What I didn't hear from the candidates

Haverford's picked a new president, and I think we got a fine one. I attended the sessions with faculty and with an advisory committee. Even as I admired the search committee's choice of all three finalists, each an exemplar of things Haverford wants and needs to be, I realized I had other concerns for the next iteration of Haverford College.
What I didn’t hear, from the presidential candidates, is why it matters so much right now, how Haverford College does its job. Why should we worry? We’ve never been richer, never been better in ranking and recognizability. Why shouldn’t we continue to get better in ranking and recognizability, building our faculty and honing our classes in what will long remain the best way to educate the young – a traditional highly selective liberal arts college. That’s how things can look from inside the bubble, the Haverbubble that’s been bruited on campus for years. But friends, we’re getting long-distance calls from our Peace and Global Citizenship interns, and there are lasers in the jungle …
We’re in some trouble, folks -- culturally/politically/spiritually. I mean us good guys: the educated sane people who are watching all we value put at risk, so that we fear for the earth and for those we love. If we believed what we’ve been saying about our educational mission we’d be more deeply reflective concerning our “research” and our “teaching,” and we’d be talking about how that leading and serving was changing the world. How badly does the world need sane, smart, humane citizens and leaders? How can we not be in constant dialogue about how to do faculty-student collaboration better, about how to truly imbue with better teaching for life in 21st century? And is talking enough? Do we matter, in a world falling apart?
We have an Internet extending to the most surprising places. We have search engines, email, highly immersive role-playing on Warcraft and SecondLife. Our students can listen to any music in the world, and talk with the creators and fans, if they have the curiosity, the language tools, the travel opportunities. Where’s this Facebook/MySpace mashup youth culture headed? How much longer will they choose to communicate with us, if we don’t get our act together?