The Norwich Guidon

The Norwich Guidon, student newspaper of Norwich University, is published twice monthly and has won numerous awards for excellence in its class.

Reporters, editors, and managers for The Norwich Guidon are students at the university who work under the guidance of a Communications faculty advisor. Student editors learn electronic pagination using state of the art computer equipment.

If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.

It is just a few days away before we start having promotion boards for the Corps of Cadets. The selection of the next leadership for the Corps is one of the most important things we have to do this spring. We have written to every faculty and staff member to ask them to make nominations of students who they believe will be outstanding leaders for our Corps of Cadets. We have also asked individuals within the regiment to recommend classmates. I am going to look carefully at those recommendations as one of the important inputs into making these decisions. I have given more latitude to the Corps leadership than it has had in years. The selection, therefore, of its next leadership is even more important. In my preamble to the Boards, I will be stressing moral character, maturity in judgment, proven academic success, good humor, and an ability to inspire others. I am looking for balanced leaders who understand the great responsibility of leadership, but who will also have a good time doing it.

In addition to the normal positions in the Corps, I have also established some new positions. The first is a Regimental Historian, to whom I will be giving the responsibility of the preparation for the next Rook Book and also codifying all existing traditions and special events within the Corps. A voting officer will also be established. In the mission statement of the University, one of our important undertakings is to teach our students about citizenship in order to prepare them for the high office of "citizen." One way to exercise that is to give maximum exposure and encouragement to vote. I have also asked Dean Mathis to consider how our civilian students might be encouraged to do the same within the residence halls and commuter student system. Lastly within the regiment, I have established positions as Human Relations/EEO officers and non-commissioned officers. I will be looking to this group to be the primary individuals training and educating the Corps in these areas. I am open to other suggestions for the establishment of special positions, either noncommissioned officers or officer positions, which can give maximum benefit to the University. I would much rather have positions filled that are directly relevant to your future careers, whether in the United States military or in the civilian sector. Anyone with suggestions on this should write to me at pres@norwich.edu.

The searches for both the Commandant and Vice President of Student Life and the Deputy Commandant are coming along very well. In fact, we are starting to have a number of candidates visit campus. The pool for both positions has been very deep and rich, and I am confident we will be able to select great individuals for these positions. Vice President Dave Whaley is leading the search committee for the Commandant and Vice President of Student Life position, and I am leading the search for the Deputy Commandant. I have asked that each candidate for the Commandant and Vice President of Student Life position, in addition to meeting with various constituency groups and individuals of the University, also give a public address of approximately one half hour in length about their philosophy of leadership and then open it up for questions and answers from the University community at large. Please watch the CLiC notices for the times and locations and be prepared to provide your feedback to Mr. Whaley in the form of email at davew@norwich.edu, so the Search Committee can consider everyone's opinions and thoughts.

Lastly, there has been an issue that has been troubling me. At a recent Boston Alumni meeting I had the opportunity to talk with some alumni. One of them showed me his tattoo, which read in part, "Loyalty above Honor." And no, it was not the mistake of the tattoo artist. I want all of our students, faculty and staff to think about that statement and think particularly about what is wrong with it. If that is what an alumnus took from four years at Norwich, he absolutely has it backwards. Loyalty is a virtue, and so is Honor; sometimes they collide. It is when virtues collide that students sometimes face moral dilemmas. I believe it was that interpretation that led the German Army to the atrocities that were committed in World War II, and it is actually contrary to what I know the United States military believes about how one serves the United States of America. It is also true in business. Your own personal integrity and honor are the highest of all virtues. One does not lie to protect a boss or a commander, thinking that loyalty is more important than personal integrity or commitment to the institutional values of the organization. I know our students are struggling with this issue, and you need to know from me that honor is the higher virtue of the two, and that is the correct interpretation of the University Honor Code. If you disagree, please write a letter to the editor and let's have a University conversation about it.

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