For Roger Casey and Robyn Allers — the couple who asks to be called “Roger and Robyn” and lived on the Hill for 11 years during Roger’s presidency — the question of “where do you consider home?” leads to a lot of possible responses. Is it McDaniel College in Westminster? The Budapest campus in Hungary where they recently spent a year while Roger taught classes? Is it in Robyn’s home state of Florida, their New York home, or Roger’s hometown in South Carolina, where his dad still lives?
As they began looking at their estate planning, Roger and Robyn realized one thing: “Of the various entities in our lives that have meant a lot to us, McDaniel is the one that has meant the most,” Roger says.
That’s why after 11 years of service as president and special liaison for college relations, the couple committed to a $2 million bequest establishing The Dr. Roger Casey and Robyn Allers Strategic Initiative Fund. The unrestricted fund will allow college leadership to decide where best to use the money in relation to the strategic plan in place at the time.
We talked to the former presidential couple about what made the Hill so special to them and the legacy they hope to leave behind as Roger officially enters retirement this fall.
Q:What attracted you to McDaniel when you were considering the presidency, and what made you decide this was a place you could call home?
ROGER | The thing that attracted me most to the college and kept me at the college is its commitment to first-generation college students. As a first-gen graduate myself, this tremendous commitment to first-generation college students and their success made the place feel like home to me.
ROBYN | That commitment extends not just from the administration or the mission statement or the trustees, but also the alumni that we met, particularly those who were first-generation themselves. They were very supportive of continuing that mission and it was always great to hear their stories.
Q: You two don’t have children. In what ways did you find family here on the Hill?
ROBYN | That’s one of the questions we got asked a lot when we were chatting with people: “Do you have children?” And we learned that saying no kind of shut the conversation down. So, since we really sort of viewed the student body as our children, we would say, “We have 1,500 or 1,800 kids.” That usually got a chuckle and represented how we really felt.
ROGER | Over the years, we’ve adopted a lot of “kids.” Much like what I imagine parents feel, every night, when you put the cellphone down, you hope it doesn’t ring. But in our travels over the years, we have been fortunate to reconnect with a lot of folks who were former students who really feel like family to us.
ROBYN | Neither one of us has much family. I was one of only two children, and all my immediate family is gone now; Roger is an only child. So, most of our lives, we’ve created our own family wherever we’ve been, whether that’s through theatre, colleagues, or students. Family is a very broad term for us.
ROGER | One of the things I always said in my addresses was that a college is not a place, or buildings, or a curriculum. It’s people. And you could easily substitute either the word “family” or “home” in there in a similar way. When I think about the McDaniel family, it’s always been great to be in New York or San Francisco or Boca Raton and always be able to find somebody from that family to be able to connect with. We’re all Green Terrors together.
ROBYN | I also recall how meaningful it was for us to live on campus. We saw students all the time, even when the campus was closed for snow days. We had the same home as the students for that period of time. I always said, “This isn’t our house, but it is our home.”
Q:Roger, you always made sure to bring your parents into the fold here on campus as part of your legacy. Caseys’ Corner in Hoover Library is named in their honor, and I imagine their support must have been incredibly important for you as a first-generation college student.
ROGER | We didn’t have a whole lot of financial means, but with their willingness to support a private liberal arts education for me at Furman, they were always there for me. I essentially said to my parents, “If you’ll make this work for a while, I’ll get more scholarships or I’ll work.” By the time I finished, I was going to school essentially for free. But the biggest thing I learned from my dad, who was an automobile mechanic, is this philosophy that you are supposed to fix things that don’t work so well. That’s part of what my attraction was to higher education administration. You’re faced with problems or issues, and you’ve got to figure out a solution and how to keep things running. That skill set that my dad demonstrated while I was growing up transferred from mechanics to academia. Being able to name Caseys’ Corner after Mom and Dad was the least I could do as a “thank you” to them.
Q: Robyn, you were special liaison for college relations while Roger was president, and it seemed like you were always present or leading your own initiatives. What did it mean to you to be such a highly engaged presidential spouse?
ROBYN | It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know so many amazing people and institutions in town and to showcase our students. In the process, I made good friends and had opportunities to contribute to a number of projects in the community — all of which were extremely rewarding. And on campus, it was great having students to dinner, which we did frequently, and supporting their events and initiatives. Our students always inspired me.
Q:What was unique about McDaniel that you don’t think other college presidents experience?
ROGER | We could remarkably be ourselves at McDaniel as Roger and Robyn. I hear from a lot of college presidents that they have to be a lot more guarded. But a mentor of mine, the late former president at Rollins College, Rita Bornstein, told me a long time ago, “You better damn well make sure they know exactly who you are.” And I felt that from day one in the interview process that I could say, “This is who I am, this is what I believe in, and this is what I’d love to do.” We were fortunate that we were able to find a home that allowed us to be ourselves and flourish in that environment.
ROBYN | Going to the conferences of presidents and spouses every year, I always came away with that perspective. Both of us feel very fortunate that we didn’t have some of the problems that our peers around the country faced of having to be careful what you wore to the grocery store and things like that.
ROGER | And I have to say that aside from the support provided to me at home by Robyn, the two most important people in your life professionally as a college president are your board chair and your provost. I don’t think I could have had two better people for those jobs than Marty Hill and Julia Jasken.
Q:What was the transition to president emeritus like as President Julia Jasken took office?
ROGER | It’s important as a retired president that you get the hell out of Dodge. Your successor has to have a very clear path to be whoever they are. I hope I’ve done that for Julia. Of course, she had my number if she ever needed me, but I was not going to be calling her. That also meant I had a chance to get back to my first love: teaching, including a year on our Budapest campus. But as of Sept. 1 this year, I am officially, fully retired.
Q:Why did you decide to make a $2 million bequest to McDaniel College as you looked at your estate planning?
ROGER | It’s simple: We’re two people who care deeply about this place, and who don’t have any family to leave our money to. Fundamentally, you have to leave your money to somebody, and McDaniel is the “somebody” that we think can make the most difference in the world.
Q:As a former college president, you are in a unique position to understand how funds are used. How did that play a role in your intentions for this generous bequest to the Hill?
ROGER | The one thing I always saw in higher ed administration was that the needs of institutions change greatly, particularly when you’re looking at long-term gift commitments. People might want to make a commitment to an academic program that 20 years later doesn’t even exist. But the thing that presidents and boards need more than anything else is unrestricted dollars to do what they need to make the biggest impact. There’s good strategic leadership in place, so it’s best to leave it to their hands to figure out where the money can best be used. That’s why we established The Dr. Roger Casey and Robyn Allers Strategic Initiative Fund.
Q:In addition to the unrestricted strategic initiative fund, the Board of Trustees established the Casey Allers Impact Fund before your retirement, which is specifically to be used to support first-generation students who may need financial assistance to partake in experiential learning. What does that fund mean to you two?
ROBYN | That was a really, really special recognition. We were so honored that the board saw that passion of ours and wanted it to live on beyond our time on the Hill.
ROGER | The reality for most first-generation students for whom college is economically straining is that they can’t do a lot of experiential learning because they have to work. They can’t take an unpaid internship because they need their minimum wage job to make ends meet. They can’t study abroad because they can’t work without a visa in another country. I heard from many students that the number one impediment to studying abroad was that they couldn’t give up their job because their education — and in some cases, their family’s livelihood — depended on their income. I believe that getting out of this country is the most educational, life-changing experience there is, even above going to college. So, as Robyn said, we were just very honored that the board recognized how much this cause meant to us. It means a lot to have our names connected to that impact fund.
Q:What legacy do you hope you’re leaving behind at McDaniel?
ROGER | I just always hope I made the right choices. You never know what the chain of impact is going to be in a job like this. And I just hope we did well by people. Ultimately, we wanted to do this because we’re hoping it shows people how much we cared about this place. This is a clear sign that we believed in what the college was investing in when I was president. And we continue to believe in it, and we want to invest right back into the college. I want this to inspire others to give back. I never worked for another college in which the alumni talked as passionately and positively about their experience as they do at McDaniel. I hope we encourage alumni to open their purse strings the way they open their hearts to the college. Whatever we can do to help alumni make that transition would be the greatest thing we could possibly give back to the school.