Former Secretary of Defense Invested as WM Chancellor

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, February 04, 2012

 

About 3,500 people gathered Friday to watch former United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates become the 24th chancellor of The College of William and Mary.

Gates, who retired from his post in June 2011, follows 23rd chancellor Sandra Day O’Connor, a former associate justice of the Supreme Court. He was invested in his new role at Kaplan Arena during the Charter Day ceremony that marks the 319th anniversary of the granting of a royal charter to establish the college.

Gates is a 1965 graduate of the university, where he studied history and was an active member of Alpha Phi Omega, a dorm manager, an orientation aide and the business manager of the William and Mary Review, a literary and art magazine. He joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and worked as an intelligence officer for 27 years. He served as Secretary of Defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

William and Mary President Taylor Reveley, acting on behalf of the Board of Visitors, first approached Gates to serve as chancellor before he had retired from his position as Secretary of Defense.

“It never occurred to me that offer might be extended,” he said before the ceremony. “I said, ‘Let me think about it.’ I didn’t feel like I was in a position to accept anything.”

He reconsidered when Reveley approached him again following his retirement, which he thought would be occupied with relaxing at home in Washington state, writing some books and giving speeches. Now, he will serve as a more formal cheerleader for the college; Reveley said some of his duties will entail providing wise counsel and “gracing us with his presence.”

As chancellor, Gates hopes to instill a sense of duty in the students. “I want to show you don’t have to work for the government to be a public servant,” he said. “There are lots of ways to serve as a citizen.”

He was formally invested as the chancellor while wearing a green robe accented by thick stripes of metallic gold thread. Board of Visitors Rector Jeffrey Trammell presented Gates with an opulent silver chain and medal that Gates said was a “unique blending of medieval academic tradition and Lady Gaga.”

 

In his speech during the ceremony, Gates offered a glimpse at his experience on the campus nearly 50 years ago. He came to Williamsburg from Kansas, living first in Old Dominion Hall, paying an out-of-state tuition of $361 a semester. He earned a D in freshman calculus, but found his footing, going on to receive the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for characteristics of heart, mind and helpfulness at his graduation.

 

He received big laughs and applause from the audience when he shared that for most of his years at William and Mary, he earned money as a bus driver for Williamsburg-James City County Schools. “I parked the bus behind Bryan Dorm — a source of many adventures, most not repeatable in mixed company,” he said. He told an anecdote of once going out to pick up students on a snowy morning, only to be told school had been cancelled because “the buses can’t get out.”

His speech was peppered with amusing anecdotes about his interactions with the chancellors who preceded him — O’Connor, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Beyond the funny stories, Gates’ speech was a commentary of the current political climate. He acknowledged that, since the earliest days of the Virginia colony, politicians have slammed each other in public and behind closed doors.

“Having said all that, I do believe that we are now in uncharted territory when it comes to the dysfunction in our political system,” he said. He offered reasons for how the U.S. reached this predicament: gerrymandered congressional districts designed for incumbents; wave elections that sweep one party into power after another; the decline of congressional power brokers who could make deals and enforce them; and the 24/7 digital media environment that has led to “a coarsening and dumbing-down of the political dialogue.”

Gates has worked in the administrations of eight U.S. presidents, but none of them “had a monopoly on revealed truth,” he said. “At a time when our country faces deep obstacles at home and abroad, we have too many leaders whose outsized egos are coupled with undersized backbones; who think they alone have the right answers, who demonize those who think differently, and who refuse to listen and to take other points of view into account.”

He has faith America can work through its differences, however, saying it will take a willingness to make tough decisions, clear-eyed realism, willingness to listen, an ability to see other points of view and the wisdom to compromise for the greater good. He told the students in the audience he has no doubt they will be part of the solution.

The ceremony also honored the accomplishments of faculty, students and alumni. An honorary Doctor of Humane Letters was awarded to professor James Bill, the founding director of the Wendy and Emery Reves Center for International Studies; Gates noted Bill’s works about Iran are widely respected in the foreign policy world.

Linguistics professor Ann Reed was honored with the Thomas Jefferson Award, which recognizes significant service through personal activities, influence or leadership. Law professor Laura Heymann became the first from the law school to receive the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award, which recognizes a faculty member whose influence, personal character and concern mirrors the love of learning exemplified by Jefferson.

Senior Ariel Cukierman received the Thomas Jefferson Prize in Natural Philosophy in recognition of his undergraduate research in physics and mathematics. Senior Molly Bulman’s commitment to service was honored with the James Monroe Prize in Civic Leadership.

The Alumni Medallion will be awarded to three alumni at 10 a.m. today at the Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium. This year’s recipients are Joseph Agee, class of 1952; Ruth Weimar Tillar, class of 1945; and former Board of Visitors Rector Henry Wolf, class of 1964.