What a year it has been – one to remember and, for many, to forget! Prospect Street’s haunting silence throughout the winter replaced the buzz and beating heart of normal social life. Our members were robbed of those familiar moments which, for most of us, have become happy anecdotes to recount for the rest of our lives: singing around the piano; haphazard encounters; playful competition around the pool and table tennis tables; zealous discussions in the dining room or library; the emotional support of caring friends; late night study sessions; the excitement of party nights; post-party PBJs; Hoagie Haven. Instead, our undergraduates had to make do with the poor substitute of virtual life, doing their best to develop meaningful relationships through social media.
I want to commend our undergraduates for their resilience in making the most of the unfair cards they were dealt. Our officers orchestrated successful pre-bicker virtual social events intended to give sophomores a chance to meet members and learn about Ivy. As a result, we had 195 bickerees, roughly in line with past years, but only 66 bids were offered to account for members returning from gap years. We have a wonderful new section of 2023 and an impressive new group of officers whose bios are included in this issue.
Spearheaded by Governors Shea Owens ’94, Ant Taylor ’01, Moyin Opeyemi ’19 and former undergraduate presidents, Folasade Runcie ’18 and David Babikian ’20, we launched Ivy Zoom Regional Roundtables, intended as a forum for younger and older members to meet each other. Moderated by Gordon Ritter ’86 in San Francisco, Dr Barbara Romer ’93 in New York and Angela Riemer ’95 in Washington DC, we kicked off 3 stimulating discussion groups. We hope to roll out more regional and industry gatherings.
The social unrest which has spread throughout the world is cause for us to reflect on our values as a club which is a strong, diverse association of individuals whose bonds of friendship span generations. The Ivy community is defined by the quality of the relationships that flourish among all our members, and those relationships depend in turn on the members themselves. Threaded into our DNA is mutual respect, goodwill and friendship which rest on the bedrock principle that we treat each other equally and with integrity. Part of our club’s unique spirit stems from the different, often disparate, perspectives that members bring, engendering civilized discussion which furthers personal growth. Ivy’s culture is built upon our appreciation of the qualities unique to each member’s character and depends upon sociability and willingness to contribute to our community. We are proud of how Ivy has evolved over the years to become regarded as the most diverse and intellectually stimulating club on the Street. Our leadership role among our peers is best exemplified by our pioneering financial aid program, which is now over 10 years old.
I wish you all a happy spring and summer and am keeping fingers crossed that we might see each other in person sooner rather than later and hopefully at our next Club Dinner.