University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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It was in 1934 that Lee Paul Sieg stepped into the president ' s office and began to direct the functions of the University o f Washington. hie went to college, because it was the thing to do. At one time he thought he might become an electricol engineer. He graduated in three years (against his will) from Iowa University and remained there to teach physics. It was in one of these classes that he met his future wife. Had it not been for circumstances beyond his control President Sieg ' s picture might not now be printed here. Dean Sieg, as he was called at Pittsburg University, where he was dean of three colleges simultaneously, was comfortable in Pittsburg, and he liked the place. When he was offered the presidency of the University of Washington, he looked the situation over, and twice replied in the negative. The third time fate stepped in. You go out there, ordered Mrs. Sieg. 1944-45 was his eleventh year on the job. According to his announcement to the Board of Regents, not more than two years will be added to that record. Wise and comparatively liberal, President Sieg has token a deep interest in building up the University and in help- ing the students. Thrice yearly he appears before that University — for his convocation ' s address welcoming freshmen, for the Sieg-instituted President ' s Reception, and at commencement. His one deep regret — that he cannot know more of the students personally. MY DEAR STUDENTS: YOU ARE THE FIRST COMPLETE WARTIME COLLEGE GENERATION TO BE GRADUATED FROM OUR UNIVERSITY IN THE PRESENT WORLD WAR. FOUR YEARS AGO YOUR COLLEGE CAREERS BEGAN IN THE SHADOW OF PEARL HARBOR AND j SINCE THEN YOU HAVE KNOWN ONLY A WARTIME CAMPUS IN A WORLD AT WAR. ' IT WAS DIFFICULT FOR US, BACK IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE WAR, TO SEE THE FOREST FOR ' THE TREES. WE HAD TO MEET OBSTACLES AND PROBLEMS AND TO DISPOSE OF THEM ONE AT A TIME. BUT NOW WE HAVE TIME, EVEN AS THE WAR EFFORT CONTINUES UNABATED, TO LOOK AHEAD TO THE PATTERN OF THINGS TO COME. I PROFOUNDLY HOPE THAT THE WARTIME YEARS YOU HAVE SPENT HERE IN THE COMPARA- TIVE SECLUSION OF OUR ACADEMIC HALLS HAVE GIVEN YOU THE PERSPECTIVE TO SEE THE FOR- EST, NOTJUSTTHETREES, AND HAVE PREPARED YOU TO SERVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR FELLOW- CITIZENS, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE, TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES. MY BEST WISHES TO ALL OF YOU. L P. SIEG PRESIDENT 23

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I President L P. Sieg 22

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GOVERNOR MONO WALLGREN YOU who are about to enter into the business of living, of taking your part in all its phases, personal and civic responsibilities, will have already considered the many problems which you will, in compony with the vast number of your generation, decide. You will recognize that there are no cheap and easy U topias to be had for the resolving. You will not keep your eyes on utopias but on the area of social possibilities — the America that can be. That is the realm that opens up for us, expanded almost illimitably by the new reaches of technological advance and the productivity of a man ' s work when applied to his knowledge of nature. You will take part in the tremendous task of the transition from a war economy to a peace economy. You will not be dismayed by its complexities. You will have faith that the common sense and the energy which have enabled the American people to overcome the problems of the past will again grasp and solve the problems, and prepare the way to a better American life. You will be among the leaders who will bring this hope to fruition. We have in our own soil and on our own continent all the resources for feeding our psople. We have and will have among our own population tho managerial ability and the technical and workers ' skills for runn ' ng the machines. We have in our own government the social techniques of control and planning that are needed to organ ' ze our resources and skills. We have wondered whether economic security can itself create freedom, whether economic abundonce necessarily leads to a democratic society. The answer is that while decent living standards ore no guarantee of freedom, they are a condition of freedom. The problems of creating a healthy economy are inseparable from the problems of creating a good society. It will be your task and your privilege to help to build and mointain a peace economy which will make possible full and fair distribution of our resoruces and our production. A decent social structure will surely follow. MON C. WALLGREN GOVERNOR 24