Herman B. Wells Sculpture and Plaza Dedication

We're like. Oh no. Eat the. Rhetoric was weak I was. Friends and colleagues. Good morning and welcome to this beautiful beautiful day. Homecoming was one of Dr. Wells favorite weekends. What nicer setting for the ceremony than a beautiful fall morning on the Bloomington campus

during homecoming weekend. The bells you just heard were of a particular favorite of chance o elves. He would often stand outside Owen Hall. On days like this and listen to them in quiet reflection I got to say a special thanks to our bell ringer John Simpson for providing us with such a wonderful way of remembering. Or maybe well it's today's ceremony. In contrast to Herman Wells life and his many contributions to Indiana University will be brief. However we hope that in dedicating this plaza it will bear his name in unveiling the sculpture that captures his likeness will pay a fitting tribute to a man who embodied Indiana University for six decades. I'm pleased to see so many friends of our you and of Herman wells here today. I'm glad you can come join us on this auspicious occasion. It's my pleasure to introduce a number the trustees of Indiana University who are with us this morning.

I asked them to stand or step forward as I call their names and to remain standing so that we can greet them together. First John D Walter Fort Wayne president of trustees Frederick F. Eichorn Jr. Gary vice president Dean Hertz of Westfield and PETA OBM Ski of Lebanon. Please help me. Joining a well can you trust me. Thank you. Thank you also seated on my left is someone who has played in a measurable role in the development construction and realization of many many projects on this and all of our you scamper says and without whom this plaza would not have been completed carry K-Pax vice president for administration. Terry thanks for all the hard work you and your staff and groundskeepers do every day for all you want to chan so well as contemporaries for ABA Theodore Hesper president emeritus of

Notre Dame one said and I quote It is easy to exemplify values than to teach them. And that is certainly true of the man whose devotion to this great university we celebrate today. Throughout his long love affair with Indiana University Hermann Wells has walked the paths of this beautiful woodland campus as a student as a faculty member as the university's president and finally its Chancellor on long term guiding light. Nature all he's lived the best values of Indiana University. When Hermann came to I-You in 1921 as an undergraduate business major the student body was composed of youngsters just out of high school and veterans returning from World War 1. The atmosphere was charged with the excitement of new ideas fun and comradeship. Herman found opportunities for learning about the responsibilities of would leadership with the Sigma news. He found exhilarating talk of the book. Now the Gables which was the hub of student activity at the time

their student political action was plotted organizations were formed and ideas and theories the students learned in their classrooms were tested and examined often to the strains of Hoagy Carmichael as melodies performed by the great songwriter himself. Armand came from a teaching family both his parents had taken seriously the obligation to make the world a better place by imparting the knowledge they themselves had acquired. So his appointment as a faculty member in our YOU School of Business was a natural progression of his love of learning and his interests in students. Teaching was always a thrill for him. One he missed when he took on administrative duties. His contacts with students always gave him a special way to feel the pulse of the university and that remained true until his death last spring when Hermann became the nation's youngest college president in 1937. Time magazine reported that he had quote alarmed hidebound who's with his habit of

dressing up in a coon skin coat and roaring around Bloomington in big blue touring car with the top down. By the time he retired 25 years later he was known as the man who transformed the small midwestern college into a research university of international renown. And he did so through the weight of his ambition for the university and through the strong values of hard work courage kindness that he learned in his Boone County home. He lived by the tenant. It's not what you do that matters it's what you can help his accomplish that makes a difference. He was a generous mentor to five presidents as a counselor a friend chancel Wells never disappointed me personally. What a resource he was. His knowledge of IOU's history was unparalleled. His instincts about the right course of action were always raises shop. But for all his accomplishments I use man of the century remained a humble person. He was living proof for the

maxim that there is no end to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit. This boy from Jamestown Indiana used to take his mother shopping in his pony cart. I was a citizen of the world hosting heads of state and representing the country at the 12th session of the United Nations General Assembly. President Welles had the courage to supplants art and music programs at the height of the Great Depression. He had the vision to start area studies program in Bloomington at a time when the country was climbed into an attitude of isolationism by the McCarthy hearings conducted in Washington. The values by which he lived are as relevant today as they were 75 years ago when young Herman B wells first set foot upon the campus and immediately fell in love with it. I think Herman would disagree with the French poet Paul Valery who said that the future isn't what it used to be. As we unveil

the statue that symbolizes Herman Wells immense energy his devotion to learning his love of life. We should remember that Hermann Welles vision of Indiana University and its possibilities is equal not only to the challenges that lie in our past but to those but also to those we will face in the coming decades. So today we dedicate a memorial to a bygone golden age but a symbol of the promise for the future generations of students faculty and yes even presidents will lay claim to that promise and they will do so. Inspired by the values Herman lived. Now I would like to introduce you to someone who knows firsthand what it means to be inspired on a daily basis by chance a well vision values and friendship. Speaking of someone who became president the I-You foundation the year after Herman retired as president. He's now president CEO of the Indiana University Foundation and it's my honor and personal pleasure for me to present to you Kurt Simmy.

Thank you. Well good morning. It is an honor to participate in any kind of event that would would be related to Dr. Welles In fact I said to Bob Levine but I hope I don't mess this up. He said all of us hope you don't mess it up to do our best. This responsibility carries with it a recognition that I represent my predecessors to people like Dixie Highway and howdy Wilcox and Bill Armstrong and George canal all heads of the IAU foundation and all individuals who had the pleasure and the honor of being tutored by the great man. When Bob Levine and interested others developed the idea of a likeness of Dr. Wells to continue his imprisons on the campus Bob asked me to approach the man and to get his approval. And in typical fashion when I talked with him he said well they can certainly find something better to do with their money. Well we convinced him that his likeness situated here would help protect the campus trees for future generations.

So he responded by saying Well good now get can we get rid of that bust in front of Kirkwood hall I always feared I looked like that. For those who are who are fortunate enough to have been students at Indiana in the 40s and 50s and 60s like I was experienced first hand the loving dedication chancer Wells dedicated every single day to the university. His frequent strolls on the campus became memorable for students who were stopped by him or who stopped him to chat and he'd finally say well give my regards to your parents. Say hello to your sister for me or I was in your hometown the other day the chance to talk to the president on the campus. What an experience. There's an old Chinese proverb that goes great men never feel great and small men never feel small. For all of his greatness and today we for all of his greatness. Today we celebrate his warm humanity. We knew he was great and he surely knew he was a remarkable human and human being but he never made you feel

intimidated. He was always approachable inviting you in for a visit. All the qualities that are so evident in this wonderful work of art in many contexts the name wells will live in history of Indiana University. His legacy after all is just beginning. But in the human form of this culture that we will remember it is that form in which we will remember him best in the coming years students alumni friends visitors will stop on their way to spend some time just to be with him in spite of his initial protests. Somehow we know he was pleased that we thought this would be appropriate. On behalf of the foundation we think Bob and Sarah will be in their committee for their inspired leadership in making this good idea a reality. Our appreciation to the vice president clay PACs and his staff and especially to the sculptor Harold R. Tuck Langland who you'll hear more about later. There are two sets of benefactors who made this possible. One was Dr. Virgil Deval with the good guidance of Jim Elliott our good colleague and friend made it possible. But the other is the INSKEEP family because we're

celebrating here on this plaza the 50th anniversary of Dick and Harriet Inskeep. One year late into this is the fifty first year but it was the children Julie Joe Steven Tom whose generosity made this possible and we're very grateful. Holdfast wrote the poet Louise Driscoll hold fast to your dreams Dr. Wells did and how blessed we are that he did. He created a special place a unique place where learning thrives among harmony with nature and in harmony with nature may never be so. Our next speaker was the leading force behind the idea. To place this likeness of Dr. Oz he never wanted to call it a statue or a sculpture he wanted to call it like this. But Bob Rubin would you share your thoughts with us. Thank you. The idea of a sculpture of Dr. Wells sitting on a park bench right rejuvenated an assembly hall. It was there in the recent past that Dr. Welles could be

seen at nearly every basketball game sitting in his wheelchair in his customary spot on the handicap mezzanine. It was always amazing and amusing how a man of his age was able to attend sporting events reception's board meetings the auditorium opera funerals of people much younger. Many of these in the same day. You just seem to be everywhere. At one particular game in 1996 after once again seeing Dr Wells in his for Miller spot. The thought occurred to me that someday he will be there. When thinking about this natural and obvious inevitability it became apparent how much his physical presence meant to Indiana University and how much he would be missed is intellectual and spiritual presence was manifested all over the Bloomington campus and the university at large that would remain. But his physical presence would be gone

forever. Therefore it seemed that a fitting and lasting tribute to Dr. Wells would be to tastefully perpetuate a representation of his physical presence for all time. So the intent of the sculpture is to pay tribute to a great man whose personal and physical presence graced this campus and community for almost 75 years. The sculpture is not about Dr. Wells the scholar or visionary nor is it a monument to a great man. The university is a testimonial to greatness to his greatness. This sculpture is about Dr. Welles The man and his presence not on a pedestal above us but on a park bench actively among us. A physical representations of a man whose charm warmth wit and vitality we all remember. This sculpture is for everyone who knew and was touched by this extraordinary man. But it is not only for them it is also for all of those in the

future who will never know Dr Wells but who will experience the joy and stimulation of his lasting legacy. The sculpture you are about to see represents a composite of archival photographs and the vivid memories of some of the people who knew Dr. Wells the longest and best. The sculptor sculpture represents Dr. Welles still very much in his prime. Around his late 60s maybe early 70s he is sitting on an IOU park bench or are you park bench resting after having taken a casual walk through the campus. He so dearly loved. He is sitting with his legs not crossed and his left hand holds on to his hat next to him. His tie is loosened for comfort and his jacket is open. He is not wearing a vest. He is he is wearing French cuffs and cuff links bearing that bear his

initials that were cast from the originals. A gentle breeze partially flips his tie and a handkerchief fashionably appears in his breast pocket. The representation shows Dr. Wells relaxed and engaged not lost in contemplation of his right hand as extended characteristically palm down. And there is a friendly and warm expression on his face all projecting a cordial and eternal greeting. And as you would expect his left eyebrow is as unruly as ever. In short this is a sculpture representation of Dr. Wells at a given point in time. Over 25 years ago but still engaging the students friends and visitors around him. The sculpture represents Dr. Welles not bigger than life but a part of life it represents him. As we all knew him one of us.

I would like to thank miles and Peg brand Ken Gross Lewis Terry clay Pax Kurtz Simek and the board of trustees for their interest and support of this project. I would also like to especially thank the members of the well sculpture committee for their interests memories and lively input and I also finally like to thank talk lanolin for his artistic skill. Infinite patience and constant good humor. Making this project a very interesting and enjoyable experience. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Kurt. Thank you. Our next speaker represents a group of students of which Herman Wells was particularly fond. The Wells scholars every year 20 high school students are selected for the well Scholars program based upon academic merit leadership skills and involvement in extracurricular activities. The program was created in Hermann Wells name more than a decade

ago and was presented to him as a gift on his 90th birthday. I was the only memorial with which he wanted his name associated. The world Scholar program symbolizes I use commitment to excellence in undergraduate education. And Herman Wells ideals of public service academic striving and international vision an XP career and work abroad is a senior Wells scholar from California majoring in French and musical theater. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you President Brand. Good morning ladies and gentleman. As a senior Well scholar I am honored to be here today to participate in the sculpture and Plaza dedication ceremony honoring the late Chancellor Herman B wells. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to express my gratitude for a man who has touched so many lives both here in Indiana and all over the world.

When I came to Indiana from California four years ago I knew little about Chancellor wells. However once I settled in Bloomington I saw how much the university revolves around this dynamic man Dr. Wells was a literally at the heart of all campus activities and he was an integral part of life for all Hoosiers. I quickly became accustomed to seeing Dr. Wells at many Well scholar functions and as a member of the singing Hoosiers I look forward to seeing our number one fan at annual concerts since he was a large supporter of the arts and music. For those influenced and personally affected by chance or wells we know that he was a man of vision. He had a vision for universities strong in all fields and for sizing diversity and equality. Chancellor Wells wanted to bring together students and faculty from all over the world in search of a common goal higher education. The well scholarship

is part of his program to bring well-rounded energetic young minds to you to nurture and discover their individual gifts and talents. I know I speak on behalf of all Will scholars. When I say I'm honored to be a part of a program founded and inspired by such a great man I can only hope to become a fraction of the person that he was and to give back to our community what was so generously given to me. The plaza and sculpture we are dedicating today in honor of Dr. Wells will serve as a constant reminder of the great man who helped to make you what it is today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Angel and thank you to all the wells scholars who acted as ashes today. It might be said that our next speaker had a hand in producing the sculpture. Now we'll see shortly actually since he's the sculptor. We might say he had two hands in the production.

Tuck Langland is a nationally renowned artist whose works are housed in museums across America. He's also much to our own good fortune a professor of art on the faculty of R U South Bend. He's a member of the National Academy of Art one of only three members elected from the state of Indiana. He's also a fellow and current board member of the National sculpture society. It's a pleasure to welcome him today. Talk Langland. Thank you. Thank you. I can think of few honors greater than the ability to use one's abilities and talents to honor a truly great man. I couldn't have done this without the help of a number of people and of course first on that list would be Bob Levine and the untiring efforts that he put in as well as the committee that provided so much information that was absolutely crucial to doing this. Secondly I have to acknowledge somebody that has not been mentioned in the program but was absolutely vital to it and that is my

extraordinarily able assistant Karl Lawson ball who is right over here and I wanted to stand up for a moment because she had so much to do with this. Thank you. You love the shoelaces they're all hers. And the third person that I need to acknowledge is somebody without whom I wouldn't really get much of anything done at all. And that is absolutely the power behind whatever tiny throne I sit on and that is my wonderful wife Janice right here. Thank you. In making a piece like this there are lots of considerations. First of course there are simple physical things you have to make it so that it can be cast in bronze etc. and not fall over. Then you really have the big problems of creating a convincing human being underneath clothing and you know with the anatomical structure that works and so on and then becomes a more difficult one of creating a likeness something that really does look like the person you're doing but then is the most difficult one of all trying to catch something of what Herman Wells was.

And I thought a lot about that. I had met him only briefly but I'd read a great deal about him talk to many people and as I worked somebody began to emerge the right there in my studio and look back at me each day and I knew that I was on to something when the piece that we're about to unveil was sitting in the bronze casting foundry in New York up near West Point a foundry with hundreds of employees. Well 180 who see thousands of sculptures. We were looking at sculptures all the time. And as this piece was nearing completion sitting there everybody that walked through the room in the in the big clang ring noisy studio would stop look at the piece. And smile. And I asked him why do you smile Why are you smiling and they said he makes me feel happy. And I think that might have been the secret right there of what made her Manuel so successful is that he made the people around him feel good about themselves feel good about the job they were doing feel good about their lives. And I think this culture

makes people happy. What I certainly hope is that it makes people who never knew him and it will be seen by more people that never knew Herman wells than my people that did know him because it will be here a long long time. It will make people who see him feel good about themselves for as long as teachers and scholars and visitors walk the campus of Indiana University. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well now we come to the moment we've all been waiting for the unveiling to look at the scope and I won't keep you in suspense any longer. Talk will help me. Let's unveil. Thank you.

Thank you. That's Herman welds. Friends and colleagues by virtue of the authority vested in me by the trustees of Indiana University. I dedicate the sculpture and the wells Plaza and commit them to the achievements of mind in the challenges of new understanding. May all who walk by a pause here to reflect bring still greater contributions to the advancement of knowledge the spirit of learning and the abiding sense of community that defines Indiana University. In closing I'd like to introduce our final speaker a long term friend of Herman welds and a loyal and long serving friend of Indiana University Ken Gross who is came to Bloomington around the time Herman Wells retired from his presidency.

And as he moved through the administrative ranks can work closely with Herman and chancel Well it's served willingly as his mentor and friend Ken has continued to involve the vision and legacy of Herman welds throughout his 20 years as chancellor on the Bloomington campus. He's done a truly outstanding job of extending and adding to that legacy. It's an honor and a great pleasure to introduce him to you today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And so Herman wells our visionary looks at us at our beloved Woods his Woods his now majestic trees were young and provided little shade when he first came to Bloomington. In one thousand twenty one Woods dotted with great trees planted long ago by him and senior classes in an annual ritual he loved and that still continues. Likes involvement in the names of buildings and the awarding of honorary degrees. Chancellor

Wells took a great interest in the planting of the senior trees some of which tower over us pause on your walk down the pass and throughout campus note the size and type of trees are standing before. We had the limestone blocks the denote the year of planting and think of Hermann wells. Envision that young tree as part of an imagined landscape 40 50 100 years later. Planning a future not for himself but for all those who follow him. At Indiana University. The English poet Stephen Spender writing during the Wales era I think continually of those who are truly great who from the womb remember the soul's history through corridors of light where the hour is a Suns endless and singing whose lovely ambition was that their lips still touched with fire to tell of the Spirit

clothed from head to foot in song and recorded from the spring branches the desires falling across their bodies like blossoms despite our desires. We knew we would not have hermit wells with us much longer. When the sculpture was commissioned. He was a bit embarrassed at the ceremony too much tribute. Over the top he would muttering but here. In bronze we have him with us again again and forever always approachable much as is the famed seated sculpture of Benjamin Franklin at the University of Pennsylvania. In this era we like our great men approachable in a memory rather than larger than life on horseback or in massive pedestals as they used to be memorialized by sculptors. We want to be part of that spirit had to foot the sea up close. One for whom this approach

is fit. One who is truly great. In this pose our Doctor Wells and didn't entire rooms full of Ph.D.s always refer to him as doctor or Doctor Wells seems relaxed as we knew him ready for a good story or a joke as you always was surely taking the pulse of the university around him. As always a part of this campus his book his work of art his world as it always will be with he in it the challenge of tech Langland was of course impossible like any such commission capture the great man in his prime so that all can understand it and forever to do that is to understand something that inherently the rest of us cannot spend a writes that the great and never lose the sense of the beauty of the day

nor allow gradually the traffic to smother with the noise and fog the flowering of the Spirit. That I think was a great genius of Herman wells and is appropriate captured in this casual pose the life of a university administrator. Indeed the mundane life of anyone in any profession consists of a great deal of traffic of noise and of fog. Most of us forget the spirit that brought us here. The idea of the public university the dream of great art and science of preparing a civilized and brilliant coterie of future leaders of courageous stands for academic freedom in orthodoxy of new ideas the flowering of the spirit and this campus of course. It is a literal flowing in spring and fall and the wonder of

these words today and Wells as beloved arboretum tomorrow as those trees grow and come to seem timeless like this woods as Herman Wells himself seemed in three quarters of a century here. How do we appropriately remember and honor a man whose legacy is University of world significance in a state not known for its cosmopolitan ways how to pay tribute to one who left behind a great many memories but few writings no artwork by his own hand. No Chilean record of his innermost thoughts and visions. Stephen Spender writes of such greats near the snow near the sun in the highest fields see how their names offended by the waving grass and by the streamers of white cloud and whispers of wind in the listening sky. The names of those who in their

lives fought for life who wore at their hearts the fire's center born of the sun. They traveled a short while toward the sun and left the vivid air signed with their honor. This is where this Bloomington air heavy in the summer crisp in the winter. The turner Wells breathes the three quarters of a century on this campus. It's a fuse with everything he was. With everything he did. We are students and those who will come after us are all his legacy I believe Wells knew that understood how much he had done and what it all come to mean. It is fortunate a long lifetime and a rare gift. That was it he had a hard time accepting honors. No doubt avoiding the plan for the sculpture as he had over almost every other

honor including a special tribute to former presidents there was given to him at the university sesquicentennial in 1990 expecting even then 30 years ago that he was near the end of his days. He rose to accept the award. I should say in saying thank you that the university does not owe me anything. It's as much as I appreciate your beautiful tribute. Well said. Quite the contrary. The obligation goes the other way. And then on the video tape many of you have seen for a moment Chancellor Wells is overcome and cannot continue. Finally he says of that tribute as he would surely say of the sculpture which helps us to remember him forever. Finally he says

this university. Has given me a chance to have wonderful work with wonderful people for a whole lifetime. What else can we ask. But to know that we knew to know that we served with and I can remember each day as we walk by the sculpture one. Who is truly great. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. And let me leave you with just four words. Welcome home Herman Wales. Thank you.