Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Guests: Carolyn Biddle, John, Elise Blair's guest, Grace, Rebecca's daughter, and Ian Baucom, Middlebury College President and our guest speaker. Cye Tall joined us later.
Liz Marino called the meeting to order
Birthdays: 2 Spouse's birthdays: Larry Provencher and Wendy Hollander
Announcements:
Liz announced that we will have a social on April 29 at Mr. Ups.
Kevin said we need more sleeves for the flags for that project, and he could use some help.
Jason S. announced that there 6 high school students interested in attending RYLA this year.
Eric announced that there are 3 members signed up for the district conference.
Jason L. announced that sign-up for the spring golf tournament will be on-line this year, and we should do that as soon as possible because it is filling up fast.
Rebecca still needs more people to sign up for filling and distributing the HOPE school vacation bags.
Ben started fines and happy dollars.
He fined Karen and Liz S. for being late, and Ian Baucom voluntarily paid a fine for being late.
Max is just happy to be here.
Jason L. is happy to be heading to Florida.
Liz M. is happy to be going to Denver, but not happy about the difficulty of getting tickets.
Liz S. is happy about the last speech contest winner offering to help the club with a project
Liz introduced our Speaker, Ian Baucom, who is the current Middlebury College President.
Ian Baucom started his presentation saying he is the 18th President of the college. The last time he was at a Rotary meeting was in 1984 in Columbia, South Carolina when he participated in their speech contest.
He said a President can be creative, or he can be consistent, and he has chosen to be consistent. He thanked community members who host internation students.
Wendy, Ian's wife, joined us.
He said it is important to him that the college be a part of the town. In the first 2 decades of the college existence, the town provided needed financial support, and it has always been the town's college.
Ian stated that one of the first things he has had to do is make the college financially sustainable. One of the decisions that was made for this was closing the Ca. campus. They had a very successful fund-raising campaign, and they have reached their goal 2 years earlier than anticipated.
Ian said he spent one day in a college dorm to experience student life--it was interesting.
He said the big question is: "What are we for?" That is the question he wants to address, as opposed to what we are opposed to.
The answer is that they are for young people. They are for affordable top quality residential Liberal Arts Education.
They need to provide more financial support for middle class students. They need more space for students to gather.
The college is also looking to support High School teachers and students in this area. They hope to have better public access to campus events. They have made a commitment to efficient clean energy and environmental education.
They are working on a stronger relationship with the state, and hoping to help address health care costs.
The college feels it is important to reaffirm their commitment to free speech and academic freedom, and American values. They are committed to having a diversity of students who come to Middlebury and to pursuing the Truth.