simmons at the Boston kickoff of the Campaign for Academic Enrichment.
Simmons announced the campaign had raised $627 million of the $1.4 billion it needs by 2010.
The three-part event - consisting of a colloquium led by Professor of History Gordon Wood, a cocktail hour and a series of speeches featuring Simmons - took place in the aptly-named Great Room on the 33rd floor of 60 State St. in downtown Boston.
The event was the fifth in a series of regional kickoffs for the "Boldly Brown" campaign. Over the next few weeks, the campaign will travel to New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
4:30 p.m.
As afternoon faded into evening, smiling, well-dressed guests congregated in the Great Room for pre-lecture schmoozing. Floor-to-ceiling windows provided sweeping views of the Boston Bay and some of the city's most charming neighborhoods. The atmosphere was cheerfully welcoming to the extent that, despite ushers' patient prodding for guests to take their seats, Wood did not ascend the podium until several minutes after his scheduled 4:30 p.m. starting time.
One of Brown's most high-profile professors and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Wood is considered one of the nation's foremost scholars of the American Revolution. He appeared at ease in front of an audience of 200, joking his way through the lecture and garnering laughter from the crowd right up to his conclusion. Listeners were particularly amused by Wood's jabs at the French, which he employed to explain his recent book "The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin."
Todd Andrews '83, vice president for alumni relations, was pleased both by the reaction and number of attendants.
"I was really delighted at the turnout, as this was a mid-afternoon event," Andrews said.
6 p.m.
At the swanky-yet-unpretentious cocktail hour in the Harborside Salons following the colloquium, guests could not praise Wood's lecture enough.
"You don't need to be a historian to enjoy what he said," said John Robinson '56 P '85. His wife, Olga Robinson '57 P '85, who emerged from the buffet line with a plate of miniature sandwiches and ornately prepared sushi, extolled the lecture as well. The two met at Brown nearly half a century ago.
The Robinsons were not the only Brown pair in attendance: several couples, tongues loosened by the endless glasses of wine being passed around on silver trays, were eager to share their romantic stories. Andrea Frank '82 smiled as she remembered being introduced to her husband, Steven Frank '83.
"We met at a frat party," she said with a giggle. Neither Frank could remember at exactly which fraternity they had first made each other's acquaintance.
Jay Candelmo '99 and Jaimie Kane '99 met in a more traditional manner: both served as summer tour guides at Brown.
"Yeah, we really love Brown," Kane said. The two love it so much, in fact, that they got married in Manning Chapel.
Candelmo expressed a desire to see Brown become even more eminent among the world's elite colleges. As an undergraduate, he was involved in a group that lobbied for the implementation of need-blind admissions, and he praised Simmons' 2001 pledge to institute such a policy.
"The school lost momentum for a while, and (Simmons) brought it back," he said. Candelmo and Kane had the opportunity to meet Simmons at a reunion a few years ago, and Candelmo said that her energy inspired his new confidence in the school.
Nearly all the guests at the cocktail hour expressed a deep admiration for Simmons. Many spent much of the time trying to get a word in with the president, who was busily circling the room and chatting with alums.
"People are very excited to see Ruth Simmons. She creates energy wherever she goes," Andrews said.
Simmons herself appeared energetic despite a long day of campaigning; she had arrived in Boston at 7:30 a.m. to meet with alums.
Though ready to discuss any issue that guests brought up, Simmons was especially eager to praise Wood's lecture.
"I enjoyed the lecture very much," she said. Simmons expressed her pleasure at seeing so many alums, young and old, congregating together in one room.
"For so many alums to be here, even those who've been out for many years, shows that this lecture" was well received, she said.
What does this mean for younger and future alums?
"Thirty years from now, you'll still be hungry for lectures," Simmons said with a smile before being whisked away by yet another suit-wearing, wine-glass-bearing alum.
7 p.m.
Soon, it was time for administrators to remind alums what Brown had done for them - and to convince them to do something for Brown. Ushers called guests back to their seats in the Great Room, where the program began with a welcome speech from Peter Voss '68, a campaign vice chair. Voss took the opportunity to praise both the kickoff - which he said was the largest Brown event ever to take place in Boston - and Simmons.
"I have tremendous faith in President Simmons," Voss said. A series of videos highlighting recent achievements from students and professors followed his speech.
Chancellor Stephen Robert '62 P'91 took the podium next and pandered playfully to the Boston crowd.
"Some of you may think of me as a New Yorker, but it's not true," he said. "This is the only city in the country where people don't ask me if I'm from Boston," Robert added to chuckles from the crowd.
Robert also offered a few serious comments about Brown's future and the future of the chancellor position, which he will vacate next year.
"When I leave, I'll leave behind the greatest president of a university in the United States," Robert said.
Regarding campaign challenges, Robert remained unconcerned, explaining that the campaign had expected to receive a certain amount of money by June 30, but did not get it until "June 45."
"If we have to change the calendar to meet our goals, that will not hold us back," Robert cried to applause and laughter from the crowd.
In keeping with his lighthearted tone Robert told a long joke about a physics professor and his driver. When he finally reached the punch line, Simmons raised her voice above the crowd's laughter.
"And this is related to what?" she called.
"Why, professors, of course!" Robert replied, inciting further mirth among the alums.
7:34 p.m.
Before she even began speaking, Simmons received a standing ovation, which she dismissed with the wave of a hand. Simmons used her speech to provide some flattering words about Boston - not to mention a moderate dose of Harvard-bashing.
She spoke at length about her goals for Brown, saying, "Now is the time to say 'yes' to change." Simmons wants the University to be a place where "no path of inquiry is closed or even circumscribed."
Simmons said her first priority is to maintain and enhance the opportunities available to Brown professors; she believes that only by helping the faculty can she help the students.
"They need resources like facilities for research, openness to opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation. ... It is impossible to have a great university where the faculty are not supported," Simmons said.
