My undergraduate studies took place at Presbyterian College, a liberal arts school of about 1,000 students in Clinton, S.C. The town was so small that you had to leave it to find a McDonald's or go to a movie. The campus was picturesque. Old, tall oak trees, brick buildings, a lawn where students played Frisbee and football, a girls' freshman dorm that had shared bathrooms in the hall and no air conditioning. When I started, I knew only one other student (the previous year's valedictorian from my high school), but I gained many lifelong friends along the way. While the...