La Salle University - Explorer Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Fundamentally La Salle wants to better, not bigger. These words keynote the announcement by Brother G. Paul of a La Salle expansion program. Evidence is the three criteria established by the Christian Brothers in judging the future scope and size of La Salle: L The timeless value of a Christian liberal education and its particular application to the moral crisis of our time. 2. The growing demand that the opportunity for higher education be further equalized and extended for all youth, fully qualified by educa- tion, character, and ability. 3. The capacity of the College to meet this demand for educational service without sacri- ficing the quality of instruction. To learn what Christian liberal education has meant, one might read from the 1949 Explorer: The majority of us entered La Salle with tech- nical knowledge as our dominant goal. With our graduation . . . we have realized the import- ance of the disciplines that are not correlated to earning power. Without a proper share of moral values our efforts in the professional fields would be for naught. We carry with us an ex- trinsic ability to share in the world ' s goods and an intrinsic sense of sharing our portion of the world ' s goods with others. The democratization of education is one of the most important happenings of our time and the source of much hope for the future. The G. I. Bill of Rights was the first long step to- ward education for all; let us look at how La Salle has met its demands. Before the war, the La Salle enrollment was 430 students. The war sent the enrollment plung- ing, and by 1944 there were only 85 students on the campus. By 1945, however, the enrollment already was up to 300 — and the Christian Broth- ers faced a difficult post-war question. How big could La Salle get? It was decided to learn the answer by going ahead, and in 1946 the enrollment soared to 1240 — almost three times as high as ever before. It rose again in 1947 to 1535, and in 1948 to 1885. This year it is established at 1821, and a level seems to have been reached at least tem- porarily. During these same years. La Salle took an- other step in making college education available to all young people; an evening division was formed in 1946 with some 200 students enrolled. This evening enrollment is now 780, and indica- tions are that it too can grow as long as physical space permits. The La Salle of 1951, then, is a new La Salle — different from the College in any other year of its 88-year history. Its students now represent more than ten per cent of the number enrolled in Catholic colleges and universities in Penn- sylvania. The question at present is whether increased size means a drop in the quality of education. So far, we think, the answer is no. But in- creased sibe has meant a strain on the physical facilities; so much so, in fact, that La Salle ' s equipment cannot be considered adequate for the future. In 1945, La Salle could hardly have refused to expand. It had to help accommodate the great surge of young men who wanted and deserved a college education. Today, it faces a continued demand for educational opportunities for all. La Salle cannot answer tKis call without a physi- cal expansion much greater than that which added Leonard and Benilde Halls to the campus during the past four years. Granted there is a need for the Christian lib- eral education provided by La Salle, granted all men have a right to improve the intellects which mark them as men, a bigger La Salle means a better La Salle — better able to serve city and re- gion, better able to reach more young men. La Salle wants to be bigger — not, however, for the sake of being bigger, but rather in the hope of better achieving the very goals for which it w;.s founded The partially completed library as it appeared on graduation day is the first project in the Col- lege expansion program for a better La Salle.

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J - ■ :::.M i. ' ' ' - ' i t k t The center of the quqdmgle is dominated by the status of the Sacred Heart and the plaque which serves as a memorial tor the La Salle men vifho died in the service during the second World War. In appreciation of his work, Student Council voted to give Brother money to construct a grove at the end of the library when work on the restoration of that area begins, after the completion of the library. Equally important are the athletic fields. Mc- Carthy Stadium which was built for the football teams, no longer has college football games but is used by both the soccer and track teams. Be- hind McCarthy Stadium is a newly made dia- mond with bleachers where the baseball team plays its home games. Adjacent to the baseball field, is the practice field where intramural foot- ball is played and the varsity teams practice. In our junior year. Brother G. Paul, president, announced an expansion program to make La Salle better. The program calls for a Library, dormitories, chapel, « and field house and swim- ming pool. In our final year at La Salle, we saw the be- ginning of construction of the library and the moving of the Scholasticate, which is an affiliate of the College to Elkins Park, and the construc- tion of a new building under the west stands of McCarthy Stadium to house the ROTC unit on campus. At our class banquet. Brother Paul announced that the College had purchased the ground dia- gonally across from College Hall and that dor- matories would be constructed as soon as the funds were available. Thus to our every last day at La Salle, we saw the planning to make a better not a bigger La Salle continue. 57

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