The Auditorium is where Craig Burkhardt took part in student shows, learned from “mind-expanding” lectures and led student pep rallies.
“But just inside the lobby is a massive and infrequently-read bronze plaque bearing text written by a long-ago university president relating the death of his young wife," says Burkhardt ('81), now a partner at the D.C. law firm Barnes & Thornburg.
“The story is impossibly sad and its reading sometimes brings readers to tears. One wonders why the writer chose to detail such grief in such a public and lasting manner at this location of merriment.
“My take is that he is encouraging student readers to enjoy the immense pleasures of youth, while foreshadowing personal challenges that will ultimately befall us all. We should take time to live joy in every moment of our lives — a lesson the writer continues to teach from a distant time at this small corner of campus.”
