Letter From a Trustee
Thank you for the opportunity to express some thoughts about Franklin College and its mission. It is always a pleasure to share my Franklin experience.
My dedication to Franklin has roots in its predecessor, the "TASIS Post-Graduate Program". In 1964-65 I enrolled in that awesome educational program as a 17 year-old. That program was not financially successful and became Fleming College. My favorite teacher was Theo Brenner, who, along with four others including Dave Mellon, Pat Tone, Wil Geens and Jacques Villaret started Franklin College in reaction to Mrs. Fleming's firing of Dave Mellon as President of Fleming College. Yes, Franklin College, like America itself, was birthed by a revolution!
At the time of the revolution, I was in college in the USA, and was unaware of the uprising. Soon, however, they wrote me and told me of their new college and asked me to help. I was flattered that Theo Brenner, my mentor at TASIS, would value my assistance and so I started raising money for Franklin during the years when we were a fledging bootstrap operation. That lead to an invitation to serve on the Board of Trustees in 1993. Soon thereafter, Dr. Brenner asked me to keep the minutes and I've been the Secretary every since. Last week I was elected to my fifth (three-year) term as a Trustee.
My experience at TASIS was remarkably like the Franklin experience of today, in that we had the core academic travel program and learned to live in Lugano. It was, up to that time, the most meaningful year of my life and contributed greatly to my perspective throughout my life as a global entrepreneur. Today, my company has many clients around the world, and quite a few in Lugano.
That said, Franklin's mission is what really counts! The core reason why I have dedicated so much time and money to Franklin is because I believe in it's mission to create global citizens from the diverse individuals that are fortunate enough to be among the 135 new students accepted each year. I believe that there isn't much you or I could do individually to change the world, but I also believe that together, with a vehicle like Franklin College, we can absolutely make the world a better place by enlightening our students every year to go out into the world and act on their dreams and desires with a global perspective and a diversified knowledge base. I believe that the experience of sitting in Western Civilization class with Arabs, Italians, Americans and students from a mix of 50 countries spawns a unique mental outlook that will later be very helpful to you in making decisions. This global perspective is highly valuable, as we are all products of our own decisions.
Nothing is more influential to a student's college experience than the professors who craft the character of the education. Franklin is unique in that students and teachers travel together on a regular basis. Traveling together places everyone in the position of experiencing a major life-event together. Franklin also has the distinct advantage of having great professors, who inspire students. Almost every Franklin grad has a personal dedication to his teachers, and it's a direct reflection of the respect our professors have for their students.
Ideally, education can be experienced one-on-one, with no institution necessary. In a University setting, however, the goal is to educate a steady stream of students, on a revolving schedule and therefore a structure has to organize the system and keep it rolling. That's where the administration comes in. Without organization and good business habits, Colleges, and indeed all types of enterprises, grind downward and self destruct. The administration provides the buoyancy so the education can take place.
So what does the Board of Trustees do, you might ask. It's a fair question, but not an easy one to answer. Among their charges, the Trustees deal with the vision for a growing Franklin and take responsibility to produce the infrastructure to facilitate the future needs of the College. In a school like ours, which is relatively youthful (at age 35) we are still building to meet our expanding needs. We face an interesting situation being in Lugano, where our growth is regulated by natural and political forces we must respect. Building the brightest future for Franklin is our mission.
Unlike professors and administrators, the Board of Trustees is legally charged to work as a group. We make all our decisions in meetings, by a vote of those present. Individual Trustees are not empowered to act unless the full board has authorized their actions. Trustees can't just change something about the school they may not approve of. They must bring their concern up to the group and work together. This is a matter of governance with a long tradition. In this respect, Franklin's Board is one you can be proud of. We debate the issues, but we do not squabble. We forge dynamically ahead with only one mission in mind: the best future for Franklin College.
As a Trustee, you can count on me to be disinterested in the "politics" of the school, and the day-to-day operations. I am focused on the future of the institution. What we envisioned ten years ago is our reality today, and the Trustees are busy right now, working hard to make sure that ten years from now we will all enjoy the vision we share today. Not that we create the vision all by ourselves, it's the product of all those involved.
Now, finally, I'd like to say something directly to today's Franklin students. Tomorrow you will be running the world, as well as Franklin College, as we are today. This is an awesome responsibility. Accept it with conviction and dedication. Join up. Work as hard as you used to have fun. Dedicate yourself to something. Create something of value. Something uniquely suited to you. Then you will be successful. Enjoy your success and always remember to give back to Franklin, in every way you can, to enhance the value your education, and make it possible for others to duplicate your success for themselves.
Thanks for the invitation to spout off.
Respectfully,
Richard H. Bell, II
Trustee & Secretary
Franklin College, Inc.