William P. Schimpf: Sailing on

By Barbara D. Kiernan, M.A.'90

When Bill Schimpf arrived at Fairfield University, the Vietnam War was raging, the Civil Rights movement was mourning the loss of a leader, and University students everywhere were demanding to be heard. "Across the nation, students were intent on being their own person, making their own decisions, and being treated like adults," Schimpf says. Tensions percolated on more than just Fairfield's campus as students lobbied for release from rules generated by the in loco parentis (in the place of parents) philosophy of the day. "That's the wonderful adolescent development we all reminisce about," quips Schimpf, a mere three weeks into retirement after 37 years in Student Services, most of them as division vice president.

Today he wonders about that war. Wonders if it engendered a long-lasting mistrust of authority. Wonders if it's partly why today's parents - many micro-involved in their college-age children's lives courtesy of cell phones - are so ready to challenge any person in authority who might say no. What has shifted, Schimpf believes, "is the assumption that growth toward independent decision-making is an essential part of the college experience."

In 37 years, Schimpf has been witness to countless success stories - students who made a relatively seamless adjustment and expanded their experience through club and other activities; students in academic distress who turned a corner and found new purpose in their studies; students whose behavior landed them a suspension but who graduated and went on to be corporate leaders. "Dealing with students and reassuring their parents has been a great part of the job," he says. "The adjustment to college is difficult, but most kids end up doing quite well."

Helping them do so is a key role of the Student Services Division, which under Schimpf's leadership grew to include the Center for Multicultural Relations, Athletics, Career Planning, Residence Life, New Student Programs, Public Safety, Student Activities, Counseling Services, the Health Center, and Academic Support Services.

"It's been a great satisfaction to work with such good people over the years," he says, noting that some 40 Fairfield students, after becoming involved with campus clubs and organizations, have gone on to enter the profession. Also planning a similar career is Schimpf's son, Will Jr., now pursuing a master's degree at Salisbury University.

Schimpf himself entered the profession through the back door. A Philadelphia native, he found himself on the brink of academic disaster when an ill-advised stint in Penn State's pre-med program brought him "thisclose" to failing out. Fortunately, he had enjoyed summer work at a bank and was able to switch his major to finance. "Then I made the Dean's List," he says.

After graduation, he enrolled in Penn State's MBA program and, to pay his freight, took a graduate assistant position in the residence halls. He soon discovered other gifts - a natural ability to work with college kids - so he switched gears and instead earned a master's in counseling and college personnel administration.

Clearly, Schimpf's young adult years included the zigs and zags that typify many a student's journey to becoming who he or she is meant to be. At Fairfield, he's also witnessed the behavioral zigs and zags that can impede the process. "There were too many nights," he says, eyes misting over, "when I'd fall back asleep at 2 a.m. saying a prayer for a kid whose system was shutting down because of alcohol, wondering if he'd have a future."

When dealing with this and other forms of self-destructive behavior, Schimpf was always aware of a paradox. "Part of the growing-up process," he says," is that kids make mistakes, occasionally big ones. That doesn't make them bad people. Sometimes, though, it means we have to go to greater extremes to get their attention. Acknowledging mistakes and working through the consequences are important steps in becoming a mature, self-confident adult."

Having helped so many students become just that, Schimpf is content, eager to do more of what he has loved to do for years. And that would be? Spending leisure time with his family (wife, Clare, and their now-adult children, Will and Marion, a Fairfield junior) as captain of their ship, "Our Own."