Passing the torch: President Michael Peters and former Santa Fe President John Balkcom (SFGI00).

More than 700 students, alumni, and friends of St. John’s College filled the gymnasium of the Student Activities Center for the October 28 Inauguration ceremony for Michael Peters, the sixth president of the Santa Fe campus.

Creative decorating turned the gym into a venue fitting for an occasion of such importance, with faculty in academic robes joining military officers (friends and former colleagues of Mr. Peters, a West Point graduate and retired Army colonel) in their dress uniforms. With music performed by faculty and students, the ceremony was short on pomp and rich with substance—reflecting the nature of the individual chosen to lead the college.

Mr. Peters thanked members of his family for their support (left to right): His wife, Eleanor; son, Mike; daughter, Rebecca; and father, Max.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson set the tone for the evening with his enthusiastic pledge to support St. John’s College. In a state where “tradition rests right next to high-paced modernity,” the governor said, “. . . it is only fitting that such a place is also home to a unique institution of higher learning like St. John’s.”

Gov. Richardson expressed admiration for St. John’s College and particular admiration for Mr. Peters, a retired Army officer who served in the Vietnam War, former chief of staff at West Point, and most recently, executive vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Peters, he said, is a “forward-looking, visionary. . . committed to developing and strengthening the bonds that make St. John’s such a special place.”

“Mike Peters is a man who has served his state, his country, and his community with honor and courage—from soldier, to diplomat, to statesman. And he has spent the better part of his career working with young people as an educator—helping to bring positive influence to the next generation of soldiers, scholars, innovators, and leaders.”

In just a short few months, the governor said, Mr. Peters has come to know “the unique nature of New Mexico, as well as the critical importance of higher education here in this state.” As a college that prepares students to take their place in “an increasingly dynamic world,” St. John’s is important to the future of New Mexico. And under Mr. Peter’s leadership, Gov. Richardson predicted, the college will thrive.

Governor Richardson congratulates President Peters.

“The intellectual heft, the diplomatic savvy, and the disciplined personality he brings to the table will only lead to bigger and better things for both St. John’s College and New Mexico,” Gov. Richardson said. “His thirst for learning and his appetite for aiming higher is contagious—and sure to help motivate and inspire the students, the faculty, and the family of St. John’s College to do great things, well into the future.”

Santa Fe Dean David Levine recalled the beginning of the New Program in Annapolis in 1937 as he considered the future of St. John’s with Mr. Peters at the helm. The St. John’s Program was founded at a time when the world was in crisis, he said, when “we were all to be tested, not only our physical strength, but our moral fiber.”

A second beginning came in 1964 with the founding of a second campus, when “a great experiment was undertaken, to see whether the same college, the same living curriculum, could exist in two different places.” Today, though “the look and esprit are quite different” at the two campuses, “what is not different is the generous spirit of learning, the openness, originality, profundity, and common purpose.”

Formally installing Mr. Peters as the president of St. John’s Santa Fe campus another new beginning, one of great promise, Dean Levine said. The college took on an extended national search for a president and “along came a tall, unassuming, articulate, generous man of the world, who, too, recognized that something extraordinary happens here.”

“And so it is that today we now call Michael Peters to this great venture of liberal education as its guardian and spokes-man,” he continued. “We welcome him to our midst and ask him to join us in our effort to find a place in our complex world for such a bold vision of education, at once enabling, encouraging, and ennobling.”

The after-Inauguration party at the Peterson Student Center was an all-inclusive and festive affair that filled both the Dining Hall and the Coffee Shop. Tutor Carey Stickney (A75) joined students in providing the Coffee Shop music.

Speaking for the students, senior Shane Gassaway, Polity president, admired the way Mr. Peters has devoted time to getting to know students and the Program by taking part in an international affairs study group, attending dormitory meetings, and becoming a genuine advocate for students.

“But if there were only one way to win the heart of a Johnnie it would be to read the books that we read with the same care and reverence that we show them,” noted Mr. Gassaway. “And this Mr. Peters has undertaken to accomplish. Beginning with the January Freshmen last winter, Mr. Peters has attended seminar every Monday and Thursday night. And now he does the same with the sophomore class. . . We’ve known him so far as a prospy, as a January freshman, and now as a sophomore. It is sometimes said of the January freshmen that those who don’t leave right away turn out to be the best Johnnies. With such a valuable addition to our community, I’m hopeful we can say the same thing about January presidents some day.”

Acknowledging each of the guests and speakers at the ceremony, particularly students and alumni of the college, Mr. Peters made a point of thanking his family for their support and encouragement: his wife, Eleanor, and their children, Mike and Rebecca; and his parents, Max and Peg Peters, “who have been my models since I was a child.” He also thanked Moravian College President Ervin Rokke, a mentor and friend, and the person who encouraged him to consider life as a college president—to the good fortune of St. John’s College.

Inauguration Address by Michael Peters
Eighteen months ago, as I was comfortably ensconced at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, I could not have imagined that I would be at the podium in the St. John’s College Student Activities Center in Santa Fe addressing you as the president. But as a reformed New Yorker, I recall the insight of that renowned contemporary Western philosopher, someone who is not included in our curriculum: Yogi Berra. Yogi is purported to have said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” I can certainly attest to the wisdom of Yogi’s remark. However, when I walked into a classroom on the Annapolis campus in July last year and observed the engagement and commitment of the students and faculty to our distinctive program, I knew this was the place for me. Everything that has happened since then—a quick trip to interview in Santa Fe while trying to adjust to mountain time and 7,000 feet; a mid-winter move; and getting to know the incredible students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the college—have reinforced my first impression and love for the college.

St. John’s is a community of learners centered on what we call “the Program,” an all-required curriculum in math, science, language, social science and philosophy based on study of the great works in Western thought. This community is enhanced by our Graduate Institute, which offers two master’s programs, including one in Eastern Classics, where students study the key texts in the Chinese, Japanese, and Indian traditions.

As I said, the students and faculty are a very talented group who share a commitment to the Program. At St. John’s we don’t put much credence in reviews and rankings like those of U.S. News and World Report, but there is one I’d like to share with you that speaks to the excellence of our faculty and their dedication to teaching: The Princeton Review. In the most recent edition, the Santa Fe faculty was rated number one in the country. What is most gratifying about this ranking is that it is based not on abstract, external criteria but on the opinions of the students themselves. My congratulations and thanks to the faculty for their great work.

The central idea behind the St. John’s program is to help all of us—students and faculty—learn not what to think, but how to think and think deeply. In other words, we are seeking a truly liberal education. Why are we so single-mindedly dedicated to studying the liberal arts? In part because, as Vartan Gregorian, the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former president of Brown University, said, “. . . When people do not know how to question deeply, to separate fact from fiction, and to give coherence and meaning to life, they can feel a[n] . . . unsettling emptiness in their lives.”

With this clear sense of who we are and what we are about, allow me to highlight the three areas I will focus on in the days ahead. They are: support for learning, connection with the community, and heightened visibility.

First, support for learning. With fundamentals as solid as ours, my foremost priority is, as one of my predecessors put it, “to facilitate the work of the faculty . . . [and] . . . to create appropriate conditions for learning.” I’m not going to list every aspect this might entail, but it includes continuing to attract and retain the highest-quality students, faculty and staff; to provide the need-based financial aid necessary to support deserving students; to ensure a vibrant campus life, where students can exercise and develop their mind, body, and spirit. And, of course, it also entails building and maintaining first-class facilities and grounds. In this regard, I apologize that you may have to navigate around some construction on your way to the reception at the Peterson Student Center. This is a sign of progress for me.

We are also in the initial planning stages for a new dorm, so we can house a larger percentage of our undergraduates on campus, and we are looking for ways to expand and improve our classrooms, create a home for the Graduate Institute, and build a modern auditorium that would benefit both the campus and the community.

Second, connection with the community. St. John’s is a vital part of Santa Fe and New Mexico. Each year we bring more than 100 of the best students from around the United States and the world to New Mexico. Many of these students remain in the state after they leave St. John’s and contribute to New Mexico’s economy and welfare.

Of our 8,000 alumni, almost 1,000 are residents of New Mexico, and of this number more than 30 percent are involved in education. Also, more than 50 New Mexico teachers and administrators have attended our Graduate Institute in the past four years, and with programs like Tecolote, we have hosted hundreds more New Mexico educators on campus.

Through our lectures, art exhibits, musical performances, community seminars, and summer programs we bring the community to St. John’s and the St. John’s experience “off the hill.” In addition, our students and staff volunteer their time to a number of deserving enterprises in Santa Fe.

But we want to do more, and we’ll be looking for ways to strengthen the connections between St. John’s and our friends and neighbors in Santa Fe and New Mexico. Part of this effort is a greater emphasis on attracting qualified New Mexico students to the college, especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups. Our Opportunity Initiative is designed specifically to address this issue. We are also hopeful that with the Governor’s strong support we can convince the legislature to extend the lottery scholarships to New Mexico residents who attend private colleges in the state, like St. John’s.

My final priority is to heighten the visibility of the college and the campus. For too long we have been content, as the New Testament says, to “keep our light under a bushel basket.” We cannot continue to do so. Prospective students, friends, the higher education community—and if it is not too presumptuous, the nation—need to know about us. Who we are, what we do and how we do it. In partnership with our sister campus in Annapolis, we need to tell our story and to be what some have called “a beacon of liberal education.” Once again to quote Vartan Gregorian, “[H]igher education . . . must focus on a revival of the liberal arts. Yet, paradoxically, liberal education is in decline just when we need it most. . . . Liberal education is needed to integrate learning and provide balance—otherwise students will graduate into a world in which dependence on experts of every kind will be even more common than it is today.”

A liberal education is our purpose. A purpose that is important in and of itself, but also important if our Republic is to be up to the challenges it will face in the years ahead. For example, as David Brooks of The New York Times said regarding reform of the intelligence community, “I’ll believe the intelligence community has really changed when I see analysts being sent to training academies where they study Thucydides [and] Tolstoy . . . to get a broad understanding of the full range of human behavior.” Well, at St. John’s we do study Thucydides and Tolstoy. Not because we are trying to develop intelligence analysts, but because we believe that a responsible citizen needs a number of attributes that come from a liberal education including a “broad understanding of human behavior.”

To tell the St. John’s story we need the help of everyone here—alumni, parents, friends, students, faculty and staff. It deserves to be told—I’m certainly going to do it and I hope you will join me.

As I conclude, you’ll forgive me, but sometimes I just can’t get beyond my old military training. One aspect of that training was in a presentation, you should always tell’em what you’re going to tell them, tell them and tell’em what you told them.

So again, my priorities are: First and foremost, support for learning; second, connection with the community and last, but certainly not least, heighten visibility for the college and the campus. Blessed with a very solid foundation, a clear sense of who we are and what we wish to accomplish, and the talent and commitment of the entire college community, I am confident that St. John’s best days are ahead. I am pleased to play a part in fulfilling this very promising future. Thank you for demonstrating your support for St. John’s by being with us today.

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