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

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PRESIDENT BARROWS college attendance produces. College training comes at a time when youth must have its social experience and lea rn the charm of good man- ners and the delights of free and cultivated associations. It is life in this old hall or that, to which the average college man in America looks back upon as the central source of most that came from his college attendance. The spirit of Yale was built up around its Campus and of Harvard around the old Yard. Strong traditions and enduring attachments are not readily formed unless one actually lives in his college. The situation today is much better than it was a quarter of a century ago, when almost the entire student body at four or five o ' clock scattered over the adjacent counties. The student body, in spite of its growth in numbers, lives much more compactly now than then, and is in contact during a much larger proportion of the day; nevertheless our academic buildings need to be surrounded by commodious college homes where students who do not belong to fraternities or who do not live in their families may find accommodation, social life and the constant influence of the institution. Provision of such homes is the greatest enterprise before the University today. I welcome the formation of the association of students and alumni which is now being formed to create a permanent and self-perpetuating organization that may labor unceasingly until this great need is cared for. Page 17

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PRESIDENT ' S MESSAGE Blue and Gold this year celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. JL A quarter of a century ago, when some of us were students here, it was very simply printed, but full of student humor and interesting revelations. It has grown into a sumptuous volume, representative of the finest art of printer and binder. College annuals generally started as grinds on joshes on organizations, students, and particularly on faculty members. These latter always came in for their full share of humorous criticism and caricature. Customs change and today the professors seem to escape attention. Does this indicate that they are relatively less important on the campus, or that there is less of the inti- macy disclosing material for satire? One of the early numbers of The Blue and Gold was brought out by the fraternities, which have always figured to an important degree in the publication, but for many years it has been the editorial production of the Junior Class. There is a certain advantage in this fact, because through the history, pictures and other presentations of members of the Junior Class, the University becomes acquainted with the students at the moment when they take hold of their responsibilities as Seniors. The last quarter century has witnessed rapid development. All are observant of the fact that almost never is our beautiful campus free from the disturbance of new construction or alteration. With respect to the central teaching structure of the University, it is true that we may be reaching a certain completeness. With LeConte Hall, the new psychics building, and Haviland Hall, the new home of the School of Education, the great building plan inaugurated twenty-five years ago will, in its central masses, have been achieved. Stephens Hall represents the beginning of a new era in student life, although it is the consummation of efforts extending over a long time. It is fully twenty years ago since the Alumni began to collect and bank small sums for a building that should be a student center. We have at last realized this building and instantly it has found its place. Its power for good cannot be wholly estimated now, but more and more we shall rejoice in its possession and in the unity which its accommodations be- stow. One great need of the student body and of the University remains un- fulfilled. This is the need for college homes upon the campus or adjacent to it. Such homes have a most important relation to the influences that Page 16

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MESSAGE FROM DR. W. W. CAMPBELL rapid and tremendous growth of the state universities during the past quarter-century is perhaps the most striking fact in Ameri- can educational history. A survey of our educational institutions reveals that, in more than eighty per cent of the national area, the student attendance is prevailingly with the state universities. In many privately- endowed institutions, such as Stanford University, limits are placed upon attendance, whereas in state institutions there can be no such limits imposed. Not to mention other factors involved, I am willing to be quoted to the effect that the responsibilities of state universities for the higher education of the young men and women of our country are going to be even greater in the future than they are at present. We should not over look the patent fact that California is destined to become one of the most populous states in the Union. Further, the seat of our University is in one of the world ' s natural foci. The greatness of the University of California in coming decades will be measured by the vision and wisdom of those who will have been responsible for its development and guidance. The proper functions and purposes of a real university should be denned to the understanding of everybody. Its chief concern is with the truth; to discover it, to teach it and to learn it. The first and fore- most obligation of the institution is to the students who come seeking to learn the truth, to develop and train their mental powers, and to prepare themselves for good citizenship. If I were asked to define the most pressing need of American universities today, I should unhesitatingly say, the development of greater reverence for the truth and the search for good in all things. The State of California owes no one a higher education. It simply provides, through the University, the OPPORTUNITY for higher education to any son or daughter who desires it and can qualify for it. If, unfor- tunately, there are any students in the University who do not take their opportunities seriously they should not remain there ; they are a load for the University to carry; they reduce the average of University merit; they are in the way of deserving students. All that American democracy can be expected to say for EQUALITY is equality of opportunity. I ' tige 1 8