Chatham College - Cornerstone Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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. . . .

Page 10 text:

The student can never forget what she must have known m choosing such a college — that, above all, she is here to learn. The standard of excellence is high, the work load, heavy, and the pressure, acute. There are times, usually around 4 a.m., when it seems to us that life with- out profound and weighty thought is certainly admissable ; but that life without passion, feeling, and ]oy is unthink- able. Most of us finally decide that the only unthinkable thing IS to establish a dichotomy between the two. There are many such judgments to be made ; for, if it is clear that the foreground of value is knowledge, it is unclear to what extent the principle will be embodied m each of us. Somehow the academic must be integrated with our interest in the organizational and social ; and while these three spheres are not unrelated, they have a way of col- liding when we are operating in a sphere of time. Each of us will invest in the three areas, but to a different degree; each is seeking the best of all possible worlds, but our definitions differ. Whatever else we may be, we are people who are confronted w ith many choices. And although the decisions may not be made with ritual-like awareness and precision, along the path that changes from leaves to snow to grass four times over, each stu- dent is eliminating options, establishing goals — sorting mice and queens. . . .