Veterans Day at Wesleyan will once again mean many visitors to campus, as high school students making their way through the college selection process come back to Middletown to try to get a feel for our culture. For a long time, veterans have played an important role in shaping who we are. In World War II and through the Korean war, many former (and even some current) servicemen enrolled as students, and they helped shape the modern Wesleyan. David Potts notes, for example, that just after the conflict veterans on campus urged campus leaders to make changes to the fraternities that dominated campus life. They helped dismantle the discriminatory practices that had long been taken for granted.
Last week we held a breakfast with some of our current student vets along with members of the veterans community in the Middletown area. We were able to talk about our recent partnership with “Service to School,” and the Warriors & Scholars project. Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez ’96, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, has discussed our new efforts to recruit vets by meeting them where they are and introducing them to our style of pragmatic liberal education.
Wesleyan is also lucky to have veterans on the faculty and staff, where they contribute to making this university run everyday. We are grateful for their service in so many ways!