"As everybody around here knows," said Colby board chair Lawrence Pugh '56, "it is usually not a good idea to surprise Bill Cotter." But surprised Cotter was, on Friday, May 23, when Pugh announced the board's unanimous decision to rename the Student Union for him. The ceremony was, for many on the campus, the highlight of Commencement Weekend. Nearly a year ago, Pugh said, ballots were distributed to the trustees. Then the real work began: keeping a secret, for all that time, from Bill and Linda Cotter. The Cotters' attention to detail and ability to detect anomalies are legendary on Mayflower Hill. None of the half dozen Colby administrators who knew about the plan dared, even in private, to refer to it as anything except "Project X," and an elaborate plot, full of red herrings, was devised to explain the few changes in Friday's normal schedule. Dean of the College Earl Smith was so sure that Cotter would twig to things that he wouldn't allow the Cotters' children, Deborah, David and Elizabeth, and other family members and friends who had been invited, to arrive on campus in their own cars. Instead, they were picked up off campus, driven in a van to Lorimer Chapel by Karen Bourassa, Colby's scheduling and facilities manager, and hidden until the ceremony began. Even then Smith fretted that Cotter would see the van. But the secret was kept. Bill and Linda Cotter were escorted from a reception in the Spa to a podium outside, where they hugged their children and then, looking slightly bewildered, listened to Pugh. "The most important responsibility of a board of trustees is to hire a president," Pugh began, "and those of us who have been privileged to serve on this board could be well satisfied if we had done little else in the past eighteen years except choose Bill Cotter to lead this college." Pugh enumerated the "remarkable advances" Colby has made under Cotter, including: increasing ethnic and gender diversity among the faculty, staff and students; the establishment of 28 endowed professorships; an increase in the overall endowment from $25 million to $162 million; and more than $56 million in capital improvements, including nine new buildings. "But all of this aside," Pugh said, "historians will certainly say that among the most important changes during your tenure as president was the creation of new opportunities for students." The hallmark of Cotter's advocacy for students was the redesign of student life in 1984, and the physical centerpiece of that effort, Pugh said, was the Student Union. "It is fitting, therefore, that this building should forevermore carry your name," he said, and with that, Physical Plant Director Alan Lewis and Dean of Faculty Bob McArthur bore in the COTTER UNION sign that now hangs on the union archway. Bill Cotter went to the podium, took a breath, and froze. "Speechless!" someone said. But, later, at the faculty-trustee dinner, Cotter did find a few words. To an audience that included the Cotter children, Linda Cotter's parents, Rose and Harold Kester, and sister and brother-in-law, Marjorie and Peter Smith, and friends Nina and Sol Hurwitz P '81 and Karen and Leon Allen P '86, he said, "I am not only surprised--that's an understatement--I am extremely moved by this decision of the board. This is an extraordinary gesture we'll never forget and will cherish. As I look around this room and see my colleagues, I know why this is a great college. . . . It is a joy to be president, working with all of you at this very, very special college." Cotter remarked that a seat at his table had been reserved for his mother, Esther, but that she was unable to attend and would visit Mayflower Hill in July. "Neither of my parents went to college," he said. "My dad died a long time ago, but it will be special for my mother to see a building at an academic institution like this with the Cotter name on it." In case anyone thought the ceremony heralded Cotter's retirement, Pugh rushed to reassure them. "We took this moment to name this building only because we felt it was a very good idea for Bill to receive this testimony to his invaluable leadership while he and Linda are still around Mayflower Hill to enjoy it," Pugh said. "So don't sell your Colby stock."