Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

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Inauguration of President Hugh Borton The Inauguration was the outstanding single event of the academic year. It combined elements of a new start, hints of a new course, and generous portions of a Mike Todd spectacle. Besides ceremoniously start- ing the term of office of President Hugh Borton, it provided an opportunity for recognition of the man who had guided the college for the previous two years, Archibald Macintosh. The inaugural ceremonies, highlighed by President Borton ' s address, took place before over 2,000 stu- dents, delegates from other colleges, and guests in the field House on Saturday, 19 October 1957. The ceremonies were simple. S. Emlen Stokes, chair- man of the Board of Managers, introduced Borton to the guests, paying tribute to his past achievements as an administrator and scholar, particularly in his most recent post as director of the East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Stokes then conferred the presi- dency on Borton. Borton then took the rostrum, and his first official act as president was to award an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to vice president Archibald Macintosh in a surprise addi tion to the proceedings. He cited Mac as an esteemed alumnus, perenially youthful adven- turer, director of admissions for a quarter of a century; vice president who twice assumed the arduous task of administering the college (1945-46 and 1955-57); be- loved and wise custodian of those high qualities of per- sonality and character required of Haverford ' s student body; steadfast, patient, unselfish exemplar of the col- lege ' s ideals. The audience responded to this tribute to Mac with a spontaneous standing ovation. In his address, Borton said, The small liberal arts college cannot escape the pressure [of the increased number of students desiring an education] and may have to carry a share of the burden. If such a college sets a limit on the number of its students for the next decade and a half, it will place an impossible task on its admissions office to select a well rounded group of students. If such an institution refuses to enlarge its student body, it will be neglecting its responsibility to the society of which it is a part and from which it cannot be isolated on our present age. The whole address concerned itself with various ramifications of organic change in colleges in general, and in Haverford in particular. Borton mildly chided the tendency of alumni to feel that the college was of ideal size at the time of their graduation, and he as- serted that increases in the size of the college have been accompanied often by growth in the college ' s reputa- tion. The ideal size of any institution is relative to both internal and external factors, he went on to state. Borton discussed two other aspects of change in the colleges — teachers and the nature of the liberal arts college. Here, though, he spoke in more general terms, aiming no special significance at the Haverford campus. The principal problem, to which Borton referred back time and again, was the influx of students in the com- ing years. Like all academic ceremonies, Haverford ' s Inaugura- tion was well adorned with academic delegates. Henry Joel Cadbur ' (14. HoUis Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Harvard, led the procession of representatives from 16? colleges, universities, secondary schools, learned societies, and community organizations into the red- and-black bedecked field house, which was used that day for its first public event. H: ii In contrast to the solemnity and dignity of the pro- ceedings on Inauguration Day were the goings-on in Twent -eig,ht

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GERMAN The C ' lcrman faculty ' s principal task involves not only in- struction in a highly formal and precise linguistic system, but also explanation of a great cultural tradition. Patient Harry Pfund 22 heads the department. With his trusty two-shirtcr attache case by his side, he astounds his students v. ' ith his perfect pronunciations and flowery script. The students who took the Faust course at his house will have reason to remember the homemade German dishes each week following class. Pfund dos not scorn the movies — especially German films. He drives a Volkswagen, which transports him to the meetings of innumerable German and literary societies. John ( ary ' 4i takes a personal interest in his students and in the larger community. His spiritual values are evidenced by his religious and ethical opinions in Meeting, his past experi- ence with German workcamps, and his active participation in campus drives (such as Spring Day) and in the Student Chris- tian Youth movement. He finds our glee club and soccer team especially satisfying sources of enjoyment. RUSSIAN Frances de Graaff, Russian teacher on joint appointment with Bryn Mawr, was born, symbolically enough, halfway be- tween the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., and can speak seven languages including her native Dutch. Patient and understanding, she makes the five-times-weekly introductory course less of a chore than it v»-ould seem from the catalog. To those unfamiliar with Cyrillic characters. Miss de GraafF can be identified by her ur.iy Opel and her trilingual spaniel, Tony. LATIN AND GREEK It is inconceivable to think of Latin and Greek at Haver- ford without feeling the sanctity of the classics embodied m the two men who govern those languages. Howard Comfort 24 tries to make Cicero sing for students despite outside distur- bances, such as rifle shots from the physics labs and the smell of formaldehyde in the halls. Behind a table of Roman potter ' Comfort sits, inhaling his umbilical pipe and hoping his stu- dents may exhume some wit from the day ' s verses, but display- ing only an enigmatical archaic smile. But at the prospect of a senior ' s mental suicide he will jump to the black tablet to eluci- date Catullus. The flamlxiyancy of Greek professor Arnold Post ' 11 in- cludes effortless ego-deflation, pioneer humor, and his famous tears over Plato. A representative of an older scholastic order. Post has a superlative faculty for synthesizing all the fields of knowledge which he has ingressed, from any language to astron- omy to the Bible. He is not at all above complimenting pupils, yet he docs not teethe them. HARRY W. PFUND •«t JOHN R. GARY %• FRANCES de GRAAFF LEVI ARNOLD POST HOWARD COMFORT

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the few days immcdi.itely preceding. For, to the stu- dents ' point of view, the Inauguration really began about a week previous to the ceremonies. Six days, to be exact. On Sunday, 13 October, residents of Lloyd Hall woke up to discover a crew of men driving stakes into the quadrangle in front of the dormitory. These were the first steps in the erection of the Haverford Tent a structure and symbol which was to monopolize cam- pus attention for a week. As workmen l.ibored all day Sunday (presumably at double time), it became evident that the tent was to be no mean feature of the campus during its ten- ancy of the Lloyd lawn. It was to cover the whole space with three sections (forming a bloated U ) and run over into the lawn at the side of Founders Hall. As construction proceeded Monday and Tuesday, more became known about it. It was to be completely enclosed and artificially heated, given doors and its own lighting system. And it was to seat 1,700 people. The tent, it turned out. was to be an appurtenance to the Inauguration. The college had sent out invitations to over 6.000 individuals — all alumni, all students ' par- ents, friends of the college, other institutions, and per- sonal friends of Hugh Borton. The response had over- whelmed the inaugural committee: requests for over 2.000 tickets eventually poured into the ofHces in Founders basement and began to overflow into the laundry room. Tha-coUege found itself utterly unable to feed all of the guests in available space, even if the dining hall, gymnasium, common room, and all other open rooms in campus buildings were used. The weather could not be depended upon for outdoor eat- ing. Hence the tent. Student reaction was not characterized by this sort of cold calculation, though. It tended to become bi- ] )oIari;ed at levity and distress — levity because the tent was the obvious butt of innumerable iokes; distress be- cause of feelings that the tent (1) was a blot on the campus landscape, even for only a week, (2) repre- sented a pompous inaugural ceremony repugnant to the Quaker tradition of simplicity, and or {}) caused a great, needless expense to the college. One student vented his feelings in poetry: They ' ve erected a tent Wherein to repent The money they re sf- ent For the dazzlenient Of the mteUectual nation ' it i Hugh ,s coronatioyi In iinld celebration And mad tittUation Our veneration For the new administration . . . Other students hung a circus poster from the second stor ' of Fifth Entry. Protests and jokes spread through the campus, and the rumor mill produced tales of spir- iting elephants and dancing girls (Bryn Mawr variety) Twenty-nine