Video by JaQuan Alston, Olivia Giralico, and Alfred Greenbaum
In a video message to faculty, staff, and students, President Nicole Hurd welcomes the Lafayette community back for the College’s Bicentennial finale semester. She highlights Lafayette’s continued strength in this year’s Princeton Review rankings, including #5 in Best Career Services, # 7 in Best College Library, #10 in Great Financial Aid, #13 in Happiest Students, #14 in Most Accessible Professors, #16 in Best College Theater, #18 for Students Study the Most, #25 in Best Science Labs, and #37 rankings in both Best Value Colleges and Green Colleges.
President Hurd previews a semester of programming beginning this week, with a community build of HyperView 200, a large-scale model of hyperbolic space, on the Pardee Hall patio, and the Bicentennial Symposium, Democracy: Past, Present, and Future, running Sept. 10–11 across campus.
She also directly addresses recent concerns about the Bicentennial Village taking shape on the Quad, describing it as a space of community, access, and welcome for the entire Lafayette family. President Hurd explains the Village will open in October as a donor space supporting the largest fundraiser in College history, then quickly pivot back into the community space campus knows and loves, including the free Student Bicentennial Ball with Questlove, Fall Weekend, and gatherings for faculty, staff, and students throughout the season, from movie nights to Friday Club. The Bicentennial closes on the Quad with a Homecoming concert featuring Darius Rucker and a drone show lighting up the Quad.
“The Quad is our space,” she says, and campus, alumni, and families will all share access to it throughout the celebration.
Closing her message with a commitment to “possibility and positivity” for the year ahead, President Hurd welcomes the campus community into a season she calls Lafayette’s own.
