Lincoln University - Lion Yearbook (Lincoln University, PA)

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TO THE CLASS OF 1977: George Elliott once said Growing thought makes growing revelations. As the Class of 1977 leaves Lincoln University; may each member be fully aware that today needs more revelations of truth than ever before, but this can only be effected by continued study which is the basis of growing thought. May your class be the leader in bringing truth and human understanding to all people. You take your leave from Lincoln in an era of permanent leadership and of the fulfillment of many new developments that are still in their infancy. You will have regrets that you could not remain here for another year or two and be a part of Lincoln's continued growth, but there is also a special incentive that I hope you will respond ... to maintain a close bond with your alma mater, to give your close attention to the events that are in store for her, and your liberal support to the efforts that will be required to bring them to maturity. Good by and God Bless! Marie R. Vernon Interim Vice President for Student Affairs

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TO THE CLASS OF 1977: Leave-taking will always be difficult. Today I wonder what I can say now that has not been said while you were at Lincoln. Perhaps the one clear persistent image should be that it is not the word but the action, the living of the word, which is the true life objective. Hence, what that acidulous critic from Baltimore, H.L. Mencken, who many deficits of character and approach in my view, said remains with us: I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than be a slave And I believe that it is better to know than to be ignorant. If those three precepts are woven into your active life, then Lincoln has succeeded. In essence what I am asking you to examine is a view of education reaching at least back to Quintilian, whose dates are 35-98 A.D., great grammarian who insisted that education extends from the cradle to the grave and that the most important consideration for any scholar was for him to handle himself verbally. One feels that this attitude has persisted too literally into the present where we wallow in a deluge of reetoric while destructive forces seem to be moving inexorably towards our cherished institutions. Perhaps the worst outcome of this preoccupation with verbal dexterity has been its effect in degrading the sense of commitment, the confidence that you are doing something significant and worthwhile, above all the good impression that you have chosen action with humaness and intelligence. Thus we hope and expect that yours is not the experience of a disillusioned student of your time who insisted: I may have learned only two things in my four years at Harvard. The first is that an equally intelligent, rational, and valid argument can be made on all sides of any question from any and all premises. The second is that those arguments have no relationship to anything but themselves. No one wishes to think of you as out in the world graping for some redemtive sense of value. Lincoln hopefully has supplied that. The ancient Latins would never have thought of ending a farewell without some lines to accompany their readers. There is a story about an inscription in a small, nearly-deserted village in Ireland that we ask forgiveness for borrowing: DEAR LINCOLN MUST I LEAVE YOU. I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP, PERHAPS MILES TO GO TO MY LAST SLEEP. With sincerest hope for a fine future. Herman R. Branson President

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