Editor's note: This was submitted during the strike at Wright State in the winter of 2019
From Robert Wagley
I love Wright State but then again so does our son. I have talked about my love of the school but never went to the trouble of writing a letter about these feelings! Shawn is the youngest of our three children all of whom selected Wright State for their university experience. We lived about three miles from WSU and I was a Raj Soin College of Business faculty member for most if not all of our children's lives. My wife and I enjoyed our geographic, intellectual and cultural connections with the university. Shawn's letter expressed how he feels about the university—proud of its past, worried about its future and ashamed of its present problems. Some, maybe most parents, seldom have a deep conversations with their children and don't always know what they are doing or thinking. Wow, Shawn makes a parent realize being a parent has many deep and continuing rewards!
Here is a copy of the letter he wrote in response to its present situation. He hopes it makes the president and board of trustees accept the obligations they have to the faculty, staff, and students as well as alumni.
Bob Wagley, former WSURA president (2001-02) and retired faculty member
Letter from Shawn Wagley
I was born and raised to be a Wright State Raider!
My father (Dr. Wagley) started teaching at Wright State, when the university itself was only three years old. Some years after that I was born and my journey as a Raider began.
I spent a lot of my childhood on the campus. The more time I spent there the more I felt like it was a magical place. I was very proud that my dad worked and was a member of the Wright State faculty. I was so proud that I always wore Wright State shirts, Wright State pants, and my Wright State jacket. All the kids made fun of me because Wright State wasn’t as “cool” as some of the other Ohio universities. I didn’t care, I still loved Wright State and everything about it and I knew that one day I would become a WSU student and a WSU alum.
Some of my best childhood memories happened at Wright State. I remember running through the tunnels, which seemed like an endless maze to me. I would run those tunnels for hours and loved every bit of it. I learned to swim in Wright State’s pool and jumped off of my first diving board there. I remember taking a class trip to the WSU horse stables (they were where the Nutter Center is) and I learned how to take proper care of horses. Wright State taught me to be self-reliant, to be adventurous, to swim, and a love of animals.
My parents had season tickets to the Wright State basketball games. I loved going to all the home games. I would even run down to the locker room after every game and I would get every players autograph. That was when the games were played in the old gym, which became the old bookstore, which became the new student union. My greatest day as a child was when the basketball team won the NCAA II championship. My mom even took me to the party to welcome the team back to campus. Wright State gave me my love for college athletics.
My parents also took me to many WSU musicals and WSU orchestra performances. I loved the performances and I became a big fan of show tunes. Wright State gave me my love of theater and classical music.
My high school had always used the UD arena for their graduation ceremonies. Then the Nutter Center was built and my high school graduating class was the first to use the Nutter Center for their ceremony. So literally, I got my high school diploma at Wright State University.
After high school I became a Wright State student. I had wonderful classes and wonderful professors who inspired me to want to learn more and to be a better version of myself. Even when I was in Gen Ed classes that I had no real interest in, the professors always seemed to spark something inside of me. I discovered that I quickly became interested in these classes because of the professor. Wright State offered a great variety of electives that I took advantage of, so I learned to scuba dive in the same pool that I learned to swim in as a small child. One of the greatest gifts that Wright State gave to me was its diversity. I met students from all over the world and it inspired me to take advantage of a couple different programs offered at Wright State. The first program sent me to Chile for six months and the second program sent me to Costa Rica for a month. Both of these programs were incredible and introduced me to new and exciting cultures that I never would have experienced on my own. Wright State taught me to become a global citizen.
I am the man I am today because of Wright State and all the Wright State faculty and staff who have come and gone since its inception in the early 1960’s. I want to thank every one of them, but especially (in no particular order) Dr. Robert Wagley, Dr. Richard Williams, Dr. Peterman, Dr. Garrison, Dr. Rubin, and Dr. Douglas.
Unfortunately, the board of trustees and the president of Wright State University brought great shame and sadness to the magic that once was Wright State. So to the president and the board of trustees of Wright State, please accept my childhood memories, my sense of right and wrong, my self reliance, my love of college athletics and the humanities. Please accept my high school diploma, my WSU diploma, and my status as a global citizen. If you do not support and provide for your faculty and staff, then you have not only shamefully taken all of this away from me but you are also robbing the next generation of all of these great attributes. Loyalty and pride for a university don’t always start on the first day of a freshman year. Sometimes it starts at birth!
Sincerely,
Shawn Wagley
WSU alum and once a loyal fan and defender of Wright State.
