Dear Joe Kirk,
This letter, while only written by one member of the college community, echoes the thoughts of many who I have spoken with yet have not gotten the opportunity to tell you themselves.
Thank you for being in charge of Greek Life. Dating all the way back to 1902, when Louis Severance stated he would only donate money for the building in his name once the national Greek groups were removed from the campus, Greek life has been threatened by members of the administration at the College of Wooster. It is still threatened by members of the administration and Residence Life to this day. You have done your best to make sure that the Greek community has flourished on the college campus. Greeks may only make up less than 20% percent of the entire community, but I know all of them are grateful for the work you do on a daily basis to allow them to exist.
Thank you for being the Associate Director of Security and Protective Services. In the past, there have been certain student security guards with a radical view of justice and who took the law into their own hands. They were looked upon poorly by the entire College community, and still are to this day. You kept them in line, and dealt with them for their four years at this school. Thank you for being man enough to do this.
Most importantly, thank you for having the students’ backs. Wooster is not an easy school. Besides the academics factor, there exists a document called the Scots Key. As a first-year, I was one of the majority who voted against this monstrosity. However, it seemed as though the vote was more fixed than an election with Saddam Hussein or Fidel Castro, because it was implemented anyway. This new document made it easy for the school to punish whoever it wanted whenever it wanted without much due cause ó every senior violated the “personal integrity and self-respect” portion of the Scots Key on IS Monday. There are even higher up officials at the school who follow the rules blindly and† seem to have lost all touch with humanity, causing students to scorn their name and lose all respect for them entirely.
You are not that person. You care about the students at this school. You want them to succeed not only as students, but as adults and members of the community. You want us to be better people. Because of you, we are.
Again, thank you.