Glenn Brooks' Legacy: Reflections of a Colleague
By GRESHAM RILEY
CC President, 1981-92
n our most recent correspondence, Glenn wrote that there are two kinds of academics: those who deal with students in order to work with ideas and those who work with ideas in order to have contact with students. Glenn correctly placed himself in the second category.
There can be no doubt that over his 36-year career, Glenn influenced several generations of students to a degree that only master teachers achieve. I know because during my tenure as president, many of his former students told me how their lives had been changed for the better as a result of his classes.
I also know that working with and teaching students gave Glenn his greatest professional satisfaction and were the activities which he believes constitute his most important accomplishments. He downplays his achievements as a scholar and an administrator. I am not qualified to challenge his self-assessment about the former; I do challenge him on the latter.
Institutions are no less important than individuals -- in large measure because some institutions (and certainly colleges are among them) are the primary means by which individuals realize their full potential. As dean of the faculty, Glenn Brooks contributed substantially to the kind of institution Colorado College became and, in doing so, his achievements were as great as anything he accomplished in working with individual students.
As much as Glenn, I, and others rightly value his work with students, his work as an administrator must be kept alive as a matter of record and applauded. Since the two of us were colleagues for seven years as dean and president (one of which I was president-elect), I can speak knowledgeably about those areas where he helped strengthen an entire institution. The following is only a partial list:
* A new General Education program was adopted in 1982 as a result of his leadership, establishing requirements that were forerunners of similar curricular reforms throughout higher education in the 1980s.
* Clearer and heightened expectations of faculty were established both with regard to teaching and the kinds of scholarship in support of teaching that were appropriate.
* The importance of minority and gender diversity within both the faculty and the student body was established as an institutional priority.
* Due in part to his insistence, people and programs became more important than bricks and mortar projects in the historic fund-raising campaign of 1984-89.
* He provided much needed support for the aspirations of individual departments, even when unpopular. The creation of majors in Drama, Dance, and Comparative Literature under his leadership was relatively non-controversial; but the decision to eliminate the Business Administration major was met with opposition. The Economics/Business Administration Department was right in its proposal, and Glenn was right in giving his support.
Thirty-six years! That says a great deal about both the college and Glenn. From my earliest days as president I was impressed by the fact that here was an institution capable of calling forth the best of individuals over sustained periods of time. Colorado College is a special place because it allows for personal and professional renewal decade after decade.
His long tenure is an important commentary on Glenn as well. Commitment and loyalty are obvious. Of even greater significance, however, is the fact that he never thought the college had realized its full potential; he was always eager to be part of the next stage of improvement.
As a principal architect of the Block Plan, it would have been easy for Glenn to hunker down and fight off all attempts to make changes in the successful innovation he helped create. To the contrary, he was always out front forcing the college community to think about how we could make something that was good even better.
Summarizing a 36 year career is an impossible task; but let me attempt the impossible. What is Glenn Brooks' legacy? It is a reminder that students are primary in the life of a college; leadership can make a difference; and one good idea is not enough!