Traffic cones

May 5, 2022

The orange cones have returned to University Drive today, signaling the quarterly gathering of Xavier's Board of Trustees. Its diverse members have converged from across the country to listen, to ask questions, to advise, and to discern.

As ever, they'll hear updates from the President, the SGA, the colleges, student affairs and many others. At this meeting they'll also offer feedback on an interim report about the strategic plan. And they will approve a university budget for the next fiscal year.

For some in our community, I know, their arrival is notable especially for those bothersome cones.  For me, it also means pulling my suit out from the back corner of my closet. 

But there is more too. In the midst of an extraordinarily busy season of the year, the trustees' meeting requires me to look beyond the urgent details of my inbox. To prepare for their visit, I must reflect, must project, and must plan.

The same dynamic applies all the more for Xavier's President and Senior Leadership Council. And of course their board-occasioned reflections, projections, and plans touch all of us -- as exemplified by the presentation about the proposed budget to a full Faculty Assembly earlier this week.

So when one of those traffic cone next catches your eye on campus, I invite you to join me: take just a moment away from your grading and e-mails and other pressing duties, a moment to look forward to the possibilities and challenges ahead for our community.

I'll look ahead with hope this morning, and I encourage you to do so as well.