Chatham College - Cornerstone Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 6 text:

We enter: dash headlong to emhrace her or falter forward to tolerate her. Then we exit: dash, resolute to escaj e her or falte r, hesitant to ■part with her. And between the entrance and the exit, the interim . . . Chatham. For a time, four years long in forgotten lines and short in brilliant moments, we are hers. She, ours. And It IS a delicate and demanding relationship, a weaving of each into the other ' s life design. Her value, abstractly considered, is absolute : as a specific and special instance of scholarship and education, Chatham ' s overall design is one luminescent point in a larger pattern of truth- seeking lights. But her value, concretely and personally considered, is relative. The beauty of her stance is con- tingent on the mental posture of each individual student and, consequently, her worth is not the same for each individual student. Therefore, while others may be con- tent to know where we spent our seventeen to twenty-one years, we question, What do I there? It is a question which IS immediate, perpetual, and painful. Nevertheless it IS also necessary, for without this self-induced prod- ding our experience here might simply retrace the steps of the proverbial pussy cat who went to London to visit the Queen, but only busied himself chasing mice out from under her chair. An excellent college offers much but assures little ; for its design is complex — while it enthrones queens, it also houses mice. . . .

Page 8 text:

Fortunately there are those who see more clearly the inner logic of that design, for they enjoy a superior van- tage point. On the one hand, they stand above the design : they have witnessed many before us striving to integrate the student with the maturing young woman. On the other hand, they stand at its center : their major interest is the value upon which a college is founded. Each has, in the words of Dr. Eddy, chosen a life work which emphasizes what he loves: knowledge. It is perhaps the first vantage point which, sensitizing him to the student ' s needs and capabilities, makes the Chatham professor so willing to be interested in us as people. As freshmen we are amazed at the rapidity with which the amorphous black robe solidifies into some very concrete individuals. By the time we are seniors, we have penetrated the academic confines to discover what each takes in his coffee. But despite the degree of his personal concern, it is that second vantage point — as one who loves knowledge — that determines the common denominator in the student- faculty equation. Again in the words of Dr. Eddy, The typical faculty member never has understood the student who comes here just to grow up. ' If the professor is in- terested in us as people, it is as people who are here for a very special reason. . . .