Crutcher stresses importance of diversity in liberal arts at his inauguration

A liberal arts education means diversity in academics, in the community and in the student body. This was Ronald A. Crutcher’s first message as the inaugurated president of the University of Richmond on Friday.

“What I gained from my education is what students have long gained from an education grounded in the liberal arts,” Crutcher said. “Not just skills for a particular line of work… but the enduring capacity to be an agile, adaptable learner who reflexively seeks multiple perspectives and is deeply committed to others.”

In his inaugural address, Crutcher said that he chose to come to the University of Richmond because he knew he would have the opportunity to engage with an intellectual community that develops students’ ability to make meaningful differences in the lives of others.

He recounted the story of how a Miami University professor named Elizabeth Potteiger changed his life. After hearing him play the cello at the age of 14, she offered to take Crutcher on as a student and give him free music lessons if his parents would bring him to the university’s campus every Saturday. They accepted, and this chance encounter set the tone for many of his future achievements.

“As a result, my lifelong passion has been ensuring opportunity, fostering and engaging educational culture… and supporting close faculty and student collaboration,” Crutcher said. “The University of Richmond shares a very deep commitment to these values, which is what drew me to this institution.”

This attitude toward education was emphasized through Crutcher’s personal commitment to the Richmond Promise and the Richmond Guarantee, ongoing programs put in place to give students of all backgrounds the opportunity to engage the local and global communities.

“I can say, after working carefully at the University of Richmond and after talking with [him], that Ron and this institution are particularly well-suited for each other,” said Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “His values as a voice for liberal education and the fine institutional commitment of this campus… will come together in a way that America will be very proud to say, ‘This is the best of what we can find.’”

Hrabowski was one of nine speakers to address the university’s 10th president at his inauguration ceremony. Ranging from the Virginia Secretary of Education to the presidents of the Richmond and Westhampton College student bodies, they each represented various degrees of Richmond’s broader community.

Patricia Rowland, rector of the Board of Trustees, said Crutcher had exhibited a commitment to collaboration within the university as well as an engagement of the world beyond it, since being unanimously elected president in February of 2015.

Dwight Jones, mayor of the City of Richmond, recalled in his speech that Crutcher decided to meet with him on his first day as president.

“It made me recognize that he had the intention not just to be in Richmond, but to be a part of Richmond,” Jones said. “He has proven that intention by being a participant and not just a spectator of all of the great things that are going on in the city.”

In his closing statements, Crutcher shared his dream for the students of the university. He imagined being able to take any Richmond graduate and place them anywhere in the word.

The alumni would possess the skills and understanding to not only adapt to their new surroundings, but to become a contributor to the community in which they found themselves.

“They will be prepared throughout their lives to generate new knowledge and solve new problems, to engage in community expression, to serve others purposefully, and to help those around them do the same thing,” Crutcher said. “This is the enduring outcome of a liberal education, which remains the best hope for bringing a diversity of perspectives and knowledge to addressing our most vexing problems.”

Contact Managing Operations Editor Adam Gibson at adam.gibson@richmond.edu