Franklin and Marshall College - Oriflamme Yearbook (Lancaster, PA)

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In the Library there is a yellowed, 'faded picture of Franklin and Marshall Col- lege in its infancy. Taken from the middle of an open field - where now the Library itself stands -it shows Old Main, flanked by the Literary Society Halls. I never look at this picture without musing on the changes that have occurred since Marshall College and Franklin College merged in 1853. The infant college had five professors and a handful of students. It had a new seal, bearing the profiles of Benjamin Franklin and justice john Marshall, and a new motto- Lux et Lex- as a guide for its future. And at its opening ceremonies Dr. john W. Nevin spoke some words that we need to keep in mind: No second or third rate college will do. We must either have no college at all or else have one that may be in all respects worthy of the name. Dedicated men have labored long and hard to make those words come true. The Franklin and Marshall from which you now graduate is still laboring to make Dr. Nevin's dream a reality. But giant steps have been made toward the goal. Founded to serve the educational needs of its own area, Franklin and Marshall now serves the entire nation. You have been part of a student body selected from many states and a number of foreign countries. You have been given the opportun- ity to study under a curriculum designed to enable skilled teachers to work as effec- tively as possible with you, a curriculum designed to provide you with the best pos- sible basis for entrance into the professions, into business, into the living of a full and meaningful life. There is much that we can be proud of in the Franklin and Marshall of 1961, but much that we must do in the years ahead. And it is my pleasure - and duty -to summon you to join us in this task. A college, it has been said, is just as good as its faculty, or just as good as its students. I think that it might equally well be said that a college is just as good as its alumni. Franklin and Marshall College has had reason to be proud over the years of its alumni, we are assured of being able to be equally proud in the future. But we want also to be proud of the part that our alumni play in supporting the College. Currently only 19.4Wv of our alumni contribute to the Annual Fund, a vital and necessary undergirding of our on-going program. May I urge you, you who are about to become part of the more than 10,000 Franklin and Marshall men who are on our alumni rolls, to dedicate yourselves to the support of your College in the years ahead. It is your College. . JJ!