By Gregory A. Volk
Executive Vice President
By any measure — from its now firmly rooted place within the mission
of the college to the breadth and depth of the impact that it has had, not
only on Lawrence students but on an ever-expanding constituency of alumni and
friends — Björklunden is a proven success. Looking at Björklunden
today, it is hard to imagine that anyone could ever have doubted its future.
It was not always so. In August of 1993, an electrical fire virtually leveled
Björklunden’s principal building, the lodge
lovingly created by Winifred and Donald Boynton.
Once we overcame the pain of
our loss, it became apparent that the college, through its Board of Trustees,
would need to make some tough decisions with long-reaching implications. Should
the college immediately rebuild, as some thought? If so, what exactly should
be built? What were the financial and the budgetary ramifications of operating
Björklunden? What obligations, legal, moral, and otherwise does Lawrence
have to preserve and perpetuate the Boyntons’ legacy? Could the property
be sold? Should Björklunden be sold? At every meeting of the Board of Trustees
over a two-year period, Björklunden and its future were on the table. Having
witnessed those conversations, which at times seemed akin to treading water in
ice-cold Lake Michigan waters — i.e., numbing — it should be said
that Lawrence’s board did exactly what a governing board should do when
facing this kind of challenge. Every conceivable aspect of Björklunden
was weighed and considered.
At a board meeting in January of 1994, Gail Weyerhaeuser, Class of 1971, then
a trustee of the college, urged the board not to confine its considerations
to the past but to think what we might imagine for learning and for Björklunden
50 years from now.
“If Lawrence were to be creative,” she noted, “it could find
a way to tie Björklunden into the central mission of the college.” She
was right, of course. What was lacking in the process was the “vision thing,” and
there was only one person who could provide that vision. In his address to the
board in October 1994, Rik Warch delivered one of the most inspirational pieces
of his presidency, “Autodidacts, Cyberspace, Students, and Björklunden,” a
version of which was subsequently printed in Lawrence Today.
What he proposed was far from a fine-tuned blueprint for Björklunden’s
future. Rather, he asked that the college commit itself to a program that would
guarantee every student an opportunity for a Björklunden experience and
to find ways to make Björklunden a part of what it means to be a Lawrence
student. Rik’s impassioned advocacy of Björklunden, his belief that
such a future could be crafted, did the trick. The board voted unanimously to
rebuild, without a firm road map, but taking a critical leap of faith through
Rik’s vision.
Members of The Boynton Society care deeply about Björklunden. In his last
few weeks as president of Lawrence, it seems especially fitting that we collectively
acknowledge and thank Rik for guiding Björklunden to its current standing.
At the same time, I think that Rik would agree that we are only beginning to
discover that Björklunden is not, and never will be, “finished,” as
it holds and offers the promise of an even greater future.
May 2004