Duke University - Chanticleer Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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Dr. Knight and Chanticleer Editor Stuait Barr discussed tlic University — past, present, and future. about us, given our location, our traditions, our past — what do we expect And so when you ask what my personal ambitions are, in the long run, they are oj that order of magni- tude. My own lije, obviously, would be, in my eyes, a very considerable success if I could say, when I retired, that we had seen the University come to a point where most oJ its graduates, most of its faculty, most of its students really knew that it was as strong as any university in the United States; that its teaching was as good, that its inde- pendent scholarly work was as good, that its impact on its regional community and on the whole country was as great. If we could say those things, my personal interests would be quite well taken care of. My existence is really tied up, on a constant, round-the- clcck basis with what goes on in the Uni- versity. This is what I think about all the time. So far as my ambition is worth any- thing, it has to be the University ' s ambition. There is a real interaction; my life will not be a success without the success of the Uni- versity. The President really commits him- self to the place. He has to. He has to feel affection for it, and he has to build his loyalty to it. Sir, do you have any suggestions as to how each one of us can contribute to Duke ' s success? If you ask, What ' s the place going to give me now? , there ' s some chance it will never give you anything. If you ask what you can do in it {not necessarily for it), there ' s a chance you will get a great deal from it. Your relationship to the University isn ' t just a matter of these four years. The Uni- versity will be with you all the rest of your life. I would say that the biggest thing you can do for the University is to prove, in a variety of ways, that you actually did begin to be educated people while you were here. Tou prove this in the things you do later. And the thing that cheers the University most is to see its graduates doing a variety of ex- citing things, and creative things, and useful things. This is the most wonderful thing you can do for the University. This is what will make us feel, and you feel, that your time here was worthwhile. President Knight, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Bunyan S. Womble, and President Hart. 10

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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.

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An historical and solemn moment in the life of the University: Dr. Douglas Maitland Knight is installed as Duke ' s fifth president. In the face of an almost impossible schedule, Dr. Knight took time to address the chilly partici- pants in an early-morning pep rally and cheered them with his warm h umor. 11