Duke University - Chanticleer Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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' . . . as I accept my share of responsi- bility this morning, I ask you to re- member your own. For this brief moment of time, we are Duke Uni- versity. May men say of us in years to come that, every man according to his talent, we made it a place of wit, of wisdom, of high civilization and great service. ' ' — From Three Roads of Learning, Dr. Knight ' s Inaugural Address Following are excerpts from a Feb- ruary 15 interview with President Knight: What are your thoughts, sir, after some five months in office? How do they contrast with those with which you entered upon your office? had hopes and some knowledge of a few of the kinds of problems I thought we would be solving these next few years. I ' ve been confirmed in both the hopes and the problems. Vve found that the hopes for the leadership that the University could exercise in the South and through the whole country have been confirmed. There are so few universities in the Southeast that can really hope to do a job that is comparable, in every way, with the job done in certain other parts cf the country. And this is the place, above all, that can hope to do it and should hope to do it. I ' ve been confirmed in this. I see as much to do as ever, and I ' m even surer than I was that the things can be done. Has your position here in any way affected or altered your personal goals? That leads one to a dangerous sort of speculation. I don ' t have any personal goals, really, except ores that are somehow wrapped up with the university world, with this Uni- versity world in particular. I would think that some of what I tried to say back last December, ivhen I was installed, and back before that, I think some of that would still hold as personal ambition for the place. One thing that has to he remembered is that I need to measure mysef against a twenty-year time span. M hen I think about goals, I have to do it in the light of twenty-year am- bitions. What I am trying to do right now, in my personal assessment of the University, is to find a base for working that twenty years from now will bring us out on a level of parity with the four or pie other strongest universities in the country. And I have to ask what will do that in the long run. And then I have to ask what also is unusual The six members of the University ' s first family : Dr. and Mrs. Knight and their four sons, Stephen, Thomas, Douglas, Jr., and Christopher. The President ' s office affords a commanding view of West Campus.