WABASH COLLEGE Class Agents Letter Class of 2007 Office of Alumni Affairs P.O. Box 352 Class Agents Crawfordsville, IN 47933 Ross Dillard Web site: www.wabash.edu [email protected] Email us: [email protected] Josh Owens Phone: (765) 361-6369 [email protected]
December 2008
Dear Friends,
We hope this letter finds you in good spirits this holiday season, our second as alumni of Wabash College. We wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of the campus news since an unusual number of events have taken place. As we tend to follow things as closely as we can, we are happy to try and take any questions or concerns you may have. E-mail us anytime at [email protected].
Delta Tau Delta
The college revoked the charter of Delta Tau Delta fraternity in early November after it concluded an investigation conducted in the wake of the death of freshman Johnny Smith. An article recently appeared in the New York Times on the matter.
“Rift on Indiana Campus After Student Dies” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/us/28wabash.html?_r=2&em
This photo was taken by Hugh Vandivier ’91 and comes from his blog. This is a sign we never saw as students and shows how difficult the situation has been for the campus. Apparently, emotions ran high at this well-attended meeting with members of the administration present.
Our thoughts go out to the family of Mr. Smith, the students, and our classmates that once called the Delt house home.
William C. Placher ‘70
Wabash professor of philosophy and religion William C. Placher passed away on November 30 at the age of 60 at his temporary residence while on leave serving a one year appointment as the Kilian McDonnell Writer-In-Residence at the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. A chapel was held on Thursday of the following week in his honor and a memorial service that Saturday. The following link will connect you to the Wabash news stories along with podcasts of the services and past talks by Dr. Placher.
“Placher Remembered” http://www.wabash.edu/news/6521
Virginia "Ginny" Hays ’H98
Longtime Wabash booster and wife of the late Will Hays ’37, Ginny Hays passed away in her home in late September. Her patronage of Wabash sporting events had become legendary in itself and her presence was a staple. Win or lose, she would write the basketball team a note of congratulations after each game. A memorial service was held in her honor at the College. Here is a link to a story on the Wabash website.
“Ginny Hays Encouraged Others: Fearlessly Be Yourself” http://www.wabash.edu/news/6246
Class Notes
We are sorry to have to put such sad news in your inbox, but we do have a few good things to mention. Turnout at Monon Bell was excellent by our class. Our best guess is that at least 50 of us were there and we were happy to see many of you back. Although the game didn’t go our way, hopefully a good time was had seeing old friends. The football team moved on after Bell and won an exciting come-from-behind victory against Case Western, only to lose at home to Wheaton the following weekend.
We also have an ’07 spotting to share from early November. The John P. Collett Tennis Center was rededicated after extensive renovations on November 1, and two of our former Wabash tennis players were on hand for the show.
That’s Nate Mullendore and Adam Van Zee in the back left of the photo. Adam is now the head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Earlham College and Nate is working for Friends of Sugar Creek in Crawfordsville.
Finally, we have two notes of congratulation to share. Congrats to Adam Kirsch on becoming the Executive Director of the Marion County Democratic Party (Indianapolis) and congrats to Ryan Stephens on being accepted into the Indiana University-Purdue University MBA program in Indianapolis.
Well, that’s all the news we know for the moment. Again, feel free to e-mail us anytime with your news, questions, or concerns at the class e-mail [email protected]. Also, check out our Class Blog at http://www2.wabash.edu/blog/class2007/ if you want some “bonus” coverage between letters. We try to post some extras there occasionally.
Happy Holidays!
Ross and Josh