The topic the three men are discussing has nothing to do with military battles on foreign soil, however. Rather, it is about the day-to-day skirmishes Howard faces to keep H-SC—which is 235 years old and just one of three remaining all-male colleges in America—relevant and economically buoyant in these changing academic times. “It’s a war for the hearts and minds of America’s youth,” Howard says at one point. Wilson, 87, sitting straight-backed with hands folded over a silver-tipped mahogany cane, agrees: “[Your job] is definitely a hot seat,” he tells Howard.
Wilson would know. A direct descendant of H-SC founding trustee Nathaniel Venable, he guided contentious debate during his tenure as president over whether to remain single-sex or go coed like Washington & Lee and the former Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College). (H-SC opted to remain a men-only institution.) After the meeting, Wilson allows, “Chris has great potential, but I think he is still figuring it all out, which is typical in the first year. I think this year we will see how his vision is to be translated.”
Howard, 41, is not a man to waste time. Indeed, he’s already set four goals for Hampden-Sydney, which he’s quick to enumerate. “First,” he says, “I want to re-imagine the liberal arts experience to ensure that our students receive a viable and vibrant education inside and outside the classroom. Second, I want to remind our students they are responsible for their actions and to engage them in a sustained conversation of what it means to be men of character in the 21st century. Third, [I have to] raise money and look for ways to increase the school’s endowment…and, finally, I want to raise the profile of the school nationally and internationally. H-SC is a national treasure, and my job is to provide the map.”
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Re: Raising the H-SC profile
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Raising the H-SC profile
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