University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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THE UNIVERSITY AND THE STATE AT HARVARD together to aid the refugees who came over from San Francisco. We shall ever bear in mind the camps on California Field and on the old baseball grounds, the hos- pital in Hearst Hall, the ready ervice of meals in the circles by the bridge, but most of all we remember not only the helpfulne:- of the students, both men and women, but their cheerfulness. Though they lost their extravaganza and the other delights of (. ' immencejnent Week, they held together and carried out such parts of their annual ceremonies as they could with unabated cheerfulness and good humor. The Spirit of California, which is the Spirit of the University of California, can not be analyzed and divided into its component parts, and only certain of its most marked characteristics can be alluded to in such a brief paper as this. What I desired to impress upon the Freshmen in the speech that I have more than half forgotten was that they should inherit this Spirit of tolerance and romance and gay courage, and that they should hold to it as the particular characteristic not only of the State of California but of its University. It is hard to live up to high ideals, but we can be aided if we know that such ideals xist, and we can do our best to make them real as well as ideal. The Uni- versity of California is not only an institution of learning, it is not only a place of education for the children of the State; it is the place where the Spirit of California should be most steadily cultivated and where the genera- tions to come after us should learn the breadth of thought, the love of beauty, and the kindliness of courage, which have been characteristic of Californians in the past and must be characteristic of Californians of the future. HENRY MORSE STEPHENS. 23

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THE UNIVERSITY AND THE STATE of her settlement has contributed its share to the Spirit of California and can be seen in the University as well as in the other enterprises of the State. But the romance of California is not all in her history. It is also born of the beauty and variety of the State. The charm of Greece rests on the mountains and the olive groves of California ; the blue sky of Italy rouses the same delight here as in the home of Virgil and of Dante ; California is a land of the sunshine and the ocean and draws from them the sense of breadth and beauty that has aroused poets and painters in all ages of the past. This romance of California, a romance of history and of beauty, has led to a develop- ment of art and literature in the growing State and must lead to further developments hereafter. The students of the University feel in Berkeley that they inherit this Spirit of romance and the influence it spreads in literature and in art. The very existence of the Greek Theatre and the endeavors of the students to give worthy performances there show that the Spirit of Cali- fornia is embodied there as elsewhere in the State. Broad hospitality, deep romantic feeling, and the qualities that go with them have produced a California character that is as distinct as the California atmosphere. The habit of living out of doors close to nature, intimacy with great spaces and great heights, the absence of overwhelming traditions and narrow-minded prejudices, have given the Californians, both men and women, a more reckless courage and a greater sense of daring than other people. But with this has come a gaiety of heart that comes not from ancestry or sur- roundings, but from the spirit that California has engendered. The gay courage of the people of San Francisco after the great fire of 1906 roused the admiration of the world and gave an opportunity for all civilized peoples to show their appreciation of California. The California Spirit was as evident among the students at the University as it was upon the other side of the Bay. Those of us who lived through those days remember how the students got KEARNEY FARM 22

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THE UNIVERSITY AND THE STATE Student Citizenship ITH the growth of colleges has come an increased meaning of student life. The period at a university, according to the old con- ception, was regarded not as a part of real life, but merely as a preparation for it. We still use the name Commencement Day, but the general idea which gave it currency has been lost. For it seems to be the belief, on the part of students of this day at any rate, that the four college years are just as truly a part of life as any years that are to follow. Our college citizenship is real and genuine. And it should be regarded, not merely as a means of preparation for something which is to follow, but as a period of experi- ence which has a value and importance in itself. The expression that the University is a miniature world, employed so frequently as to be well nigh outworn, has for us taken on a new meaning, for we have come to realize that we are in truth our own community, that our problems are in a sense just as real, and our relations just as vital as those of the outside world. The main difference is that here they are more limited and, by the nature of things, are only temporary. Here, as in other relations of life, there are two sorts of activity, the working for oneself and the working for the community. The one is individual, the other social. It is with the latter, with the principles of association, upon which the under- graduate life of the University has been organized, that this article is concerned. The purpose here is to set forth the civic import of Student Self-government. At California, by the grace of University authority, we have developed our peculiar form of student government. To a wide extent we have been entrusted with the conduct of our extra-academic affairs. Our equally wide acceptance of such responsibilities has surrounded us with something akin to a 24