Veterans Day

Veterans Day at Wesleyan

November 11, 2024 by Michael S. Roth '78

As I often do on the second Monday of November, this morning I met with a group of prospective students and their families in Memorial Chapel. The Early Decision deadline in Admission is just days away, and for many high school students, today’s holiday provides them a little more time to visit the colleges that they are hoping to attend. Here on campus, for the dozens of students, staff, and faculty who are veterans, this is just another working day. But let’s take a moment to be grateful for the vets who are part of our community, and, if we have occasion to do so, to thank them for their service.

Over the years, I have had occasion to get to know and often to celebrate our veterans on campus. Students who have served in the military often bring a distinctive set of life experiences to bear on their studies, and our faculty and staff who have served find innumerable ways to contribute to Wesleyan and to Middletown. I’d like to think we provide these folks with real opportunities to thrive just as they add so much to our community

Working with the Warrior-Scholar Project and other groups, we will continue to recruit military veterans to Wesleyan. They make us proud. Happy Veterans Day!

Acknowledging Veterans at Wesleyan

November 11, 2022November 11, 2022 by Michael S. Roth '78

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!

November 11, 2016 by Michael S. Roth '78

For many years now, veterans have enrolled at Wesleyan or worked here as faculty and staff. Since the fall of 2014, we have cooperated with the Posse Foundation to bring cohorts of 10 undergraduate veterans to Wes each year. Here is the latest group:

You can learn more about the program here and here. Some of our Wesleyan undergraduate veterans are featured in this video:

Tomorrow we will have a “salute to service” just before our final football game of the year. Today is Veterans Day, and I ask that we pause and remember the men and women who have served our nation in uniform. They are family members, neighbors, friends, faculty, staff, alumni, and students. They deserve our acknowledgment and our gratitude.