Although the recently approved statue of UGA’s founder and first president, Abraham Baldwin, should stand throughout the university’s lifespan, making sure it happened took about two years.
“I first had the idea when I was giving lectures at Harvard and Yale,” said Loch Johnson, Regents Professor of Public and International Affairs, who came up with idea. “In my spare time I would walk around these beautiful campuses, and I was struck by (their founders’) statues. They added to the sense of history and tradition there.”
Johnson, who also conceptualized the Memorial Garden outside the Miller Learning Center, decided UGA could benefit in the same way. He spent a year researching Baldwin and statues and brought the proposal to the University Council’s Facilities Committee last year. After tabling the proposal for a year due to economic concerns, the entire body approved it at the Nov. 5 meeting.
Baldwin’s likeness preserves a link to the past and serves as a unifying force for university faculty, staff and students, Johnson said.
“We’re from different disciplines, but there is a common thread that connects us all: We are dedicated to a life of public service,” he said. “And what better symbol of public service than Abraham Baldwin?”
Indeed, the founder served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, nine years in the U.S. Senate and conferred with James Madison at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Initial plans call for the statue to be sited on North Campus adjacent to Old College, which is a replica of the building where Baldwin studied at Yale.
Funding for the statue will come from private donations and will be guaranteed by a $60,000 matching grant through the UGA Alumni Association.
“We will ask individual alumni to join in with the Alumni Association’s challenge to make this a reality on the university’s campus,” said Tom Landrum, vice president for external affairs.
“Anything you can do to provide a connection with the institution that will endure past the days that students stay on the campus is another way to keep them forever linked with their alma mater, which is good for many of reasons, not just the financial ties that continue,” he said. “We have an opportunity to provide that link with a replica of the founder Abraham Baldwin.”
A committee will be formed to select an artist for the statue. Current plans call for the statue to be finished while the university celebrates its 225th anniversary in 2010.
