Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

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. . . the student soon is forced to realize . . . sensed in the mood of an exciting lecture, a re- warding lab experiment, a lively seminar dis- cussion. But often on the other end of the scholastic spectrum is the figure of a student seeking his own special form of Nirvana at Roach and O ' - Brien ' s as he braces himself into a booth with a glass of beer and a well-worn copy of The Abo- lition of Mail before him. Or his good friend who sits at breakfast with an uncut grammar book propped against a pitcher of milk and franticallv mutters German verb conjugations between mouth- fuls of scrambled eggs. The placid front of the ivy-draped ivory tower could lull one into a false sense of security if one were not aware of the world of repeating challenges, impossible deadlines, and overfilled schedules which lies directly behind it. Having made it into Haverford on the basis of some sort of mental prowess, the student soon is forced to realize hitherto untapped sources of cerebral activity within himself. The discovery made, the refining process can move in several directions. It can be channeled into sophisticated bull, or occasionally express itself in genuinely creative productivity. The transformation may change our man at Haverford into an idealist, a cynic, or even a smooth-talking fence-straddler. Whatever the re- sult, the effect will have been felt and will con- tinue to be felt long after he leaves the College. . . . hitherto untapped sources of cerebral activity ' within him- self.

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and becomes the central topic it is ictortlcil. The hand gnarled with writer ' s ciainp is tempted to affix to the honor pledge: 1 didn ' t reeei e any help on this and Cod knows, I couldn ' t have given any. Academic in olvement is manifested in my- riad a s. It is isihle in the way eyes, searching for inspiration, lollow the mo emcnts of The liohhysox iMiise as she saunters the length of the reference section in the lihrary. It presents itself in the group scene of a harried student, dictating his completed project paper to a battery of typists, inspired by a united pledge to help their suffer- ing friend meet his deadline and by the fact that their suffering friend is paying them twenty-fi e cents a page. One sees it in the rapt attention at a tutorial session as freshmen hang on e ' ery word in the sneering retort of a Geiiens or search for hidden subtleties in the latest well-turned Satterthwait ianism. Possibly it is manifest in the slightly-em- barrassed smirk on the face of a senior caught in the act of purchasing copies of the College Outline Series. Paul Desjardins on the trail of a recalcitrant student, Stark Jones hiding from Paul Desjardins; this too is part of the scene. More seriously, deep involvement with the academic atmosphere can be of most discussion on campus. Page 11

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Personal interaction . . . recorded with electronic computation : Professor Hare tries to repair Ira Reid ' s TV set. ANTHROPOLOGY-SOCIOLOGY Despite the multiplicity of variegated socio- political complexes existent in the world today, the Sociology department was able to cast valuable insights into the resolution of societal difficulties and to provide a conceptual framework in which to envision life. The leader and master of abstracting generality from specifity and couching it in a proper per- spective was the sagacious and erudite Ira ,Reid. An advocate of informal seminar courses, Ira was well-known for his facility with sociological jrfgon and for his startling ability to recall seminal biblio- graphical material. Sociology majors will also re- member the repeated excursions with isiting experts to the Viking Inn and Ma erford Hotel. When the billowing clouds from Smitty ' s pipe cleared away, Haverford had gained a new sociolog- ist. A. Paul Hare, formerly of lesser known Har- vard, brought a rigid and well disciplined neo- positi istic approach and talent for neologisms as a ready source of t|uantitati e method and research design. With his arri al, Haverford attained leadership in yet another area, that of the one-vvav mirror. With the installation in Chase of the largest one-wav mirror in the nation. Dr. Hare created a social laboratory in which he could validate the old adage, seeing is believing. Per- sonal interaction could be scientifically recorded with electronic computation and programming and eventually could be analyzed for predictive and research purposes. Assisting the Haverfordian pedagogues were the scholars from Bryn Mawr. Ably led by Fred- erica de Laguna, their program featured anthrop- ological emphases on cultural development and germane patterns and processes. Among this group was Edward B. Harper, noted expert on preliterates and their religions, e olutionary processes and hu- man paleontology, and the peoples of India and the prevalent caste dynamics. The two anthropologists were joined by Eugene V. Schneider, who deftly revealed the basic sociological perspectives and attended to anv resultant or dysfunctional problems of our dynamic industrial complex. His classes were noteworthv in that they were marked by the aromatic scent of Old Briar, in which environmental conditions only truth could persist. With truth, so went sociology, ' ! Page 13