EWU Honors its Veteran Community

This Veterans Day, Eastern is proud to honor the contributions of our student, faculty, staff and alumni veterans, including the more than 350 Eagles currently on campus who have served in our nation’s armed services.

Anthony Whipple, the new director of Eastern’s Veteran’s Resource Center (VRC), said that honoring service in every aspect is front and center for Veterans Day.

“It doesn’t matter what you did, what you accomplished, which awards you won: The fact that you stood up and said ‘I’m willing to fight for my country’ is what matters,” Whipple said, adding that whether one’s military service came in a support role or in combat missions it should not be overlooked or go unappreciated.

As in previous years, EWU’s 2025 Veterans Day observances include a special display at EWU’s JFK Library. This year’s display features veteran-produced art that sheds light on the era of the global war on terror.

There will also be a coffee reception with on-campus vets in the VRC Lounge, from 9-11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, followed by a panel discussing forms of veteran representation in the media at 5 p.m. in room 123 of the Radio-TV Building (RTV). The celebration will culminate with the Hometown Heroes football game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Roos Field.

On Veterans Day and every day, Whipple emphasizes, Eastern prides itself on providing support services to help vets move forward and achieve their goals as they transition out of the uniform — services which earned it national “College of Distinction for Military Support” honors earlier this year.

“My dream is to support veterans and their families – anybody military-connected, in any capacity,” he said.

Going forward, Whipple hopes to extend these resources to veterans who take remote classes or are even still on active-duty, saying representation was the key to earning recognition and respect for our Eagle veterans.