Koppes' Speech Relates History Behind Lewis C

Good afternoon. It is my great privilege and honor to welcome you to the dedication of the Adam Joseph Lewis Environmental Studies Center at Oberlin College.

This building stands at the crossroads of history, both for Oberlin College and beyond our campus.

The Adam Joseph Lewis Center represents the culmination of one phase of development of Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program - one of the most inclusive and innovative environmental studies programs at any liberal arts college.

Oberlin's Environmental Studies Program has its roots in a winter term project called "Humankind Tomorrow." This was an imaginative volunteer effort initiated in the late 1970s by John Shordike, a student, who worked with Dean of Students George Langeler, David Love (now Director of Sponsored Programs), and biology professor David Benzing to organize the program. "Humankind Tomorrow" drew hundreds of interested participants, who pooled their knowledge and expressed their concern about the fate of humankind and the planet.

With that momentum, a group of interested faculty members came to the conclusion that there was sufficient interest, and growing intellectual justification, to establish a regular college program in Environmental Studies. Those of us present at that creation - biology professor David Egloff, politics professor Harlan Wilson, David Love, and I - could scarcely have imagined that, today, Environmental Studies would be the fourth-largest major at Oberlin, that it would have two fulltime faculty positions and a third in prospect (as well as courses contributed from numerous other professors), and that a building such as this would grace our campus and serve as an environmental beacon.

The reason we have arrived at this point today reflects two decades of dedicated work by many faculty, staff, and students. In particular it is a tribute to the vision, indefatigable energy, fund raising skill, and organizational talent of David Orr.

Over the past decade it has been David's relentless pursuit of the dream of a new model of environmental architecture, in all its facets, that has been the key to the structure that appears before us. David organized the community planning process, conceived of the building as a teaching tool, and played the key role in supervision to bring the building to its present state.

We are indebted in particular to Adam Joseph Lewis. His understanding and generosity, like that of hundreds of other donors, were instrumental in creating this building. One of the many contributions the Lewis Center will make is, through its landscaping, reacquainting us with a forgotten world. Led by David Benzing, the landscaping team is recreating, in this microcosm, a portion of the environment that existed when the seal of the Northwest Territory signaled a rapid, drastic human transformation of this area's environment.

The Adam Joseph Lewis Center does not turn its back on technology - it seeks to turn technology to sustainable purposes. If we are to reduce our footprint on the planet and create a truly sustainable planet for humankind's tomorrows, it is buildings and programs such as this that point the way.