State of the Student Body address

The following is the full text of the State of the Student Body address delievered by West Virginia State University Student Government Association President Austin C. Moore on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

I have the distinct pleasure to welcome each of you here today on this occasion of delivering the annual report of the Student Government Association. It has been the dominating theme of our administration to enact initiatives and engage in activities that empower our constituents, the Student Body of both West Virginia State University and West Virginia State Community and Technical College. It is through this endeavor that I am privileged to present the following initiatives and events:

Universal Grade Scale

Our administration proposes the adoption of a universal grade scale to ensure that the academic performance of students, and corresponding indicators, are a consistent and uniform measure of assessing academic competency and assigning grades.

Let us consider a hypothetical situation: Jack is required to enroll in English composition. His friend Jill also enrolls in English composition. However, they are both enrolled in different classes being instructed by different professors. At the conclusion of the semester, both Jack and Jill successfully complete their respective courses with 92% proficiency. Jack earns a grade of “B” while Jill earns a grade of “A”.

Although both students have identical competency in the same subject, Jack’s professor requires a threshold of 93% to be awarded an “A” whereas Jill’s professor merely requires a threshold of 90% for an “A”.

These two students have the same competency in the subject, but their performance is measured differently, which challenges the equity and consistency of the measurement.

Academic departments and even individual professors retain the discretion of establishing their own grade scales, which is inherently arbitrary and inconsistent.

To ensure academic credibility a uniform measurement must be employed when assessing students’ academic performance, which requires instituting a universal grade scale policy.

The faculty may assert their right of academic freedom, but while professors may lecture freely and assess the performance of students by issuing grades according to the dictates of their own conscience, the measurement of assessment employed while assigning those grades must be consistent for all students, and is not protected by academic freedom.

Administrative Withdrawal of Perpetually Absent Students

It was recently discovered that the Faculty Senate is considering a policy that enables the administrative withdrawal of students who are perpetually absent from course lectures.

This policy establishes a dangerous precedent and usurps the free determination of the students to make an informed decision regarding the importance of classroom attendance, and it also deprives the students of their economic liberty.

It is the prerogative of the students to determine the benefit of attending class, being apprised of the consequences that may result from such absences. Students realize they benefit from attending course lectures. Many professors have enacted attendance policies that penalize students for absences and tardiness. Is an additional penalty necessary?

It is logical to assume that students attending classes will perform better on exams, so why is an additional penalty necessary? If, for instance, a student who is absent from several lectures performs well on the exams, is he not continuing to learn the material as his peers? This student has gained the academic competency required for the course irrespective of his attendance.

Education is a service which West Virginia State is being compensated to provide, and which the institution cannot arbitrarily deny of its students.
If you purchase a gym membership for three months, you are purchasing access to that service regardless of its utilization by the patron. Access cannot be denied to the patron as he has duly compensated the gym to provide the service. Is the service provided by West Virginia State any different from this analogy?

If students are to be respected and educated to make informed decisions, then it must begin here at West Virginia State. You must value the consent of an adult student. Students are responsible for their own responsible academic decision making, not the faculty or administration. It is the burden of the students alone, and they are subject to the consequences of imprudent decisions.

It surprises me that while the faculty often asserts its own academic freedom, it is readily prepared to abridge the academic freedom of students.
The Student Government Association recently drafted and adopted a resolution opposing the administrative withdrawal of students for perpetual absenteeism. This resolution will be delivered to Dr. Levine, Chairman of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Byers, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Dr. Carter, President of the University this week.

Hate Crime Initiative

Our administration has committed itself to issues of social justice within the community, and among these issues is educating our community on hate crimes awareness.

In November the Student Government Association sponsored the “Stop the Hate: A New Generation” rally on campus. We brought together leaders of the community to address issues of bias-motivated crimes.

It is our legacy as a Historically Black University that enables us to serve as a leader on issues of diversity, tolerance, anti-hate, and discrimination.
Our Student Body is committed to ending the hate experienced by those individuals based upon their race, ethnicity, national origin, handicap, religion, economic circumstance, sexual orientation and identity, and political affiliation.

Although hate is not as prevalent as it once was, we should not assume it is extinct.

Our responsibility is to educate the community, condemn acts of hate, violence, and discrimination. It is also our responsibility to advocate statutory protection for victims of bias-motivated crimes.

Silence perpetuates hate. Indifference perpetuates hate. Apathy perpetuates hate. It has been declared that “Evil prevails when good men do nothing.” How can we remain reticent while our neighbors endure great suffering and tragedy? Can we, through our silence, enable such reprehensible and immoral behavior?

How can you sleep at night while your neighbor worries about the safety of his wife and children in the night? Until every family can rest peacefully in our community hate remains an unresolved issue.

Wherever hate exists, society is a victim. Whenever hate is ignored, society must be held accountable. Hate destroys the self. Hate destroys the family. Hate destroys the community.

The time to combat hate is not next year. The time to combat hate is not tomorrow. The time to combat hate is now!

Our administration has lobbied the West Virginia Legislature to enact comprehensive reform of the hate-crime statute. We have suggested that the Legislature include sentencing enhancement provisions to the criminal code, which would require offenders to be charged with both the criminal act in addition to the commission of a hate crime rather than compelling prosecutors to determine which penalty carries the greater sentence.
Furthermore, it has been our paramount interest to engage the Legislature in reforming the hate crime statute to extend legal protection to those victims of bias-motivated crimes based upon their sexual orientation and identity, as well as those experiencing hate crimes based upon their mental or physical disability, or infirmity.

Our forebears planted a seed, a seed of hope and opportunity for all, which has prompted social progress and innovation. We are heirs of this seed, equally responsible for its care, so that its fruit may provide security and promise for every American.

As it is written in Deuteronomy, “Justice, Justice you must pursue.” It is not a mere option or a suggestion, it is a moral imperative. We are resolutely committed to the safety and welfare of our community and our neighbors. This is our moral obligation to social justice.

Thanksgiving Break

It has been my experience since matriculating at West Virginia State that it has not closed for the entire week of Thanksgiving.

It is my understanding that West Virginia State is the only higher education institution in the state which does not close its doors and permit its students and faculty to spend an entire week with their family.

I realize “WE ARE (NOT) MARSHALL!” if you will pardon the pun, but why not standardize our academic calendar with other universities?

Having the doors open for the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving Break is of no academic benefit to the students. Many students are absent due to travel arrangements or hunting. Many professors cancel class for the same reasons, or because they expect poor attendance.

The only mechanism professors have developed to compel attendance is by scheduling exams, and by assigning papers and projects. This is an unfair burden placed upon professors. As students labor feverishly the weekend before Thanksgiving Break studying for exams and drafting papers, the professors are expected to grade these exams and papers during their Thanksgiving Break, and returning them promptly to their students upon return from the break.

Students and faculty are not afforded the appropriate accommodations and adequate time to travel for the purpose of spending Thanksgiving with their families. This is especially an essential issue for those students who are not residents of our state and not provided adequate time to return home, thus they are relegated to spending Thanksgiving alone.

It should be the objective of the University to provide its students and faculty with the opportunity to celebrate this special communal holiday with their family, representing the spirit of American ideals.
Where is the spirit of Thanksgiving? Are we so busy that even now we cannot rest and reflect upon the beauty of our family, of America’s heritage, and of the bountiful harvest G-d has provided?

Have we become so busy that we cannot cease from a week of work to offer our gratitude and devotion to our family and to G-d?

Disability Access

This administration is sensitive to the needs of the physically disabled students served by the University. As a result of this interest in the concerns of the disabled student population, I am concerned with the disparity in educational resources provided to handicapped students.

Hill Hall does not provide equal access to every student as it does not accommodate the handicapped with an elevator or wheel chair lift.
The University contends that due to Hill Hall’s status of being historically preserved, it is not required to comply with ADA mandates.
Although this is true, why is it not the prerogative of the University to accommodate disabled students and provide them equal access to educational resources and opportunities?

Disabled students compensate the university the same tuition and fees as every other student, why are they not guaranteed equal access?
This disregard for disabled students is reprehensible and an embarrassment to our institution, an institution that has maintained an illustrious history of providing educational access to the historically underserved. This disregard is tantamount to discrimination.

How many disabled students have been deterred from majoring in English or sociology due to their inability to access their professors and the department’s resources as conveniently as other students? Do these departments lose these potential majors? Does West Virginia State lose these students to Marshall University, an institution that does provide access to its disabled students?

I am fortunate to stand before you today without any handicap, not because a handicap is shameful, but because this University ignores the burden and challenges endured by its disabled students.

Any one of us today could drive home and become involved in a serious motor vehicle accident resulting in paralysis. Would your position on disability access be altered if it was you who were disabled, and if it was your access that is limited?

A disabled student approached me a few weeks ago and made a startling remark. He stated, “I can’t wait to leave West Virginia State. I have to walk on egg shells around here.” This anonymous student was referring to his disability, which has proved contentious as the University has ignored his insistent pleas for equity. This student also fears retribution by the University. Why should any student be relegated to such a disheartening proclamation? Is this the experience the University desires its alumni to remember as they graduate?

Our University should lead the way in revolutionizing education for disabled students rather than remaining indifferent because of inconvenience.

Let it be known that West Virginia State’s disabled students are not inconveniencing the University, but rather the University is inconveniencing its disabled students. It is absolutely appalling that action is not being taken in the interest of handicapped students.

No student should ever fear speaking his conscience for fear of retribution. Disabled students have rights too!

It is unfathomable that this University will justify the expense of two commencement ceremonies, but refuses to justify the expense of a wheel chair lift in Hill Hall to serve handicapped faculty and students. Where are the University’s financial priorities?

This administration will continue its relentless advocacy for the rights of disabled students while empowering every student. I implore the University administration to be more responsive and sensitive to the needs of its disabled students.

Community Service Policy

Each semester student organizations submit funds requests for subsidies provided by the Student Government Association. Our administration has enacted a policy requiring every student of an organization to participate in ten hours of community service per semester as a stipulation for eligibility.

Many organizations have complied with the new requirement as a condition of funding though initial resistance was experienced.
This policy is designed to instill within student organizations and their members a commitment to the community, and to social justice. We actively pursue opportunities in the community which will allow student organizations to fulfill their ten hours of community service. We encourage students to serve as mentors to troubled children, read after school to young children, staff local soup kitchens for the homeless, and volunteer in hospitals.

The Student Government Association adamantly contends that community service reflects positively upon West Virginia State as a higher education institution, and upon our students. Community service allows our students and organizations to serve our community in the realms of education, healthcare, public assistance, and poverty.

The subsidy the Student Government Association provides to student organizations is an incentive for student organizations to engage in community service activities.

Student Parking

The university administration should be commended for acquiring land that has enabled the creation of thirty new parking spaces, which has greatly benefited students.

Two years ago Parking Lot H near Hill Hall had an even distribution of parking spaces between faculty and students. Last year, upon return from the summer break, the parking lot was designated entirely as a faculty parking lot.

At any given time this parking lot is not at complete capacity. The students are essentially paying for a partially empty parking lot. The faculty has no burden as they are permitted to parking in student spaces without penalty.

I have humbly requested that the previous parking lot arrangement be restored as to allow students to park in the spaces previously designated with the understanding that faculty may also park in those spaces.
It has been brought to my attention by students that the University should consider expanding the parking lot near Hamblin Hall to alleviate congestion and enable more convenient parking. I would request that this recommendation be thoroughly examined by the appropriate committee and the University administration.

Although it is not the intent of this administration to reduce parking spaces on campus, particularly to the most utilized buildings, parking near the Student Union has become an increasing concern. Due to the narrow spaces many students are compelled to double-park without any apparent penalty by public safety officers.

It appears that in the Department of Public Safety that “The lights are on, but nobody is home.” Some vehicles are damaged due to careless parking in these narrow spaces. I suggest that the university administration evaluate this issue and address it accordingly.

Textbook Initiative

The increasing cost of textbooks, a cost that is outpacing inflation exponentially, has prompted a government inquiry by the U.S. Congress.

The University of Maryland’s bookstore is authorized to distribute books at a cost as high as twenty-five percent above the wholesale price. The price of textbooks has been infamously referenced as, “the hidden cost of tuition.”

A textbook fairness act should be adopted, preferably by the West Virginia Legislature, if not by Congress, which explicitly stipulates a cap on the price of books above the wholesale value that may be sold by university bookstores. Furthermore, such legislation should require universities to publish its profits annually, as well as the price each book is sold above the wholesale value.

What is the result of students who cannot afford textbooks? Some students choose withdrawing from higher education institutions according to some reports. Many of these students take advantage of much more economic online degree programs such as those provided by the renowned Phoenix Online and DeVry University.

Other students forego purchasing textbooks altogether. These students either struggle through lectures without the privilege of a textbook, or they purchase supplements, such as "U.S. History for Dummies", for a course in American History. Some students are fortunate to have a sympathetic friend who will loan his book.

What has become of education when our students are earning degrees based upon their having read "U.S. History for Dummies" and the "Idiot’s Guide to Macroeconomics"?

Students cannot learn without the proper instruments. You would not expect a doctor to examine a patient without a stethoscope, so why expect a student to learn without textbooks?

Rather than pursue higher education perhaps students would be well advised to obtain a public library card and benefit from the wealth of its vast collection of books. Perhaps post-secondary education is within the grasp of virtually everyone assuming they are literate, and that they desire to learn. Is this the future of higher education?

Many campuses have not remained idle while awaiting a statutory remedy for limiting the rising cost of textbooks. Students on college campuses have taken the initiative and organized in protest. Florida State University has instituted a student operated bookstore unaffiliated with the University.

I encourage the Student Body to initiate a book exchange program until either the government rectifies this burden, or the universities defer to learning rather than textbook profits. Before the expiration of the term of this administration, it is my profound hope that a program may be organized for West Virginia State students, independent of the university, to exchange their books free from financial transactions.

The details of this program have not been expressly delineated, but legal issues have arisen from undercutting the price of university bookstores for profit. Although a profit cannot be earned there is no injunction inhibiting students from merely exchanging their textbooks.

We must establish a book exchange program, and a “book bank” that serves as a forum for students to barter their textbooks. Students may turn in their books at the beginning of each semester to collect the books required for their new courses.

One student turns in a chemistry textbook and collects an American history textbook. Another student submits his sociology textbook in exchange for the chemistry textbook. This is the ingenious of the program.

It is a system based upon public interest, not institutional profit. Although students are not profiting from the resale of used books, they are also not being required to purchase textbooks from the “book bank”. This is the incentive for student participation. This is the fundamental concept. Every student obtains a benefit from the book exchange program.

The success of a book exchange initiative is ultimately dependent upon the commitment and ingenuity of the students to ensure its viability.

Tobacco Use Policy

Our administration is committed to maximizing the personal civil liberties of the students, and to promote public health on our campus. Consistent with this prerogative, the Student Government Association is considering a Tobacco Use Policy to restrict tobacco use to particular venues on campus.

Although smoking is prohibited within twenty feet of the doorways of buildings this is consistently disregarded by students, faculty, and staff. This law is not being duly enforced by public safety, a law designed to promote public health. Once again, “the lights are on, but nobody is home” at the Department of Public Safety.

It is unnecessary to enumerate the many devastating consequences of exposure to secondhand smoke, as studies conducted by the National Institute of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the U.S. Surgeon General, have confirmed.

Although it is known that both direct inhalation of smoke and exposure to secondhand smoke increases one’s risk of lung cancer. It is often unknown that exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with approximately 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year. To what harm are we willingly subjecting our students?

Last week the first instant smoking fatality was reported in Michigan. A waitress employed by a bar was exposed to smoke, which subsequently enabled an asthma attack. This should be a call to action of social consciousness of a pertinent public health issue. How much longer will we remain silent? Are we committed to public health, the health of our students?

Our indifference with regard to tobacco use is contributing to millions of needless fatalities and illnesses annually. Will you be the next victim?
Tobacco users do have rights. But smokers’ rights end where non-smokers’ rights begin. Smoking adversely affects not only the health of the smoker, but also those in his vicinity. Non-smokers are not compromising the health of those around them. You have a right to make decisions regarding your own health, but you do not have the right to make decisions regarding the health of others.

Aside from the evident public health concerns, unrestricted tobacco use on our campus is not aesthetically pleasing. Traces of litter resulting from tobacco use are prevalent in many locations on campus.

It is the aspiration of this administration to present the University with a sustainable tobacco use policy establishing tobacco use zones, which will provide insightful consideration to both smokers and non-smokers.

Capital Construction Financing

As an intern at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission one of my primary responsibilities was researching capital construction financing, and examining the methods employed by respective states to deliver educational services to students. My policy brief was reported and accepted by the HEPC.

During this extensive examination, I discovered that West Virginia and Georgia are unique in one respect. The legislatures of both states require that higher education institutions themselves bear the burden of funding capital construction projects rather than allocating state resources for such ventures.

Buildings are essential in facilitating education. We no longer reside in communities of ages past where we join the community sage and scholar under a shade tree while being regaled by his revolutionary exposition on science, politics, philosophy, and theology. We have evolved to include the “Halls of Learning.”

In a survey conducted by the State of Washington, educational facilities was an elevated correlate in determining where students decided to matriculate after considering their academic program and the cost of attendance.

Educational institutions serve more than the students on campus. West Virginia State University, for example, serves to educate the community on particular issues of community interest. West Virginia State University is a leader in hosting forums designed to educate the community regarding issues of public health, public education, black history, diversity, civil liberties, civic activism, and a myriad of other issues of benefit to the community.

The community, not only the students, benefit from the presence of higher education institutions. Why, then, does the West Virginia Legislature mandate that higher education institutions, thus the students themselves, bear the burden for financing capital projects? It defies every rational sensibility.

Many states have initiated a cost-sharing program for capital construction finance to alleviate the burden placed on the universities, thus the students of those institutions. It is students who bear the ultimate burden of financing capital construction projects without any assistance from the State of West Virginia, which ultimately benefits economically from an educated workforce.

How can a foreman order his carpenters to erect a house as he denies them the use of a hammer? The West Virginia Legislature is denying universities the resources they require while continuing to expect higher education institutions to fulfill their objective of producing exemplary students prepared for the West Virginia workforce.

Why is West Virginia once again behind the rest of the nation? An investment in capital construction is an investment in education. An investment in education is inevitably an investment in the future of West Virginia.

Our administration has lobbied the West Virginia Legislature to implement a cost-sharing, funds matching program for financing capital construction projects of higher education institutions.

Historically Black Colleges & University Title III Funding

West Virginia State University maintains an illustrious history as a Historically Black University, serving the disadvantaged population of our community, and it is in that spirit and tradition, that we celebrate our institution’s heritage, while pursuing the restoration of Title III funding for the purpose of serving our university’s mission.

Our administration has proactively conferred with members of the West Virginia Legislature, and we have consulted the Higher Education Policy Commission regarding the restoration of Title III funding. This has been a collaborative effort as our administration has included the Bluefield State College Student Government Association, a sister HBCU, also devastated by its consequent loss of Title III funding. As the budgets of Marshall University and West Virginia University expand, West Virginia State is deprived of indispensable financial resources.

We are relentless in our advocacy of restoring Title III funding.

Loyalty Oaths

It has been brought to my attention by an esteemed member of the faculty that the University requires deans to sign loyalty oaths and allegiance pledges to the University administration.

This is an issue of great concern to me as a student. Administrators’ and professors’ loyalty should be to the Student Body, not to any personal interest or charismatic figure.

Do not lose sight of the mission of this University, or the purpose of higher education. It is not self aggrandizement, but of a far nobler purpose.
Without students academic institutions would disappear. The paramount objective of the University administrators should be stewardship of higher education and facilitating academic excellence in the learning process.

Any loyalty oath abridges one’s primary allegiance to the students, and to education itself, which is an infringement of academic freedom.
Allegiance should not be pledged to buildings, personalities, or rhetoric.

Buildings collapse. Personalities perish. Rhetoric subsides.

Statutes of Aristotle have been destroyed, but his ideas have endured the ages. One’s only lasting legacy are the ideas that eclipse his existence. It is the duty of university administrators to foster fruitful ideas rather than engage in self-promotion.

Education does not exist for the purposes of patronage or parsonage.

Education is a selfless service designed to produce thoughtful and productive contributors to society and humanity.

I implore the University administration to suspend the practice of requiring any employee of the University to sign a loyalty oath, and release those individuals who have signed the aforementioned pledges, to promote academic freedom and the allegiance to the educational process itself designed to serve students.

Constitutional Revisions

This administration has endeavored to revise the current Student Government Constitution, as the University and Student Government have evolved, to clarify ambiguities and restructure the student government in a concerted effort to maximize representation of the students consistent with contemporary realities.

The specific details of the Constitution are being discussed and considered. We have used the student government constitutions of West Virginia University and Concord University as the model for our revisions. Upon final draft, it will be submitted to the Executive Cabinet and the Student Senate for ratification.

American Red Cross Blood Drive

Throughout the duration of this academic year, the Student Government has hosted two successful American Red Cross Blood drives. You will have two more opportunities to donate blood this semester, both next week at this venue in the Student Union, as well as in April.

Each of us often contemplates issues of social justice, how we can positively contribute to the betterment of our society. Some choose to recycle while others tutor impoverished children.

We aspire to give of ourselves to noble pursuits.

When you give blood, you give life. You possess the ability to sustain G-d’s marvelous Creation.

You provide an anonymous individual with a life who may otherwise perish. Your gift may be received by a young girl in Los Angeles, who one day will discover the cure for Acute Myelogenous Leukemia or Parkinson’s Disease. Where would the world be without the discovery of this helpless child? Where would society be without the thoughtful individual who reserved time from his busy schedule to make that generous donation?

Your gift may be received by one of our nation’s many heroes in Iraq or Afghanistan. This patriot may be a resident of Dunbar who lives to save his entire platoon from a firefight in Baghdad. Where would his platoon be if he had not received a blood transfusion? Where would our military and the security of our nation, our very freedom, be without the woman who chose to donate blood although she was preparing for her midterm examination?

Donations often require pledges that are solely the luxury of the affluent. Blood donation is available to virtually everyone, and its benefit is inestimable. We have a moral imperative to our community, and we can partially fulfill this imperative through donating blood.

Your gift not only saves a single life, but it is a selfless and compassionate gesture in sustaining humanity itself.

Skeptics doubt the existence of angels. This is your opportunity to be an angel, a guardian and preserver of life. Who is to say you are not an angel, an agent of G-d, whose mission saves the life of that girl in Los Angeles, or the soldier in Iraq. Why wait for an angel when you are the angel someone is waiting for? Prove the skeptics wrong.

What greater gift exists than the gift of life? It is a gift that both the rich and poor alike may give. It is the gift you have the ability to provide.
Although we acknowledge our world will never be completely perfected, it is nevertheless our manifest purpose not to desist from establishing a more perfect world than the world we inherited, and a world in which our children will one day be benefactors. Rather than divorce ourselves from society, we must contribute of ourselves in every manner possible at every opportunity.

The burden of our neighbor is also our burden. How can we justifiably deny our neighbors this gift of life amidst an unprecedented blood shortage? Will you choose to save lives, or will you remain silent as men, women, and children die due to your silence?

Imagine that one day your spouse or child requires a transfusion as the result of a motor vehicle accident, but due to a blood shortage your spouse and child do not receive the transfusion that would save their lives. As Gandhi once eloquently extolled, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

The American Red Cross Blood Drive is an initiative to which this administration is wholeheartedly committed as a matter of social justice and to exemplify the ultimate love of humanity.

Conclusion

I implore the university administration, faculty, and staff to consider my administration’s modest proposal in service of the Student Body. Also, I commend you on your commitment to higher education, the gateway to opportunity, and your unparalleled service to students.

As you reflect on the accomplishments of this administration, please continue to cooperate with the Student Government Association to complete the ambitious and outstanding prerogatives of the Student Government that have been delineated in an effort to maximize representation of the Student Body and contribute to the welfare of our campus community.

On a larger campus free from apathy where students are interested and engaged in the Student Government and affairs of the University many of my progressive and revolutionary ideas would be of great concern to the University administration for fear of student pressure and influence. Unfortunately, this institution has not succumbed to that “problem”.

As long as students remain apathetic, the University administration will continue to disregard the interests of the students as accountability has been lost. I have made every attempt to engage students, but the reality of being a commuter campus has hindered this attempt.

My challenge to every student is to participate in university affairs and the Student Government Association to remain informed in an effort to provide accountability through either the assent or dissent of university policies of student interest. Until students become engaged we will not be considered seriously, and we will continue to be excluded from directing the course of West Virginia State through the unexercised influence we actually wield.

Although our administration has fulfilled many of its desired endeavors, we have much work ahead of us to complete. After all, it has been noted that success is a journey, not a destination. We welcome each of you on this journey.