homecoming week: OCTOBER 4-11
chancellor's message
Dear Friends,
It is easy to fall into nostalgia on Homecoming Weekend, and we are doing nothing to prevent that, of course. One walk across the Quad will trigger those sensory impressions that surface without warning. It's one of life's beautiful mysteries, nostalgia. Maybe it's the turning leaves; the way the weak, autumn sun plays hide-and-seek in the clouds; the creak of the varnished floors as you walk through Lincoln Hall; the voices of students filled with excitement and anticipation. You can remember, in varying degrees, whether it was five or 50 years ago, what you were like at that time, on this campus. As an aging sports star once said, "The older I get, the better I used to be."
How true, but that young man or woman is still there inside us. Poet Mark Strand writes, "These wrinkles are nothing/These gray hairs are nothing/ … I am the same boy/my mother used to kiss."
A bit grayer. Perhaps. A bit wiser. No doubt. Kinder, more generous and much more confident. But the same boy. The same girl.
Were they the best years of your life? The college years are certainly like no others. That's why I love being chancellor here at Illinois. It's the best job in the world. I am in this glorious time warp, forever in the best years, surrounded and inspired by the brightest students and faculty.
So on this weekend of memories and reunions and unchecked nostalgia, I can assure you we are looking forward to an even stronger future here at this magnificent 140-year-old University. But at the same time, let us rejoice and celebrate that it is yesterday. It is still yesterday.
Have a great visit, and Go Illini!
Sincerely,
Chancellor Richard Herman