Clark University - Pasticcio Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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CLASS ORATION FIAT LUX BY GORDON S. PRICE THE question of relative values in the field of human endeavors is a force severely felt in times such as we are passing through now. It is a question of whether or not the training we have received will be applicable to the demands of the at war and post-war world, that is, has our education fitted us to come to grips with such problems as racial bigotry, economic class barriers. and social distinctions which hang like an appalling cloud over our jade horizon? If not. it were best that the institutions of higher education close their doors or initiate a program to train individuals in the art of self- defense and the policing of mob violence. In the past thirty years we have witnessed the world embarking on the vicious cycle of war, peace. war again, and. may it be soon, a peace which can either be the nucleus for a new era in world history or merely a recess and precursor of conflicts to come. Thus, it seems at this point that we should tarry a moment to see how we, the graduates, fit into this changing panorama. Four years of college lie behind us, years in which we have passed through successive stages of collegiate life. Have we benefited permanently from these years or have we gained only a superficial icing of what we should be carrying forth from Clark as our contribution to our fellows Our obligations are heavier than ever before to those who have left all behind at the call to arms, especially to those who have left our campus in the past few years. These men have had their distasteful work cut out for them and are adapting themselves to all climes and conditions, endeavoring to bring harmony out of chaos, To them I pay tribute, in their own sundry ways they are heralding FIAT LUX! Let us examine for a moment the basis we have formed to justify our saddling of philosophies on the world. Four years ago we entered Clark, with our diversified backgrounds and ideas: our first days were spent in the estab- lishment of cliques and thwarting the hazing efforts of our august brethren. Unity and leadership brought us through our first year and gradually we realized the greatness of our college, the Student Body Organization. From these healthy surroundings we were individually and collectively innoculated with the seeds of tolerance, understanding, fellowship, and a unification of ideals and aims. It is true that our four years have had their minor confiicts l2lI

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CLASS HISTORY WOMENS COLLEGE BY ELEANOR BARRIERE IN SEPTEMBER of 1942, the first group of co-eds set foot on the Clark campus. We were among them, we, the Class of 1944, the first class of women to merit that distinction, to develop from a mass of assorted individuals into a real student body. We think the history of our college life is a unique one. Although the story of any college group in wartime can hardly be called typical, we feel this fact alone is not suHicient to explain our case. To the wartime exigencies of acceleration, man-power shortage, and emigration of profs, there can be added the consciousness of being a new element in the compound of the Clark Student Body. That we came as Sophomores or Juniors to the college adds one more pertinent fact explaining our atypical situation. During our stay at Clark we participated in those organizations which had been traditions long before we arrived. More than this, we took part in the organization of new activities which may, themselves, someday be regarded as traditions. Rope Pulls, Bohemes, Founder's Days, Spree Days-these we found when we came to Clark. Inter-Faith, girls' basketball, and others, we have helped to establish: and we hope that when we are gone they will continue to prosper. We have played basketball in the gym and contributed our share of high scorers: we have had bull sessions as well as study in the library, we have debated hotly and fervently for Clark: we have written, reported, and done general leg-work for the Scarlet: we have argued and prophesied for I. R. C. In spite of all this, we had time left over to play bridge and casino in the Lounge, go on bike trips with Nunnie, and hang around to watch for Harvey and the mail. In our short career at Clark, we have also seen many changes. We saw the Clark men leave for the armed services. We saw the A. S. T. men arrive, adding a military note to campus life. We watched them leave, this spring, for parts unknown. And now, we, too, are leaving. Clark has undoubtedly changed and in- fluenced our lives to a great extent. Perhaps, to some slight extent, we may have influenced Clark, left some mark of our being here. It is not too much to hope that it will retain something of us to whom it gave so much. l2Ol

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but We have emerged from each stronger and wiser, better able to meet the diffi- culties which later crossed our path. Perhaps the most difficult thing for any of us to realize is that in our college years we've been living in a World all of our own: our social and intellectual lives have been inextricably bound up in our college activities, and have been, in almost every respect, dissimilar to that of those who have been baptized by combat. . . Now We, in turn, are called upon to meet and repay our obligations by carrying out to our utmost the aims and ideals in which we have been steeped. I have mentioned earlier in this oration that we have obtained such virtues as understanding and tolerance, and I beg permission to expand on their appli- cation in the labors which will confront us. When the peace is won, our ranks will again be challenged by subversive forces which are the natural coun- terparts of reconstruction-the exploitation of a glutted labor market: social abuses along through the war effort to readjust themselves to a state of normalcy. Clark has successfully held us aloof from the prejudice, bitterness, and blind- ness which has smitten legions of our fellows: has aided and abetted the formulation of a theory of relative values unwarped and unbiased by sub- versiveness: has enabled us to maintain a state of equilibrium and nurture it into a philosophy. To the graduates much has been given, and from the graduates, as in the parable of the talents, much is demanded. Are we qualified to rise to the occasion? Can we worthily, honorably, justly and ably discharge the duties and privileges which are our obligations to our society, our country and our God? There, then, is the challenge, You and I are the mustard-seeds and through our endeavors, savored with tolerance, sympathy, and understanding we can. and must, bring to a broken, bleeding universe, the fruition of our works. FIAT LUX I22I