Ask and You Shall Receive
ears ago when I was a young
administrator at the University
of Miami in Florida, I had the
privilege of working closely with
Dr. Henry King Stanford, Miami’s distinguished President for more than 20 years.
I admired his enthusiasm and energy, his
adroit mind and incredible gift for languages
and words. I watched him masterfully work
a room and unabashedly ask for money.
President Stanford described his role as a
professional mendicant. I had to look the
word up: Mendicant—a beggar. His favorite definition of a college president was a
person who lived in a big house and begged
for a living.
Dr. Stanford was a won