LAST THINGS

by Philip Blosser 

    Question: What does a group of well-dressed professionals who periodically gather at Lenoir-Rhyne College have to do with trust?  Answer: A great deal, if they're trustees.

    What is a trustee?  The Oxford English Dictionary defines a "trustee" as: (1) "One who is trusted, or to whom something is entrusted; a person in whom confidence is put."  (2) "One to whom property is entrusted to be administered for the benefit of another; often loosely, one of a number of persons appointed to manage the affairs of an institution; also a member of the con- trolling body of a trust." (3) "One who is held responsible for the preservation and administration of anything."

    What makes a good college trustee?  One that can be trusted, of course.  But what kind of trustee is that, besides an honest one?  To answer that question we must ask another: With what is a trustee entrusted?

    Often the answer is conceived chiefly in financial terms, since the professionals on boards of trustees are frequently proven experts in business and finance, who know how colleges need to manage their money in order to operate successfully.  A good trustee looks after the financial security of the institu- tion, above all seeking to insure and enhance the soundness of the endowment trust fund -- the financial backbone of the institution.  This trust is defined under state law as a public interest.  So a good trustee understands that financial decisions are made in the best interests of the college, for the welfare of the public, and not for individual agendas.

    But a good trustee is also someone who understands that he or she is entrusted with a good deal more than financial matters. Trustees are entrusted with the continuance and wellbeing of the life and mission of the college.  A good trustee, then, is one who knows what the college is for, what it's purposes are.  Here money is merely a means; and we have to determine our proper ends.  A good trustee is one who understands and is able to state clearly the mission of the institution with which he or she has been entrusted.  A good trustee is one who understands ends ("last things") as well as means, such as money (which are often considered "first things").

    Good trustees (and thank God for them) are those who under- stand the difference between first things and last things, and can be trusted with all that has been entrusted to them.