Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

Page 10 text:

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT A college like ours derives its character from three different sources. The first source is the history and traditions in American higher educa- tion as a whole. The second source is the history and traditions of Bridgewater State College. The third source is the climate of issues and values in the rest of society. The individuality and personality of an institution are subtle and not easy to define. Yet we all recognize them just as we recognize the individuality and personality of a person. Perhaps the words that come closest to describing what we sense as the special nature of the Bridge- water State College character is the phrase, The Bridgewater College Community. College Community because we are deeply committed to a fundamental proposition; namely, that if the values of democracy, of sharing, of participation, of partnership, of dialogue, of striking a balance between the authentic rights of every individual member of the college community, and of every group of individuals in the college— if all these values of democracy are to be real, we must have faith in them and we must work together to make them vital and meaningful, for democracy is the most difficult of all forms of government to imple- ment. Yes, we are deeply motivated by two convictions at this College. The first conviction is that though democracy is the most difficult form of social organization at a college or anywhere else, it is the best form. The second conviction is that we must make democracy work in a college community like this where, after all, we have so much in common. For how can we go forth into other communities or into the nation or into the world and hope to make the principles of democracy work in those incomprehensibly more difficult and complex situations, unless we have a reasonable measure of success in our relatively homogenous community.

Page 12 text:

CONVOCATION SEPTEMBER 26, 1 967