Lincoln University - Lion Yearbook (Lincoln University, PA)

Page 8 text:

Lincoln has undergone many transitions during our four years here. It has been changed in its physical character, its student character, and its administrative make-up. One of the most noted changes centered around the office of the President. On Wednesday, September 18, 1968 we were given our first view of Dr. Marvin Wachman, Pres- ident of the Lincoln University. In Grim Gym President Wachman gave the year’s first formal address to the student body and faculty. President Wachman stated in his opening words that the student body had reached a new level in numbers, with a full-time enrollment of approximately 1050 for the fall. There were about 250 women enrolled and about 800 men. Of that enrollment the Class of 1972 contained 247 with 76 women and 141 men. This was the beginning of Lincoln’s 115th year. One year later almost to the day, September 17, 1969, Dr. Marvin Wachman was again speaking at the University Convocation. This time Dr. Wachman was resigning from his position and felt that “the Uni- versity should have the opportunity to select new leadership for the next phase of Lincoln’s development.” His resignation was effective as of January 1, 1970. Thus, the search for a new president began. The Faculty Committee for the New President, working jointly with the Board Committee, interviewed candidates for the position with the help of student repre- sentatives. However, no permanent candidate was decided upon and in December Dr. Bernard W. Harles- ton was named as Acting President. Dr. Harleston, who had been the University Provost, assumed the administrative leadership of the University gradually during the month of December and completely on January 1, 1970 when Dr. Wachman left his post. Dr. Harleston addressed the student body and faculty at the first assembly of the second semester on February 12, 1970. At this time Dr. Harleston referred to the continuing search for a new president who hopefully would “lead this institution to new and appropriate levels of academic excellence and functional relevancy for reshaping our society and our culture On November 14,1971 Dr. Herman Branson was inaugurated as the president of the Lincoln University. Dr. Marvin Wachman 6 Dr. Bernard Harleston

Page 7 text:

THE LINCOLN UNIVERSITY Office of the Dean of Students TO THE CLASS OF 1972 Each year thousands of young people leave the ivy covered, academic halls for advanced study, marriage or business, and in many instances a combination of all three. Lincoln men and women have much in common with these multitudes ex- cept in some specifics, and these specifics give you an advantage. These specifics can clearly be seen as follows; 1. You have been involved in an educational experience that concerns itself with your individuality and your total person. 2. Your meaningful concerns have been incorporated in our educational and social programs, and when they have proven to be valid and better than that which has been our practice, they become standard. When they were proven to be a product of hysteria, yours or ours, they were withdrawn and another answer to the current problem was sought. 3. You helped us shape an institution that did not compromise with the idea but steadily increased its efforts to prepare young men and women for service to mankind. It has been an experience filled with misunderstandings, but also one filled with attempts to clear up those misunderstandings. Because of your consistent efforts to express yourself, you have helped us to look at the educational process more seriously than ever before, and we are grateful for that opportunity be- cause meaningful change increases our probability of success as a growing educational institution. You have done something for us and we have done something for you. Your mind has been elasticized to embrace ideas old and new. Mankind can now be seen in terms of universal truths, you have developed an appreciation for those, and that which is different from you. You have learned that there is within you a magnificent that deserves expression; your finiteness can be seen in relationship to infiniteness and you have not wasted your time nor ours. The world is not your oyster, but it certainly is your challenge and Lin- coln has armed you with the tools with which to fight your dragons: a disciplined mind, a creative spirit and the will to win with honor and concern for others. c 5 Carl Alan Thomas

Page 9 text:

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT Lincoln 33mto£rsitg LINCOLN UNIVERSITY PENNSYLVANIA I93S2 TO THE CLASS OF 1972: “The hour of departure has sounded ... ” Thus begins a famous speech addressed to a group correspond- ing to you. It is good to have such watersheds in one’s life, for they present an opportunity to think of what the experience has meant. For us it is Lincoln — Lincoln in 1972. The greatest hope is that you have had deepened here and sharpened, too, your intellectual skills, your social skills and above all your humanistic orientation which enable you to be a contributing, responsible member of a most demanding, technological culture. Those attributes convey the meaning that you must have genuine expertise in an arcane world, for you will encounter experiences both awesome and fraudulent at the same time. I truly hope that your years of exchanging ideas with friends and faculty at Lincoln have given you the rudiments of a wry, cheerful life style, cautious not to embrace uncritically but ultimately hopeful of what man can achieve in his own world. To be sure, around us we see people locked in deadly doctrinal conflict. Others sink in sloughs of cyni- cism over essentially petty differences. And we find many who see around us only symbols of malevolence and hostility. It would be good indeed if Lincoln has endowed you with the perspective to understand such attitudes. I like to think that you know of them from the literature of ancient Assyria and Egypt, long before Job and Ecclesiastes. Perhaps you should know a little too of Jung when he argues that each man lives a myth — a drama if you wish — in which archetypal characters, themes, plots, and settings play a considerable role. You leave Lincoln with our sincerest best wishes and our promise that we stand ever eager to aid you. Lincoln’s 118 years of responsible social action are now part of your heritage. Lincoln has never been known for apathy, ignorance, corruption and mental and physical destruction. We know that your careers will not have these qualities either. Bright new worlds are constructed by bright new people. Herman R. Branson President 7