The good of this book

This year marks an important transition for Duke and its students as Richard Brodhead, the former beloved Dean of Yale College, fills Nan’s shoes as our new president. Duke students are curious about the man who has chosen “the adventurous world of Duke” over his “wonderful life in a known world.” Unlike the Bulldogs at Yale, who have come to associate Brodhead’s name with the word “college” itself, the Blue Devils at Duke still see him as a combination of intrigue and mystery. To fill the gap, Duke’s new president has published the perfect snapshot of his career in one volume: The Good of This Place: Values and Challenges in College Education, this is a compilation of his eloquent speeches and essays carefully selected from his long career at Yale.

Each piece in this anthology provokes and inspires, cutting to the core of the most fundamental issues in college education, from the limitations of the classroom to the merits of a campus residential system. The first part of the book is a series of Brodhead’s famous freshman addresses that are especially designed to tug at heartstrings of students at the so-called “elitist” institutions such as Yale and Duke. Brodhead warns each class of incoming freshmen that by becoming addicted to recognition and achievement, the rewards of exploration and variation are lost. By choosing to be socially isolated in a group of people with similar beliefs and values, the whole range of human emotions are not experienced or understood. Brodhead urges the over-achievers to take a moment to find the value in their education instead of viewing it merely as a means to an end. In the hustle and bustle of racing from class to debate club and to sports practice, it is easy to forget that wisdom is more important than busyness. At the same time, Brodhead sprinkles in the perfect blend of humor and wit into his serious messages making you laugh out loud just when you start to reflect on the worth of your college years. His words carry so much power that you can almost picture yourself in the audience being captured by his charisma and energy.

Although he is yet to leave a legacy behind on this campus, Duke leaves its mark on the last chapter of Brodhead’s book in a speech delivered at Perkins Library upon his acceptance of the Duke presidency. His enthusiasm to lead the younger and Southern counterpart of Yale takes on a life of its own in those final short, memorable pages.