55 Reunion Ideas

A message from Committee Member Roland Finston

How should we frame the concept?
Rather than calling it a 'mid-'50 reunion', along with a program element that was special to the cohort, because we are projecting this concept to go beyond the 2011 reunion, can we give it a new name (frame)? What if we called it a "mid-50's homecoming"? to further establish what it is we are trying to achieve. That way we can do it under the banner of the Emeriti, but give it a special place within that reunion. In succeeding years we only need to change the descriptor to be the early-50's, late-50's etc. homecoming. I think the key to success (an unusually large participation) will be to identify luminaries among the cohort and make an early outreach to them individually with the goal of getting them to make a commitment to the extent for now of "planning to attend". Such an indication will, I believe, make a difference among the rank and file of the cohort, who will be deciding whether to come.

Programing:
Lastly we need to give some thought to a program element (un-common core?) and what would be the subject and the participants. In light of the fact that 2011 will be the 80th anniversary of the "new plan", and the 60th anniversary of farewell address of Robert M. Hutchins, it might be a shared interest to focus on our academic experience of which we were the last to be exposed in totality. That is why I raised with Dean Boyer, today, the possibility of his participation in light of his pre-eminent expertise on this subject.