As Grinnell College president, alumnus adds diversity

Wharton alumnus Raynard Kington is used to breaking the mold. Earlier this year, he became the first openly gay president of Grinnell College, one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. He is also the first black individual and first physician in the role.

According to Kington, being “an outsider” has worked to his advantage.

“You get used to seeing things in multiple perspectives,” he said. “You don’t carry as much baggage in terms of thinking about issues.”

Prior to his tenure at Grinnell, Kington was associate director of the National Institutes of Health. During his years at Penn in the late 1980s, he earned a masters of business administration and doctorate in health policy and economics.

“I decided that the thing that I most passionately believe in is the value of higher education and I wanted to make my mark,” he said, adding that what attracted him to Grinnell was its strong commitment to social justice.

According to Kington, Grinnell was the first college to send students to protest the Vietnam War. The tradition of activism has continued, he said, citing a recent National Survey of College Students where 20 percent of Grinnell students said that they wish to make the world a better place, as opposed to 12 percent nationwide.

“We go after students who are really prepared to change the world,” he said. “Not just to die with a New York Times obituary, but to really change the world and engage their communities.”

Every week, Kington, his partner and their two sons have dinner in the dining hall to get to know students. His sexuality has been a “non-issue” on campus, something that he attributes to “the culture of openness.”

However, Kington said that during a recent interview with National Public Radio, more than a third of the questions from the audience concerned his sexual orientation.

“I fully support gay rights and recognize that for many students and many adults and teenagers in the world, sexual orientation remains a defining experience ­— often for the worst,” he said, citing the example of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman who committed suicide on Sept. 22 after his roommate secretly filmed his sexual encounter and streamed it live on the internet.

“I’m here because other people did huge things and I appreciate them tremendously,” he said, adding that society has come a long way in advancing gay rights.

“Because of what they’ve done, [being gay] doesn’t have to be a defining aspect of my tenure,” he said.

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