The Fecund Campus

This is a magical time of year on a university campus. The faculty have turned in their grades. Students have a noticeable skip in their steps. Roller bags are dragged across campus to the waiting airport shuttle buses. It’s a between-time.

Just prior to this, the students turned their intense attention to finishing papers, preparing for examinations, and working on final projects. The campus seemed contemplative, although Lauinger Library was packed at all hours during those days. My hunch is that the adrenalin levels inside that structure belied the quiet on campus.

The graduating students have been in formation for some time. Their time here was hard work. The seriousness of purpose during the gestation of students is propelled by concerns that they succeed in formative experiences. Debates, discussions, and dialogues on the weighty issues of modern life as well as the fundamental questions of life are the routine coin of the realm. The bumps and detours of maturing young minds are ever-present in this work. Much of the attention of faculty and staff is focused on supporting students in these developments.

But now those formative experiences, for the graduates, are ending. It’s this moment on campus that evokes the metaphor of the university as a living being, producing offspring on an annual cycle, with two and four year gestation periods (for different programs). As if to note this, the campus has never looked better. It seems shinier and cleaner (maybe because the great Georgetown staffers are actively sprucing it up). The public areas are beautiful, with new flowers popping up, new grass filling in; it’s alive with the growth of spring. The campus is a resplendent mother ready to give birth to a new set of offspring in a set of commencement events over the next four days.

At this time, all turn their attention to happy events and long-standing academic rituals. Tents are being raised on almost every free spot on campus. Thousands of chairs now sit on Healy lawn, facing a grand podium. Looking at them, I remember the faces of parents and other family members last year. Pure joy.

Soon the seats will be filled. Processions led by robed officials, faculty, and students will enter the space. Words of praise and advice will be heard. Pictures will be taken. Hugs will abound. Smiles will be everywhere. Expectations will never be higher.

Georgetown thus gives birth to a whole litter of new graduates, ready to burst into the world and to change it. Mother Georgetown has done well. It is a time of satisfaction and pride.