I’ve been thinking a lot about traditions lately. What are traditions? What role have they played in my life? Which ones should be maintained? When is it appropriate to create new ones? The people pictured above and many others were foundational in teaching me about academic traditions across my 41 years of teaching.
A wonderful tradition on my campus was to have a group of kilted bagpipers majestically lead the students on to campus both on the first day before classes and again at graduation. I wonder if the school would like to involve a different bagpiper to campus. He would provide a cross-cultural experience, be energizing, engaging, and quite memorable and no doubt drive the tradition forward in unexpected ways.
I must confess though that I prefer campus traditions like this.
