Founders' Day 2010: LWC at a Defining Moment

LWC President William T. Luckey Jr., left, is congratulated by trustee Allan Parnell of
Louisville, Ky., at the Founders' Day Dinner.

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College is at a defining moment.

That was the message LWC President William T. Luckey Jr. delivered at the college's 2010 Founders' Day Dinner, held April 21 in Roberta D. Cranmer Dining & Conference Center.

With less than three months until the conclusion of the "Changing Lives Campaign," Luckey said it is imperative that the college reach the campaign's goal.

The goal of the "Changing Lives Campaign" is to raise a minimum of $53 million. As of Founders' Day 2010, the college had raised more than $52 million -- $809,676 short of its goal, Luckey reported.

"We can't afford to get close and not reach the goal -- that's not part of our institutional DNA," he told more than 350 guests.

During the "Changing Lives Campaign," the college has set an enrollment record with more than 2,300 students; opened the Norma & Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship; began construction on Lindsey Wilson Park, home of the college's Egnew Park for baseball, Blue Raider Field for softball, and an outdoor sports stadium for football and track and field; opened the Jim & Helen Lee Fugitte Science Center; acquired the Pines at Lindsey Wilson golf course; opened the Doris and Bob Holloway Health & Wellness Center; and started construction on a four-story residence hall. The college has also added a master's program in Christian leadership and a bachelor of science degree in nursing.

"I don't know of any place that has been on a better roll than Lindsey Wilson College the last few years," said Luckey, who has been the college's eighth president since 1998. "To say that we are on a roll is just a bit of an understatement."

Luckey dismissed the idea that LWC should celebrate raising more than $52 million during the worst U.S. economic recession since World War II.

"What if those who went before us had settled and not pushed ahead?" he asked.

Lindsey Wilson trustee Allan Parnell of Louisville, Ky., told the guests that he has been amazed with Luckey's leadership.

"All you have to do is drive around this campus and see the leadership this man has given this college," said Parnell, who is an Adair County native.

In the keynote address, the Rev. Tony Campolo told the audience that in a climate of corporate greed and corruption, church-related colleges matter more than ever.

"I believe that these are the places where the future of this country is going to be determined," said Campolo, who teaches at Eastern (Pa.) University. "We have seen what the power brokers on Wall Street have done to us."

Campolo said students who attend church-related colleges and universities "march to the beat of a different drummer."

"We have different value system, we have a different goal" than students who attend elite colleges such as Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. 

Those of us who are at Christian universities like this one know we have a higher calling," he said.

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The Rev. Tony Campolo of Eastern (Pa.) University delivers the 2010 Founders' Day
Dinner keynote address, held Wednesday night in the college's Roberta D. Cranmer
Dining & Conference Center.