Congratulations graduates! While I have a few minutes before you move on to your next chapter, I’d like tell you a little about the history of Fort Lewis. A major theme in the story of FLC, which is now part of your story, is that change is difficult, people may doubt you, but take a chance and follow your own vision, work hard, fight, and you will be amazed what is possible.
In 1956, 60 years ago this year, Fort Lewis A&M moved from Hesperus to Durango. That school would grow and evolve into what we know today as Fort Lewis College. If you could look back to this campus 60 years ago, I think you would recognize the beginnings of the college that we now know and love, but I also think you would be amazed at how far we’ve come.
The president of Fort Lewis A&M was a man named Charles Dale Rea. He’s the one that the clock tower is named for that you’ve walked by a thousand times over your years here. What President Rea is most remembered for is leading the effort to move Fort Lewis to Durango, something that was resisted by many at the time. But he did it because he knew Fort Lewis was struggling in the relatively remote Hesperus and he had a vision of what Fort Lewis could become in the small, but growing town of Durango.
When President Rea became president in 1949, Old Fort Lewis was coming down from its highest enrollment ever: 235 students. We were not an independent institution, but were part of the Colorado State University system, then called Colorado A&M.
In the early 1950s, the Colorado legislature created a committee that looked at little Fort Lewis and recommended that the school be closed down.
President Rea saw the writing on the wall. Enrollment was dropping, now down below 200 students, the buildings were falling apart, and the costs of operating the institution in Hesperus were skyrocketing. It was then that President Rea knew he had to make the move to Durango. As one observer at the time put it, “Rea told students, Durangoans, and others that the institution simply couldn’t survive or would not have any real quality to it if we did not move it. That broke the controversy wide open.”
And a fight it was. Some of the people living around Old Fort Lewis in Hesperus didn’t want it to move, and some in Durango thought the college would ruin the town. President Rea persisted, though, and eventually won and Fort Lewis become the College on the hill.
During those early years, campus consisted of a water tower, what would become Berndt Hall, three dorms, a fine-arts building, a student center, the president’s home, the football field, the chapel, and lots and lots of mud.
A difficult transition to be sure, but look at what grew from that tiny start in 1956. From a school serving a couple hundred students to now nearly 4,000 with close to 30,000 alumni. From a junior college to a four-year school with a master’s degree program. From the Aggies to the Raiders and then the Skyhawks. From a part of the Colorado State University system to a proud, independent institution. From a rural school with little diversity to a college with one of the most diverse student bodies anywhere. From a school of mostly men to a school where women and men are about 50-50. From an institution serving mostly the Four Corners to a college with students from 46 states and 22 countries. From Fort Lewis A&M to Fort Lewis College.
As I said before, if you could look back at campus 60 years ago, I think you could recognize Fort Lewis, but you would be amazed at how far we’ve come. Along those same lines, if you could look back however many years to when you were new freshmen getting your first taste of college life, I think you would recognize yourselves, but you would be amazed at the person that you are today.
Just like President Rea and the Fort Lewis of old, you were challenged during your time on campus, perhaps even to the point where you thought you weren’t going to make it. You made difficult decisions, perhaps even decisions that were doubted by others. You persevered, you worked hard, you succeeded, and here you are.
Congratulations Class of 2016 and good luck!