The Augsburg Antidote
I have the great privilege to serve Minneapolis-based Augsburg College as a member of its Board of Regents. I’m not an Augsburg graduate, which perhaps makes me something of an outsider, at least until I earn my Auggie stripes. As a result, my opinions here are just that: my own reflections of the Board’s winter meeting last weekend, with an agenda full of the excitement and promise that is Augsburg. It’s hard to come away from such meetings without feeling a renewed sense of optimism and energy; the mission and commitment of this college is something quite special and I have come to expect such feelings of renewal from each meeting.
Inevitably, the discussion of current events led us to the state of the U.S. economy and the overall impact that the current recession-cum-depression is having on colleges, supporters, students, and the future of higher education. Naturally, we covered most of the topics that seem to frame all such discussions these days: corporate mismanagement, Wall Street “players” who seemingly live on different planets, a government insufficiently governing, the omnipresence of greed and entitlement, the lack of ethics and values among our leaders. And always, there is the overarching question for each and every organization and individual: how is this going to affect us? How will we navigate this? Truly, there is a great deal of our reality these days to foster a sense of despair.
I thought about such questions as they relate to a place like Augsburg, and stumbled upon a great irony. It is this: Augsburg College and its mission, its vision (“We believe we are called to serve our neighbor”), its global focus and its educational promise are providing the very kind of antidote needed at this time of necessary change in our country. The elements that have contributed to our malaise are as varied and as different from past historical circumstances as their solutions are bound to be. Almost as if in response, the commitment at Augsburg is to provide the kind of holistic, creative, values-based development in people that is so lacking in so many of our institutions today. The irony is that organizations like this, focused on developing future leaders of abundant vision and character, are threatened by a sick economy spawned by tunnel vision and limited character.
Augsburg is and will continue to remain healthy through this tough time in our country’s existence because of its history, heritage and grounding in faith and values. When all of the fast-track, quick-fix, shortcut routes to health, wealth and happiness have been exposed for the illusions that they are, the liberal arts foundation from Augsburg will serve its graduates in ways they cannot even imagine today. But only when our decision-makers are fully-informed by a moral compass that reads true to a sustainable direction for all of us will our stability as a nation and a people be reclaimed. Augsburg’s business is all about the compass and how best to read it. What a powerful place to be in the throes of a storm. In these times, it’s an antidote that is worthy of our acknowledgement and support….
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