Hope College - Milestone Yearbook (Holland, MI)

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THE MILES' T ONE Being a brief and true report flleeovnting the pains and Tie afv res experienced at Hoge College, siiuaie in olland,Miehigan. AN N 0 DOMIN I MCMLVI YB which are appended divevs fieturex and drawings, Hvmbly freienfed by ihe Jvnior Class to the siudenis Under tutelage at this eallege,

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DEDI AT1oN An era is an ambivalent thing. It is chronological yet quite 'unmeasurable in time, well defined yet inextricably interwoven with past and future, per- sonal yet greater than any man. Such a pheno- menon is that with which this book concerns itself, being an attempt to record, to underscore, and to honor the accomplishments and aspirations of Irwin J. Lubbers in his tenure as President of Hope Col- lege. At the beginning of this, his second, decade it seems most proper that we, the students and faculty who are the college, pause a moment with him to reflect upon the past and try to see the future in true perspective. Coming from a family steeped in the tradition of Hope, Irwin J. Lubbers acquired a broad back- ground in graduate work at Columbia and North- western Universities, in serving as principal of a pre- paratory school in South India, and as Assistant to the President at Carroll College. From 1934 to 1945 he led Central College through those depression years so painful and precarious for the small, pri- vate college and through years of war which dras- tically reduced student enrollments. Hope College in the years following World War II was faced with problems of even greater complex- ity, such as a spiraling enrollment, an inadequate physical plant, an overtaxed faculty, and inevitably strained financial resources. The inauguration of Ir- win J. Lubbers as seventh president of Hope College in 1945 signified the advent ofa new era because, not content with pious hopes or with existential solu- tions, he pursued a program which was to cope with the radically changed circumstances without alter- ing the traditional character and flavor of the in- stitution. Neither doctrinaire liberal nor conservative, the philosophy of this man is, nevertheless, not ob- scure. lt is perhaps best found in his contention that only God-fearing leaders can exercise authority without endangering freedom. This MILESTONE, we dare to hope, witnesses to the enviable response of a man to his times, to the Lubbers' Era. IRWIN J. LUBBER