General Wilson describes the course of the College’s future
by: Christopher Turpin ‘12Service to Hampden-Sydney is in Lieutenant General Samuel V. Wilson’s blood. His four times great-grandfather is Nathaniel Venable, one of the founders of the institution itself. General Sam, as he has come to be known, has established himself as one of the great icons of Hampden-Sydney College. After retiring from 37 years of distinguished military service in 1977, General Sam established himself on the lecture circuit before being named Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Hampden-Sydney in 1982. After 10 years of professorship, the general was chosen to be the 22nd president of the college. General Sam has guided countless young men in his expansive time here, and it is only fitting that as President Emeritus he has the opportunity to offer some words of wisdom to the college’s new president.
General Sam believes that the most important thing that President Howard could do is to continue to expand on the college’s many traditions and its illustrious history. From this, all other things will follow. “We follow in big footsteps,” says the general, “and we must continue to add the great history of the institution.” The things that the early graduates of Hampden-Sydney accomplished, especially the class of 1791, “are unrivaled by any other institution of the time.”
If the college is going to continue its great history of public service and leadership, it must continue to develop leaders. This is one of the reasons that General Sam established the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest while he was president. According to the general, President Howard is in a prime position to continue to build on Hampden-Sydney’s history of leadership. “I will sometimes refer to Hampden-Sydney as America’s leadership college,” says General Sam. “We really are not worthy of that accolade yet, but we can be.” He believes that, as the former Vice President of Oklahoma University for Leadership and Strategic Initiatives and as the Director of the Honors College Leadership Center of that institution, President Howard has the background and experience to get us there. Leadership should be pursued as an interdisciplinary study here at the college, and should be included in all majors. It should not become competitive with other academic regions, but rather should be “interdisciplinary and harmonious, so that the whole may become greater than the sum of the parts.” In this area, General Wilson thinks that our new President “has a lot going for him.”
More specifically, General Wilson would like to see a greater ROTC presence here at Hampden-Sydney. General Sam was very clear to state that “this is not to militarize this place”—quite the opposite. He believes that what Hampden-Sydney has to offer gives the young military man “a tremendous advantage over officers that have not had the type of academic experience that Hampden-Sydney provides.” While the college does have an ROTC program that works with the ROTC office at Longwood, the General thinks that the college would benefit from establishing its own office on campus in the near future so that more students might take advantage of this program. Also, the ROTC program provides many students with scholarships, and fully qualified students with full rides are “like manna from Heaven for this college.”
On a different note, General Sam does not think that it would be wise for a Hampden-Sydney President “to endeavor to increase the size of the college significantly.” According to the general, there is a point of diminishing returns. By this he means that if the college grows too large, “we begin to change the character of this place.” If Hampden-Sydney grows too large, General Sam believes, the college will lose its smallness and intimacy. If the college were to grow, and still seek to maintain its intimacy, it ought to be by developing graduate programs. Hampden-Sydney could easily add a school of law, journalism, or government and not drastically alter the makeup of our community.
It seems that General Sam is very hopeful for President Howard. He has a very solid foundation on which to build, both from previous presidents and his own experience. Looking five, ten, or fifteen years into the future, it is clear that our new president has the opportunity to greatly affect Hampden-Sydney. Finally, General Sam added, “He’s got a tremendous foundation, which is almost like a springboard, for us to work from and bring us to another level entirely. He’s in a position to get some very useful things done, and we’re counting on him.”
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