Stephen Lewis Resignation Announcement

October 30, 2000

To Friends at and of Carleton:

This past weekend I told the Board of Trustees of my intention to retire as
President of Carleton at the end of the next academic year—June 2002. I will have completed fifteen years as Carleton’s President, and forty years full time as teacher, administrator, and economist. I decided it’s time for me to look to other activities—working in Africa, doing economics again, and spending time with Judy and with our family. I think it is also time for someone else to have the opportunity to serve Carleton.

There will be plenty of time for reflection on these years together, but let me say as I look forward to the next twenty months that I do so with enormous appreciation for the quality of this College—the talent, integrity, and devotion of its faculty and staff, the vibrancy and ability of its students, and the stewardship, in all its forms, of alumni, parents, trustees, and other friends.

It is a very great privilege to be here at Carleton, and to be in this position.
Carleton has its act together, and its focus clearly in view, in ways that most colleges and universities—indeed most institutions of any sort—must envy. The capacity for critical self-evaluation and for consequent self-renewal—so important in any institution established in perpetuity—is well developed, and widely accepted. We argue publicly, and almost always civilly, about important issues. We value all the people, regardless of position, who are a part of Carleton College. While Carls are fiercely individualistic, there is a sense of common purpose that is well-noted by visitors from other institutions, and by evaluators who are sizing us up.

While I will have an ending date, Carleton clearly does not. I have made it
clear to trustees and to my administrative colleagues that we all must keep our eye on the long-term future of the College—that there cannot be any slippage of plans for campus improvements, curricular changes, personnel
appointments, or progress in marshalling the financial resources needed in
coming years and decades to keep Carleton strong. Perhaps after a new
President is selected in 2002 there may be some decisions that might be
deferred until he or she takes office; until such circumstances arise, we will
continue to take a long view and to make decisions as needed.

Carleton has an exceptional faculty, an extraordinarily talented student body, a staff without peer, parents who are both critical and appreciative, trustees who are thoughtful, challenging and supportive, an alumni body which is the envy of college presidents throughout the country, and a community in Northfield, and in Minnesota, that provides a hospitable environment encouraging our College to thrive. There are plenty of challenges, and opportunities, before us, and Carleton is well positioned to address them, and to take advantage of them. I look forward to working with all of you in these next twenty months.