Better than Dumbledore

Last night, the entire Tufts community got a very sad email: that President Bacow will be stepping down as Tufts president, effective June 2011.

My initial thoughts (AHHH! No more President’s Marathon Challenge – not that I was planning on running it, but at least I had that option, you know? And now I don’t!  No more trick or treating at Gifford House, or seeing and hearing Adele practicing flute as I walk to Fletcher!  No senior dinner invites to the Bacow residence – Bacow, can’t you please please please stay until I graduate, at least? Pleeeease? And what about those Bacow is my homeboy t-shirts?! I STILL WANT ONE!) were echoed by the rest of the Tufts community.  The Tufts Daily, for example, ran a huge feature on Bacow’s presidency, and one of the headlines sounds like it could have been describing Evita or Obama in his campaign days – “Bacow: The People’s President”.

And when I checked Facebook this morning, I saw 15 status updates bemoaning his departure .  Some of the highlights –

“Please, Larry, I can be better. Don’t end it like this.”

“Please don’t break my heart, Larry Bacow…”

And my personal favorite, from our very own admissions blogger Chase Gregory (quoting a friend of hers) –

“He’s actually better than Dumbledore.”

TRUTH. He is better than Dumbledore.

And from a generation of college students crazed with Harry Potter, that is high praise indeed.

His successor is going to have verrrrry large shoes to fill.