Bryn Mawr College celebrated the inauguration of its 10th president, Wendy Cadge, alongside Owl Fest 2024. Students, parents, faculty, and alumni gathered to watch the inauguration and partake in Owls Fest, which combines Homecoming, Family and Friends Weekend, and Volunteer Summit at the college.
A large group of alumni, faculty, students, and guests gathered under a tent on Merion Green on Oct. 26, a blustery Saturday afternoon. Inauguration speakers emphasized President Cadge’s empathy, leadership, and belief in the liberal arts. President Cadge herself expressed gratitude and commitment to Bryn Mawr as “a beacon that not only educates, but demonstrates.” President Cadge drew attention to initiatives such as the Black at Bryn Mawr tour and the upcoming Art Remediating College Histories (ARCH) Project. She also shared her plans to expand the college’s commitment to sustainability and create a new position in 2025 that is “100% focused on sustainability at the college and in our local communities.”
Connections from the Bi-Co, Tri-Co, and Seven Sisters were featured at the Inauguration, with Haverford College President Wendy Raymond joking about sharing a first name with President Cadge and saying that “Haverford would not be the same Haverford without Bryn Mawr.” Swarthmore College President Valerie Smith also celebrated President Cadge and her Delaware County, Pa. roots in her address. Sava Berhané of Mount Holyoke College, a former colleague of President Cadge’s, called her a “multiplier” and emphasized Bryn Mawr and Mount Holyoke as “sanctuaries.” Representatives from Brandeis University, where President Cadge was a professor and graduate dean, and Princeton University, where President Cadge received her Master’s Degree and Doctorate in sociology, also spoke.
The inauguration was not entirely without protest, as members of Bryn Mawr Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) silently walked out of the tent during Cynthia Archer’s welcome, wearing t-shirts with messages like “Disclose Divest Now” and red handprints. After the ceremony, during the Academic Recession, they could be seen lying down on Merion Green. SJP also held a demonstration in response to the Board of Trustees meeting earlier that morning.
After the Inauguration, attendees gathered at the Community Block Party for food, live music, crafts, and, as President Cadge promised in her speech, bouncy houses. Owls Fest also featured faculty talks, tours, information sessions, and performances by student groups such as the Shakespeare Performance Troupe and the Bi-Co Chamber Singers. University of Pennsylvania professor Barbara Savage, who also gave remarks at the Inauguration, gave a talk entitled “The Light of Knowledge.” The talk presented her research on the scholar Merze Tate, a Black woman who navigated academia around the same time as Bryn Mawr graduate Enid Cook ‘31, highlighting the hidden history of academia that President Cadge called attention to in her speech.
A theme of the weekend was light, with Bryn Mawr’s signature lantern emblazoned on signs and t-shirts. During the Inauguration, lanterns from years past could be seen on stage. President Cadge expressed her interpretation of Bryn Mawr’s light as “the pursuit of knowledge and the power of ideas to light and change the world” and committed herself to collaborating with the Bryn Mawr community during her term as president.
