They claim to love bacon, the numbers four and nine, and know that the answer to the trivia questions during games is always “C.” Their behavior borders on cultish but has the air of a friendship woven through and through with the thread of a common commitment. The fact that they spend the majority of their time playing instruments and wearing purple seems to be beside the point. And although they don’t come right out and say it, it’s clear that whatever it is they’re actually doing, they’re not doing it only for themselves.

The Northwestern University Marching Band is more than just a “band.” It’s a piece of university history — an artifact that evolves with each football season, no matter how good or bad the ‘Cats prove to be. And at the center of the group are two students, filled to the brim with school spirit and knowledge of all things Northwestern. They are the “SpiriTeam” (and yes, it’s with one “t”) – Juniors Jed Feder and Zack Moy as the “Spirit leader” and “Grynder” respectively.

“Hear Ye, Hear Ye. This band’s in session.”

It’s the opening cry that brings the band to order in Trienens Hall. And delivered by Feder, it’s also what sets the tone for the “spirit session” — a pep rally for the band, by the band — which follows.

Since the creation of the roles that now make up the SpiriTeam in the 1960s, the “Hear Ye” has been an important responsibility of the Spirit Leader. It began as a way to introduce band personnel and instrumental sections to the opposing team’s band. Over time it has become increasingly dependent on the creativity of the current Spirit Leader. With Feder, it’s a forum for social commentary, inside jokes and other humorous anecdotes.

“The great thing about Jed is that he’s a really good performer,” says Moy. “His lines are really great too but his delivery makes the performance for him, no matter what.”

Pete Friedmann has had a front seat in the role’s transition. Friedmann spent the fall of 1978, his senior year, as the Spirit Leader. He returned to Northwestern two years after graduating and has been the band’s announcer ever since. Despite the growing complexity of the role he once had, he has enjoyed watching it change.

“It’s been a gradual and very natural evolution and just a lot of fun to be a fly on the wall and watch it happen,” he says.

Friedmann often attends the “spirit sessions” and knows first-hand the amount of work Feder and Moy put into their roles. After all, he was once in their shoes making up cheers, rewriting opponents’ fight songs, and giving his own “Hear Ye” all in the name of, as he says, “getting the band psyched up.”

“These guys are great,” he said. “I think they’re under a lot of pressure because every year, every spirit team … wants to outdo what the previous spirit team did.”

But can they Growl?

Zack Moy. Photo courtesy of Tom McGrath.

Together the two bookend the session, Feder with his “Hear Ye” and Moy with what in band lore is known as “The Grynd” — a two or so minute slam poetry reading that also invokes the upcoming game and jokes pertaining to the band.

From the start, Moy knew that he wanted to be the Grynder. Unlike the Spirit Leader, which requires an audition process, this position is passed down. As a sophomore, Moy asked the Grynder, then a senior, what he would need to do to secure his spot. Although he knew that the position had a history of staying within his instrumental section, the mellophones, he felt that would make things too easy. He wanted to deserve the position.

“I basically did as many spirited, crazy, ridiculous things as I possibly could. Whether it was the most extreme dress-up day or just being really quirky and loud and like being a presence in the band during rehearsals,” says Moy.

Moy eventually got the position and quickly went to work.

If it’s Feder that gets the group laughing, it’s Moy that gets them, well, growling. At the end of every Grynd, the Grynder asks for a little help. He starts off asking, “Wildcat Band, can you growl?” They do, but not loud enough to satisfy him. There’s a woman on his mind and she must hear it too. “That was pretty good,” he’ll say. “But there’s one person who couldn’t hear you, it was my mother.” The two groups banter back and forth a little more before Moy’s final call, “She couldn’t hear you, so Wildcat band, can you growl?”

And they growl, in the fashion of the “claw” done at football games. This satisfies Moy and the session ends with a performance by the drum line.

How do you like your Badger meat?

But their respective roles in the spirit sessions are only a small part of their leadership within the band. From standing on the ladders in front of the band during football games to preparing “spirit sheets” complete with jokes and football team reviews for the rest of the band to leading specific cheers, the roles are both a symbolic honor and a time consuming task.

It all converges into one idea: P & G, or “pride and guts.”

“It’s one of our mantras,” says Moy, “meaning pride in the school and the football team, [and] guts as [in] you will do everything perfect for the team.”

This means hitting the right notes, marching in the right step and being the loudest and proudest Wildcat supporters in the stands. Aside from leading the post-touchdown fight song both Moy and Feder have their own cheers or chants that they lead with band with.

“Even if it’s like for 20 seconds, we’re doing some dumb cheer,” says Moy.

Listen hard enough on Saturday and you might hear something like this: “Badger meat! Badger meat! How do we like it? How do we like it? Raw! Raw! Raw!”

Mark Woodsum, a 5th year member of the Wildcat football team, understands the band’s commitment in their support of the ‘Cats. He is often a guest at the spirit sessions, keeping up the recent practice by members of the football team.

“They’re great guys,” he says of Feder and Moy. “They’ve obviously got a lot of passion not only for Northwestern, the band and football but they generate and incredible amount of time.”

“The greatest band in the whole damn land”

And just as their commitment is recognized outside the band, neither does it go unnoticed within.

In his tenth year as the band’s director, Dan Farris has experienced the efforts of a number of different spirit teams.

“It’s an interesting history and what it’s kind of evolved to,” he says. “When I first came here, I was like ‘who are these people and what are they doing?’”

He quickly found out. Now, it’s not the band without them. Although this is the first year in their role for both of them, Farris is impressed with their leadership ability.

“I think it’s a really unique team and this is essential to bring spirit and unity to the band in the stands and during rehearsals … ” he says.

While Feder, Moy and the rest of the Wildcat marching band don’t seem to have any trouble generating school spirit, they keep their sessions closed to non-members.

“I suppose if tons of students were like ‘we want to see this’ then Jed and I might do things a little differently, I don’t know,” Moy says. “But the thing is you’ll think we’re a cult. And in some aspects we are.”

So maybe they are a little selfish. Still, you can’t deny that their blood runs purple.

“You can join it for any reason,” he said. “Everyone’s different in there, but everyone’s also the same [in] that they just love that organization for what it does for the school and the community.”

He continues, “the fact [is] that we are the best fans for the Northwestern football team and for Northwestern in general.”

As Feder notes at the conclusion of his “Hear Ye,” they just might be “the greatest band in the whole damn land.”

Northwestern has embarked on a new strategic planning process for the next 10 years with a framework that identifies priority areas of focus for the university. The outline, which is open for feedback by the Northwestern community, emphasizes strengthening Northwestern as a global leader in academia and improving intellectual, civic and social life, University Provost Daniel Linzer said in an e-mailed statement on Nov. 7.

The outline was drafted after meetings over the summer among the provost, school deans and vice presidents, and further refined by a group of senior leaders from across the university in October. Over the next year, workgroups will meet to complete the framework for the plan that will be launched in 2011.

In drafting the next 10-year strategy, the university has been guided by the planning frameworks in The Highest Order of Excellence (1997-2003), the prior strategic plan, and its companion piece for 2005-2010. The Highest Order of Excellence is the product of university-wide planning committees and, Linzer said, “outlined strategies for Northwestern to strengthen its interdisciplinary culture” and “also provided a vision for supporting faculty work and student learning through innovative programs and policies, and by creating a more robust institutional infrastructure.”

The newest draft of the next strategic plans to:

• Bring Northwestern to the forefront as a leading institute for scholarship, research and creative work by attracting and retaining the best faculty and students from across the world;
• Continue to improve the learning environment and teaching methods, and identify ways to assess their effectiveness
• Improve the intellectual, civic and social experience outside the classroom for students, faculty and staff
• Have a clear strategy to build relationships with other countries or universities abroad
• Recruit and retain diverse and talented students, faculty and staff and create an environment to nurture diversity
• More effectively communicate Northwestern’s identity and wide range of strengths to audiences.

Associated Student Government President Mike McGee called the plan “a chance for Northwestern to reevaluate what it’s been doing and look at the areas where we need work.” He believes students should have a role in the drafting of the framework, and said ASG plans to meet soon with Linzer to discuss it and offer feedback geared toward Northwestern students.

The provost encouraged students and faculty to review the framework (available at stratplan.northwestern.edu) and submit comments and suggestions to stratplan@northwestern.edu by Dec. 1.

Correction: The original version of this article stated that the “university has unveiled a new strategic plan for the next 20 years.” In fact, the university has embarked on a new planning process, and the document available for review at stratplan.northwestern.edu is still only a structure that outlines priority areas of focus. North by Northwestern regrets the error.

Why, you may ask? Because, dear readers, the piano cadences and operatic voices emanating from its walls allow me to pretend, at least temporarily, that I too am a talented prodigy instead of an inartistic life form.

I will not say that I am completely talentless. In fact, I pride myself on semi-decent piano skills and years of adolescent violin lessons, no matter how many I ditched due to a mysterious virus that somehow seemed to infect me every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

However, I am simply not on par with what seems like the majority of ever-impressive students at the institution that about 8,000 of us call home. I suffer through walks to the library with my talented friends as they belt perfectly harmonized versions of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I basically sound like this guy compared to my musical counterparts, if — God forbid — he were to feature Queen in his next solo.

I wouldn’t be able to fib about who stole the cookies from the cookie jar, yet alone star in any of the productions in which it seems students are getting cast left and right. The last number I can remember taking part in was a satirical portrayal of Trading Spaces in my eighth grade All School Show. Note the italicized nature of “all” — that means it was required, kiddies. I could barely do Paige Davis, bubbly as a hookah and all, back when I was 14, and that’s saying something.

I’m a Latin nerd with no hidden theatrical talent. I’m not a Chemistry major who has a knack for playing a mad saxophone solo. I’m not a Comparative Literature major who can sing like Aretha. I’ll come right out and say it: hell, I’m basically talentless.

And that’s okay.

Once I graduate from what feels like a continuous American Idol audition in 2012, I might even be what some may call normal. Very few academically gifted people outside the radius of Sheridan Road also have the chutzpah (and I’m not even Jewish) to claim expertise towards a musical instrument as well. Not being able to double-fist chemical engineering and staccatos cannot and will not take away from my future success in the so-called real world post-Northwestern. Not every CEO, editor-in-chief or principal includes perfectly sung show tunes in their shower singing repertoire.

I may not have skills that will put my name in the iTunes library or in glittering, dazzling lights in a theater marquee, but I do have skills that will keep me happy, albeit humble and probably poor. I have high aspirations for my life that do not involve such alleged talent, and I have faith that those dreams will take me farther in life than any YouTube sensation can.

The world needs some talentless scum like me to keep it under control. If each and every one of us was as gifted as Northwestern students, I truly think Planet Earth either might explode, or at least be rid of some highly entertaining reality TV. So call me the patron saint of reality TV if you please — I’m just doing my job.

It’s almost too easy to predict what’s going to happen in a Northwestern football game. The ‘Cats will play one half of tremendous football that makes you step back and think, “Hey, that’s a good team.” Then there’ll be a crucial injury and everything will unravel.

That’s what happened Saturday evening when Northwestern hosted Penn State on parents’ weekend. After leading 13-10 at halftime, the ‘Cats fell apart as the Nittany Lions exploded for a huge second half en route to a 34-13 victory.

Northwestern played without star senior quarterback Mike Kafka the entire second half and sophomore Dan Persa was unable to move the ball effectively down the field. Penn State took advantage of great field position and put up 24 points in the second half.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald attributes the second half collapse to a shift in attitude and composure, rather than on having Persa in at quarterback.

“It’s about big plays and execution and playing physical and doing it for 60 minutes, and as a coaching staff we’re not getting guys to do that consistently enough, and that’s on us,” Fitzgerald said. “We lost our attitude, and when you lose your attitude, you lose your stinger and you lose your physicality.”

The difference between the first and second half, though, was tremendous. Kafka completed more than 77 percent of his passes for 128 yards, adding 46 yards and a touchdown with his legs. He moved the ball down the field with grace, hitting open receivers routinely and taking off with his feet when there was nothing available.

Persa, on the other hand, was questionable. He completed barely more than 60 percent of his passes for 115 yards, although he did add 42 yards on the ground. While Northwestern converted 15 first downs in the first half, the Persa-led offense could only produce nine first downs in the second half, including two three and out drives.

Although Fitzgerald didn’t blame Persa, the young quarterback put the weight of the game on his shoulders.

“I didn’t play hard enough to get the win, and that’s what matters,” Persa said. “Penn State is a top team and it’s good experience, but it still doesn’t excuse how I played. I didn’t get it done.”

There were some bright spots for the ‘Cats, though. The team showed that it could compete with one of the best teams in the nation, and actually looked like the better team after the first half. Senior wide receiver Zeke Markshausen continued his impressive year, with nine receptions for 60 yards while fellow senior wide receiver Andrew Brewer added 65 yards on six catches of his own.

Defensively, the ‘Cats were fairly dominant in the first half, showing impressive composure in the red zone. After the break, Penn State had little to no trouble moving the ball. Senior quarterback Daryll Clark had only 99 yards passing in the first half, and the Nittany Lions combined for only 37 yards on the ground in the half as well. The second half was clearly a different story, as Clark ended the game with 274 yards passing and Penn State exploded for 163 yards rushing, with three touchdowns on the ground to boot.

The ‘Cats played without star senior cornerback Sherrick McManis, who was sidelined with a leg injury. Sophomore walk-on Ricky Weina played in his place, recording five tackles and a pass break-up after an impressive performance last week against Indiana.

“[Weina] made a couple plays and was in the right places at the right time,” senior safety Brad Phillips said. “I didn’t expect any less because of what he did in practice this week.”

Phillips said that he felt like a “broken record” because of how many collapses Northwestern has had this season.

“We just didn’t do our job in the fourth quarter. Penn State took advantage of us when we didn’t make plays. Teams have been taking advantage of us when we haven’t been doing our jobs appropriately.”

Read our liveblog of Saturday’s game below.

While she was walking on the bridge between Tech and the Seeley G. Mudd Library on Friday afternoon, Weinberg freshman and North by Northwestern contributor Brenda Chang spotted a group of streakers getting caught displaying a little too much purple pride.

“They kind of looked confused and scattered a bit,” Chang says, “but didn’t resist the police and were very compliant.” According to Chang, the streakers were handcuffed and moved to a docking zone where she couldn’t see them.

The only thing not being revealed was the identity of the ‘Cat fans.

“I couldn’t see their faces and I was too high up,” Chang says. “I was laughing too hard.”

Though it seemed headed towards a blowout loss for most of the first half, Saturday’s homecoming game concluded as arguably the greatest win of the season for the Northwestern Wildcats. On Saturday, the Cardiac ‘Cats pulled off a school-record 25 point comeback to defeat Indiana 29-28.

After trailing from 20 seconds into the first quarter, Northwestern took its first lead of the game with 21 seconds remaining in the game when Stefan Demos hit a 19-yard field goal.

With the little remaining time Indiana attempted to get itself back in field goal range, but a 59 yard field goal try by Nick Freeland fell well short, giving the ‘Cats their fifth win of the season.

The late game heroics of Demos were necessitated because of dismal first half by Northwestern that saw the ‘Cats fall behind 28-3.

“It wasn’t a Picasso, but it’s a win,” said head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

The ‘Cats got off to a terrible start. On the first play from scrimmage, Darius Willis broke to the right sideline for a 70-yard touchdown run, very quickly putting Northwestern in a hole.

Indiana extended that lead to 21 by early in the second quarter on touchdown runs by Ben Chappell and Willis.

“I thought we came in prepared, but we sure didn’t execute very well,” said Fitzgerald. “We were just a little out of sync.”

Finally, getting the ‘Cats on the board, Demos knocked in a 28-yard field goal. The relief of breaking the shutout was short-lived, however, as on the ensuing kickoff, Ray Fisher broke free for a 93-yard return for a touchdown.

Brought to the brink of a blowout, Northwestern responded with 26 straight points over the remaining two and half quarters to steal what seemed like a sure win for the Hoosiers.

“After the long touchdown return,” Fitzgerald said, “we started to play as good of football as we’ve played as a team maybe all year.”

After only completing two of eight passes for 14 yards and rushing once for eight yards in the first quarter, Mike Kafka found success with both his arm and his feet, scoring once on the ground and twice through the air.

By halftime, the ‘Cats had cut the deficit to 11 on a run by Kafka and a brilliant eight yard touch pass that found Zeke Markshausen in the back right corner of the end zone with seven seconds left.

During halftime, Corey Wootton, who got his first sack of the season, gave what Scott Concannon described as a “very emotional” speech. That speech certainly seemed to have an effect on the defense, which held Indiana scoreless for the final 37:46 of the game.

That effect was immediately felt in the third quarter when, after the defense forced a punt from the Indiana 23, Ricky Weina, playing for an injured Sherrick McManis, blocked the punt. Though the ‘Cats were unable to recover the fumble, they did tackle Terrance Thomas in the end zone for a safety.

Indiana threatened to rebuild its shrinking lead, getting down to the Northwestern one yard line. However, a tremendous goal line effort forced a turnover on downs when Ben Johnson brought down Mitchell Evans at the two.

In the fourth quarter, the ‘Cats pulled within a field goal on a 51-yard strike from Kafka to Andrew Brewer.

Thanks to the renewed defensive effort of the ‘Cats, Indiana was forced to punt and stopped on another fourth down try, allowing Demos to nail his second game-winning field goal of the year.

Despite the slow start for Kafka, he finished with 377 total yards, including 312 passing, with three touchdowns. Kafka was however picked off three times, all in the second half.

Fitzgerald said that not all of the blame for those interceptions should fall on Kafka, as one interception was caused by “a breakdown in execution between [Kafka] and a receiver,” he said. “Mike gets the interception, but it wasn’t all Mike’s fault.”

Kafka showed continued rapport with Brewer and Markshausen, completing eight passes to each player for 135 and 94 yards, respectively.

Northwestern may have found its new feature back in Concannon, who averaged 4.6 yards per carry for 74 yards.

Concannon showed great agility and was able to evade defenders with quick direction changes, prompting Markshausen to nickname him “Cut-cannon.”

Students who get deferred and later admitted do not have the binding commitment of early decision. Deferred early decision applicants receive their decisions at the end of March like the regular decision applicants, and though their status is equal to that of regular decision applicants in most ways, the university will not waitlist any of the deferred students.

According to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christopher Watson, the old policy didn’t take enough information into account when considering early decision applications.

“We were making decisions without what I felt was important information. It felt like more of a guess, and it didn’t seem fair to the applicant,” Watson said.

Most of this important information was mid-senior year grades – particularly if it was the applicant’s first time in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other advanced classes.

In the first year of the policy, the admissions office deferred only a small percentage of the early applicants. Of the 1712 students who applied early last year, approximately 60 students were deferred. Of those 60, roughly half were later accepted.

“From what I understand, Northwestern was the only school with an admit or deny policy,” Watson said.

Of the top 15 national universities ranked by U.S. News & World Report, Northwestern was in fact the only one to employ a firm yes-or-no policy in early applications. In 2006, Harvard and Princeton completely removed early application possibilities with a similar reasoning to Northwestern’s in altering the policy. With the addition of Northwestern, the other 13 all offer either early decision or early action options through which applicants can be accepted, deferred or denied.

A main difference between Northwestern and the other schools is the rate of deferral. Whereas Northwestern only deferred about 3.5 percent of its early applicants, Yale deferred 47 percent and only outright denied 38 percent last year. Other schools choose to see how early applicants actually compare to the rest of the regular decision pool, while Northwestern chooses to wait for more information on a student before giving a definitive answer.

“The only reason you would be deferred is if we don’t feel we have enough information, most likely academic information, to render a final decision,” Watson said. “It’s pretty straightforward– no games or anything.”

Surprise, surprise! Northwestern’s defense finally came to play during Sunday’s game at Ryan Field.

Celebrating the inauguration of incoming Northwestern president Morton O. Schapiro and remembering the life and services of former Miami of Ohio and Northwestern head coach Randy Walker, Northwestern pulled out a victory over Miami by a score of 16-6, closing out the non-conference slate for the Wildcats in 2008.

Through the first five games of the season, the story of the Wildcats’ season was the struggling of its acclaimed defense. However, on Saturday it was the offense that struggled while the defense lived up to its billing.

The ‘Cats offense got off to a quick start and it looked like yet another blowout against a Miami team that has lost by an average of 29 points per game. On the first drive of the game, Mike Kafka completed his first three passes to lead the offense deep into Miami territory. Once the drive stalled, Stefan Demos kicked a 46-yard field goal to put the ‘Cats up 3-0. Two drives later, the ‘Cats drove 73 yards on 12 plays to take a 10-0 lead, capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run by Kafka.

Northwestern’s defense looked much like the dominating unit of 2008, shutting out the RedHawks during an uneventful first half in which they allowed less than three yards per play. Despite being without the services of All-American DE Corey Wootton, and later losing FS Brendan Smith to a hand injury during the game, the vulnerable Miami offense gave the Wildcats plenty of opportunities to capitalize on QB hurries and sacks. In total, Northwestern racked up seven sacks for the day, eclipsing the Wildcats’ season total of five coming into the game.

After their quick start, the Northwestern offense, bearing the load all year for the Wildcats, looked surprisingly tame. The coaching staff did away with the screen passes and short-yard plays in favor of mid-range out routes and post routes, trusting the efficient arm of QB Mike Kafka, who came into the game third in the country in completion percentage. However, Kafka struggled in the first half, completing only 10 passes on 19 attempts, and ended the game a mediocre 15-for-31 with one interception.

“We played pretty well on offense, but we’re nowhere near where we want to be right now,” said Coach Pat Fitzgerald after the victory.

“We got the win today, and we just have to learn from this and grow. We have got to get more points on the board,” Kafka said.

The run game was also suspect. Although Stephen Simmons returned this week, he rushed only twice for three yards. The Wildcats had only 128 yards rushing against a defense that has allowed an average of 172 yards per game on the ground. After the game Coach Fitzgerald said, “We have to run the ball better. Our offensive line needs to get better.”

On his personal involvement and play, running back Jacob Schmidt added, “It’s an 11-man operation, and I have to do my part the best I can.”

Coming into the game, Miami led the nation in turnovers, while Northwestern had come off a week where the defense forced six turnovers against Purdue. The trend continued late in the first quarter, when LB Nate Williams picked off a long 4th down conversion attempt. A couple of hard hits during the first half rang the proverbial bell of the defense’s homecoming into 2009 mid-year form, one by Peters that resulted in a disputable penalty and another by SS Brendan Smith against RedHawk QB Zac Dysert to end the first half.

In the second half, both offenses never broke out of their respective funks, as receivers dropped easy passes and the running games were mediocre at best. Northwestern’s defense remained the trump card, however. Safety Brian Peters bobbled and intercepted a pass on Miami’s first drive of the second half, and later recovered a fumble that was forced by LB Quentin Davie. CB Sherrick McManis also got in on the turnover party, notching an interception to his stats in the fourth quarter for his third straight game with an interception. Multiple Northwestern defenders racked up huge tackle and sack totals, with both Williams and SS Brad Phillips leading the way with 12 and 11 tackles, respectively.

Although the Northwestern defense consistently gave the offense excellent field position, the ‘Cats failed to pull away, frequently squandering opportunities in Miami’s territory. Early in the second quarter, Demos had a 40-yard field goal blocked. Two drives later, Kafka failed to complete a pass on fourth and 1 from the Miami 31 yard line. Despite the oftentimes stagnant state of the Wildcats’ offense, QB Mike Kafka did his best to keep drives alive, using his feet to put up yards on the ground and escaping would-be sacks against the RedHawks defensive line and making use of his dual-threat abilities.

DE Vince Browne said, “We still got the win. We still got to him seven times, probably more [...] The sky’s the limit for the defense.”

Miami’s offense, despite being shut out, was still a headache for the revived Northwestern defense. Operating between short and long passes and sprinkled run plays, QB Zac Dysert kept many drives alive with feet, improvising on blown pass plays by running for large gains for first downs. Late in the fourth quarter, Miami’s offense finally broke up the shutout on a 23 yard pass to wide receiver Andy Cruse. However, the ‘Cats defense thwarted the two point conversion and recovered Miami’s onside kick attempt, sealing the win.

With a vaunted Northwestern defense hitting its stride with seven sacks today and 10 turnovers in two games, the question now shifts back to the offense and the coaching staff’s plan against a formidable Michigan State squad that is steamrolling through the Big Ten schedule with gusto. The Wildcats face off against the Spartans next Saturday, October 17th in East Lansing, Mich.

Check out our liveblog of Saturday’s game.

When the music stopped at the end of a long procession of university delegates, hundreds of heads turned to face the last two people to march. When the drums started, Northwestern President Morton O. Schapiro drew back, laughed and turned to his predecessor Henry Bienen. The two linked arms and walked to their seats.

The procession Friday kicked off the inauguration of Northwestern’s 16th President Morton Schapiro at a festive ceremony held at Henry Crown Sports Pavilion. The event also included a guest speech by three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

The event took place indoors, a last-minute change from Deering Field as a result of rainy weather. Representatives of Northwestern’s faculty, the Board of Trustees, former presidents Henry Bienen and Arnold Robert Weber and more than 100 delegates from other universities and academic organizations filled the basketball courts in SPAC to watch the ceremony.

“This is so much fun, I highly recommend it,” Schapiro said at the start of his speech, after having just received the university’s charter, seal and chain of office. “I’m always going to wear this [chain] — breakfast, lunch, dinner, football games, it’s mine.”

Schapiro addressed the role of higher education and the future of Northwestern but also told jokes and personal stories. He described the university as “elite,” but warned the community not to be “elitist.”

“I am sobered to recall how the most prestigious colleges and universities have been far from immune from the popular prejudices of the day,” he said. “In a world where myriad forces push our society towards stratification, higher education must always provide opportunity.”

Schapiro then recalled the words of Michael Reed, a former colleague from Williams College, who once explained to Schapiro the distinction between tolerance and inclusion. Simply bringing diverse people to Northwestern is not enough, Schapiro said.

“I’m not talking here about tolerance,” he said. “People don’t want to be tolerated; they want to be full members of the community. All of us deserve to be at an institution […] that’s sensitive to our needs and to our aspirations.”

As he discussed the responsibilities of higher education, Schapiro revisited points that Friedman — a personal friend of Schapiro’s and an honorary Northwestern degree recipient — made earlier in the ceremony. Friedman explained that the current economic recession is not only a crisis of the markets, but also of the environment and education. He also emphasized that liberal arts institutions will play a vital role in teaching students to adapt to a changing world, where doing the bare minimum is no longer enough.

“Being able to bring something extra to your job is now the new normal,” Friedman said.

“I can think of no one more able to define that something extra that has to be part of American liberal arts now than my friend and your president Morton O. Schapiro,” Friedman added. “May you and he together go from strength to strength with a little something extra.”

The ceremony was followed by a reception, where Schapiro interacted with students and other guests.

“I enjoyed every minute of [the ceremony],” he said. “What I say to students at graduation is, ‘If you don’t enjoy this weekend, what are you ever going to enjoy?’ And that’s the way I’ve felt all weekend.”

Many of Schapiro’s colleagues, friends and guests also shared this sentiment.

“I was very impressed by his talk,” said Mary Gray, a delegate from Bryn Mawr College. “It certainly followed on Thomas Friedman’s. They spoke about relevant things, not only purely educational. He looks like he is full of energy.”

Yvonne Hao, a member of the Board of Trustees at Williams, said that while her school is sad to lose Schapiro, Northwestern will benefit from his leadership.

“He did a great job these past nine years at Williams, [but] he’s ready for something bigger,” she said.