By Christi Mays
Students quarrel. Feelings get hurt. Relationships break. It happens every day on every college campus, even a Christian one. Almost 150 years ago, Anne Luther, the president’s wife, devised a plan to help end the festering feuds and help heal broken relationships among the all-woman student body. Thus began a since-forgotten tradition she called “Forgiving Day.”
The idea came to Anne just before Thanksgiving in 1878. Determined to promote peace before their holiday feast, she and student Elli Moore Townsend tasked faculty and staff to mediate between squabbling students to get them to bury their differences and start anew. They believed one couldn’t truly be thankful during Thanksgiving without first reconciling their grievances, said Beth Norvell '03, associate director of museum and alumni engagement.
Then, on Thanksgiving Day, as a symbol of reconciliation, each girl had to present a “token of forgiveness” in the form of a hug, handshake, note or word of kindness to any other students with whom she had a grievance. They did this with Anne as witness.
Many girls saw this tradition as challenging and uncomfortable, but as one student said, “We would do anything for Mrs. Luther.”
