The Principia
Interoffice Correspondence

Date: February 28, 2008

To: The Principia Community
Fm: David Anable, Chief Executive
 
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
 
I very much enjoyed our opportunity to be together for the Joint Faculty/Staff meeting in Elsah early this month. A big “thank you” to all our speakers who displayed such enthusiasm, expertise, and humor (!) in explaining how we can work together for the greater good of Principia and all of its students. (Members of the faculty and staff can get a refresher course on what happened by checking out a CD from the library on either campus.)
 
Not surprisingly, we continue to encounter a few bumps on our road forward as we work diligently to untangle the “interlaced ambiguities” of the past year and seek to bring healing to all concerned. I recommend that you join with me in holding in thought daily these two passages:

• “Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.” (Science and Health, p. 454: 19-21) We in the CE’s office are constantly examining and reexamining our motives as issues come up to be handled. No doubt all of us are doing the same thing. That approach makes an amazing difference!
  
  
• “The entire purpose of true education is to make one not only know the truth but live it – to make one enjoy doing right, make one not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and wait on God, the strong deliverer, who will reward righteousness and punish iniquity.” (Miscellany, p. 252: 10-16)

This latter passage, I am told, was one of Mary Kimball Morgan’s favorites. It certainly sums up how all of us face the claims of mortal mind which often appear as other people’s actions and thoughts.
 
Now for some particular items and updates.
 
Recent Trustees’ Meeting
As you may know, the Board of Trustees met in St. Louis last week. This “retreat” focused heavily, but not exclusively, on governance issues. The Board has posted an announcement about the meeting on their web page.  

Jonathan Palmer Visit
Principia College President-elect Jonathan Palmer will be back on campus next week. Jonathan is spending this transition time getting up to speed on the issues and meeting with as many College constituencies as possible. By the time he arrives in July, he should have a good handle on the needs and priorities for the College. Please make sure that he is again given a warm welcome.


Green Initiatives
As some of you may also know, the Facilities Departments on both campuses have been busy recently launching numerous “green initiatives.” Some changes have been incremental. Others have been dramatic. For instance, they are retrofitting light fixtures – installing new T-8 fluorescent ballasts and fixtures – and replacing bulbs, trading more than 3,000 incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to increase energy efficiency.
 
Another example is that, along with the new electric utility vehicles you will see zipping around campus, we have begun to replace school-owned gas vehicles with hybrids whenever possible. Dual-campus employees who travel between campuses are chomping at the bit for their turn to drive the Prius that was recently purchased for the corporate fleet. And Dining Services Director Lance Thornton also is driving a hybrid between campuses. Don’t be surprised if your Chief Executive follows suit at some point, and exchanges his gas guzzler for something more modest.
 
Have you heard about the new meteorological wind test tower that is being assembled in Elsah? College students and faculty are exploring whether a wind turbine is viable for generating renewable, alternative energy.
 
News Flash: College Swim Teams Make a Splash
This just in from the College swim teams: “Principia College hosted the first Liberal Arts Championship meet on campus last weekend. Amidst the 210 athletes and 12 teams in the new natatorium, the Principia athletes made sure to stand out. Freshman Allison Stuhr broke the team records in the 50 free (24.14), 100 free (52.58), 200 free (1:54.74), and 100 backstroke (59.75) - taking second at the meet in all three freestyle events. By Friday at noon, Stuhr will know if she's qualified for NCAA nationals in Ohio.
 
Stuhr teamed up with sophomore Jenny Bailey (the previous team record-holder in the 50 and 100 freestyles), junior Barbara Palmer, and senior Stephanie Morgan to take down all three of the women's freestyle relay team records. …
 
The women's team placed third overall. This is the highest the women have finished at Liberal Arts since 2000. … The men's team placed fifth overall.
 
The three-day Liberal Arts Championship not only gave the Panthers an opportunity to see a season of hard work pay off, but also allowed them to share Christian Science. Several athletes from other schools asked our team or volunteers about Christian Science, and some athletes from other schools are now ‘friending’ our athletes on Facebook.
 
‘The meet was a huge success. Swimmers from other teams indicated to me that this was the best meet they had ever attended,’ said Principia Head Coach Carl Erikson.”
 
Kudos
I would like to applaud the extraordinary work of our finance group during the recent annual audit. The outside auditing team conducting our audit reported that Principia had a completely clean audit, with no adjustments. In fact, Principia was their only client who improved over last year, despite increased audit requirements. Our finance group has done a truly commendable job, and we are all grateful for their dedication and consecrated efforts. Trustee Scott Shivers, chairman of the Audit Committee and a former auditor himself, called this “an overall stellar performance by our team.”
 
Internet Radio
Principia Internet Radio has been testing full-time since October. Test programs have included live athletic events, a new talk-show highlighting the accomplishments of the College faculty, and talks and concerts on both campuses. Recently, the College Broadcast Journalism class began providing top-of-the-hour world news updates.
 
Heartwarming responses are coming in from around the world from those who have caught some of the test programs. PIR has been listened to as far away as Germany and Taiwan. A family in England emailed their gratitude at 3 a.m. after hearing their niece perform live in the Lower School Christmas Sharing Program. Another family from Mexico City was delighted to be able to hear their daughters perform live in the Upper School Christmas Program. Members of the College swim team have expressed gratitude that their parents have been able to listen to their swim meets. Parents of basketball players have enjoyed following progress of their children’s teams – live.
 
Principia Parents’ Association Auction
We are grateful for the loving sense of generosity shown in the first-ever Principia Parents' Association Silent & Live Auction this last weekend. Proceeds from the auction will be generously given back to Principia. Thank you to all who supported the event in many different ways.
 
Emergency Plans
In the wake of a number of sad incidents at other colleges across the country, we have been asked about our own emergency preparations. Principia has a strong safety program and the first phase of a two-phase emergency-response plan is in place on both campuses. You can access these plans on the website at www.prin.edu/emergency . I am grateful to the emergency-planning teams on both campuses and the Safety and Risk Management Office for all their work to ensure that we are properly prepared for any emergency.

Grapes off the Grapevine (Again!)
After debunking a couple of rumors in the last newsletter, we heard from a parent who asked if we could tackle the rumor about Principia seriously considering admitting students who are not Christian Scientists
 
This rumor has no basis in fact, despite its regular appearances on the grapevine. As Mary Kimball Morgan told her Executives’ Committee in 1935: "There are certain policies that make Principia what it is. We could have a school, but not Principia, without these policies." (Education at The Principia, p. 109:10) Policy 4 makes it clear that Principia’s students and families must be “ready to depend upon Christian Science for help in time of need.”

The Trustees have studied the Archives where they have found references in the unpublished writings of Mary Kimball Morgan that make it clear that departures from certain fundamental policies would necessitate giving up the name Principia. The Board would deem this one such fundamental change.
 
Another rumor – also entirely false – keeps surfacing: that the College will be closed down either immediately or in the near future. Such nonsense deserves to be firmly debunked.
 
To follow up on a previous “grapevine” report, we are continuing to work on ways to restore Eliestoun.

Conclusion
To return to my opening theme, let us all “wait on God, the strong deliverer” and let Him lead us forward.

Warmest wishes,
 
David