Coe College - Acorn Yearbook (Cedar Rapids, IA)

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DEAN GF MEN We are colleagues in a great enterprise. There is no better illustration of our comradeship than the contents of this book. Nor is there a better indication of the varied activities on a modern college campus. The Annual is the clearing house for all the things that interest a college community. It is of interest to note that similar activities as are here portrayed have been going on for fifty years. The fiftieth edition of the College Catalogue is off the press. Recently the first issue of the Coe Annual was brought to my attention. lt is the portrayal of the life of the College of an early period. There were students, athletes, debaters, pretty girls, then as nowg not as many, but probably quite as good. ln these fifty years we have made progress. The curriculum has been broad- ened and enriched. The faculty has been enlarged and is better prepared. The college is on a more secure financial foundation. We have a larger campus, more buildings, and a more numerous student body. Let us hope that we also have a better College so that we are colleagues in a greater and better enterprise. And what of the future? Doubtless some of us whose pictures are on display in this book and whose activities are herein mentioned will help celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Coe College. How will the Annual published in 1981 compare with this one? What will the faculty be like? How will the campus appear to the students of that generation? Will there be a Coe College or student body at all? At anyirate we'll have to help solve some very difficult problems in the mean time. HARRY KREMERS Page 21

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Page 20 DEAN OF COLLEGE g l LOOKING FORWARD The coming year should be the most significent and interesting in the whole history of Coe College-a history that spans a period of eighty years and involves a semi-century of full college activity. It will be the year of the celebration of the Semi-Centennial Jubilee. ln 1952, a hundred years after Williston jones, Daniel Coe, Dr. Ely, judge Greene, and others were placing the first foundation stones of the future college, the class of '32 will be well launched upon lifels voyage. ln 1981-82 they will be assembling to participate in the Centennial Jubilee of Alma Mater, the fiftieth anniversary of their own graduation. Somewhere upon the campus they will gather to recall the Clays of '32 when they were looking out with high anticipations upon the future, to com- pare results, perchance to cast a look forward to the palmy shores not far ahead. During the year the writer of these words will be looking back over the fifty years that have elapsed since he first entered Coe College. He has been student, alumnus, and member of the Faculty. But he likes best to look into the future and build castles. As he sits in his office in the corner of Old Main, there rises before him the benignant presence of his beloved predecessor in the oflice of Dean, Robert A. Condit, who in this very room for many years shed forth the fine luster of his spirit upon generations of students. Together we sit down and look out of the north window. There is plain old Williston Hall, reminder of rugged Williston jones. Over there Marshall l-lall and Women's Gymnasium remind us of the efforts of early builders. They are symbols only of unseen but abiding influences wrought into human lives. Sinclair Memorial Chapel, Carnegie Science Hall, and Voorhees Quadrangle suggest the rapid growth of the College during the second decade of this century. Now we look across B Avenue to the North Campus and see evidence of the loyal spirit of the people of Cedar Rapids embodied in a great structure dedicated to the ideal of a higher physical and spiritual type of manhood. And there just across the avenue, Stewart Memorial Library with its dignity and beauty of architectural design, located as it should be at the very center of the college, typifies the growing power of the alumni and prophesies their future part in the expanding life of the institution. As we continue to look out upon the scene a marvelous picture develops before our eyes. A lovely land and water scape appears with noble buildings, avenues and groups of trees, beautiful lawns and beds of flowers. A spring fed stream of sparkling water flows through the campus from the north forming several lagoons, then on to purify beautiful Cedar Lake, a natural aquarium for innumerable species of water-loving plants and animals, bordered by an arboretum of native and exotic trees and shrubs. Overlooking this scene of natural beauty stands a temple dedicated to the Fine Arts, music, painting, sculpture, anthropology and paleontology. The setting sun is touching the whole scene with golden color. It has been a happy hour of castle building. We must say goodbye,-Cvod be wi' ye. Sincerely, S. W. Srooxsv.

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Page 22 THE DEAN OF WOMEN On a college campus varied aspects of life attract attention. Here are gathered many young people who are more free than ever before to make their own choices. The standards by which they evaluate and choose ever fascinate one. On what basis do they decide the price they can pay in time, in money, in energy? What to do now? What to buy? Where to go? Shall it be a book or a show, a game of bridge or a tennis match in the out of doors? Daily, almost hourly, it is necessary to make some choice. Do students weigh values in advance, check up after- ward, and then judge anew? Do they realize that 'tis well always to choose the way that seems best, however rough it may be, knowing that custom will soon render it easy and agreeable? lntrospection and reflection upon one's own evaluations, though surprising, should be helpful. Is it true that the atmosphere of the real liberal arts college suggests difficult and windy heights? Should it clear the vision and brace one for action? Is the American college losing its strenuous pursuit of knowledge, and its disciplining of the moral nature? What will you choose for Coe? You, the students of Coe, ever challenge us to choose the best. May our con- tacts with you help you, likewise, to achieve the heights. . MARY BELL