East Carolina University - Buccaneer Tecoan Yearbook (Greenville, NC)

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Dynamo; This Is, what is my definition of a university, right? Well, I ' d have to say that a university should be, first and foremost, an institute of learning. By this, I mean not solely books but cul- tural exchange. There should be expen- Tientation with life styles and different nodes of grappling with the problems Df What is life? or something like that. It should be a time when you can try things out, when you can learn different things. It should be a time when you are al- owed to think, a time when you are al- owed to reflect and be stimulated by new ideals. I think stimuli is the most mportant thing. I don ' t believe ECU measures up very well in these things. As far as culturally stimulating, they seem to be trying very lard to keep the out-of-state students 3ut of here, eliminating many different 3utlooks. The emphasis at ECU is ob- iously not on books or learning. I don ' t now too many places it is, but it sure 38 hell isn ' t like that here. Most of the Deople run home on weekends, so there s almost nothing for the weekend stu- dent to do except for the Friday night Tiovie and an occasional Sunday con- ;ert. People seem more relaxed and more willing to get involved with you, :han say for a big city. But, for the most Dart, everybody in Greenville is into :heir own trip. Narrator: Now can you tell me what you like Tiost about ECU with its blue sky and Greenville with its red of neck? East; I think the thing I like best about the entire community, including East Caro- lina as well as Greenville, is the whole attitude of people in eastern North Car- olina. I ' m originally a native of Illinois and I find that eastern North Carolin- ians are good people, solid people. They accept people who move in from outside in a very gracious way. They make you feel at home. Eastern North Carolina, whatever faults it may have and it has them as any area does, has the great virtues you find in a more traditional rural area where people are friendly, families are close and there are the ties that bind. Things haven ' t been torn asunder. This IS not often the case in large urban cen- ters where life is very impersonal, very mobile and very quick-changing. All of this then, I think, makes for a healthy setting for a family, for a home, for a city and also, for a university.

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Meet Me Austin When The Sun Shines Millie an absurd drama in one act Characters: Rudolph Alexander — Associate Dean of Student Affairs known affectionately as Rudy John P. East — Professor of Political Science Louise Collins — a junior, native North Carolinian and sorority member Dynamo Dave Cybul — Connecticut-bred, veteran of three years in the academic wars, etc. Narrator — your friend and humble servant, played by himself Narrator: Well, friends, what is your personal definition of a university? And does dear ol ' ECU with unified walls fit this description? Alexander: In my opinion, a university is a center of learning free from political and other type restraints that you normally find associated with different governmental and non-governmental institutions of the day. It ' s a place where people, both young and old, can come and explore all aspects of knowledge, can seek answers to questions that they have and engage in educational endeavors in an atmosphere of freedom. Well, I think ECU has made fantastic strides over the past few years. I think great emphasis has been placed on constantly improving our faculty, im- proving the climate for academic pur- suits here. I think a spirit of freedom exists on this campus. We have the fa- cilities for serious-minded people to engage in academic endeavors to meet the ends they seek. Collins: A university is the complete and ulti- mate formal education experience, very simply. East Carolina does not fit this definition very well. It is limited in the opportunity to achieve academic excel- lence and the opportunity to have a different social experience. East: I consider a university to be a com- munity of scholars and teachers who are joined in their common desire to learn and grow and develop. I look upon a university as being composed of students who likewise share this com- mitment to scholarship and learning. I think that East Carolina does fit within this definition. I think it has come a long way, but I think we would all agree that it has a long way to go. We should never be satisfied with the status quo in this definition. It is noth- ing that you can really hope to obtain here or attain there in this short life that we have. But it is, I think, an ideal that we can work for and should work for — this committment to scholarship and teaching. I believe that East Carolina will con- tinue to grow and develop in the future and will become a center of learning.

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Collins: The students make the town, so there ' s a teeling of belonging — when the entire business district of the town caters to the college community, and there ' s bound to be a more intimate relation than in a city where the univer- sity stops at its own gates. Dynamo: I think the most pleasing thing about Greenville and East Carolina is the fact that it is so small and the town is so small. This is initially pleasing because you can come from another part of the state or even another part of the coun- try and sooner or later, you wind up knowing a good many people and you don ' t feel threatened by downtown Greenville. It doesn ' t intimidate you, and the same thing with the university. It seems as though everything is on a small town basis with everybody know- ing everybody else, and you can ' t feel intimidated and initially that is pleasing. But, in the long run, it is monoto- nous. The town is boring. After a short period of time, you have been every- where in the downtown there is to go, you ' ve seen everything there is to see and, after while, you realize that you ' ve seen everything there is to see and you realize that you ' ve met just about every- body that you are going to meet. After the first year that I was here, I just had a feeling that I had just about done it all as far as Greenville was con- cerned. I didn ' t know what else there was to do because everything just starts to get repetitive and monotonous. It ' s a nice place to come and get away from things, but after awhile, you realize that you have to get closer to things, not further away from them. Alexander: I think Greenville is a delightful place to live. I think East Carolina is an excit- ing place to work. The friendly spirit, in both city and university, contributes a great degree to this feeling. The uni- versity provides each person who works here with a sense of contributing to helping bright young men and women become better prepared to serve the nation, the state, themselves and to be just good citizens and contributing members of society. I think, in my own case, that it is a lot of fun to be associated with this endeavor. The students are friendly and pleasant to work with. Each year, you see a new group come through with var- ious committees and organizations and you feel the satisfaction from seeing a group of individuals develope into work- ing teams and accomplishing whatever goals their organization has. So, the business of working at an educational institution is exciting. Being able to work with students and the cooperative spirit that is seen on every hand from the administration, faculty and students just makes ECU a really enjoyable place to be.