McMurry University - Totem Yearbook (Abilene, TX)

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ADMINISTRATION The advent ot this publication heralds the end ot another year tor McMurry College, its thirty-tirst session. As you go into the summer months, some ot you to return tor the tall and those ot you who graduate to take your place in the community; there is a dis- tinct service you might render your Alma Mater. McMurry College needs to in- crease its student enrollment and you. the present student body and exes, are the ones who can do it. This year the freshman class had a thirty percent in- crease over last year. We would like to continue that increase each year until our enrollment reaches about eight hun- dred. It each one ot you would pledge yourselt to try sincerely to get one new student tor the tall, we would in one year reach our goal. Why not show your loyalty to your Alma Mater in this way? Sincerely. W. B. McDaniel Vice-President What is education? Some would say that it is the assimilation ot all knowl- edge. the knowing ot tacts, an ingather- ing ot information. Some would answer that it is the acquisition of skills, the de- velopment ot talents, the learning ot trades and techniques. Others would de- fine education as the developing process ot all the social instincts, the apprecia- tion ot music, literature, and general culture. True education, however, is more than these; tor in the final analysis, it is the unfolding ot man's realization ot his responsibility to his fellow men and his proper relationship with God. Gordon P. Bennett Executive Vice-President 17

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THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Our Priceless Heritage The placing of value on things, experiences, or conditions of life is a familiar process. Whatever we own or desire is thought of in terms of its value. This process of evaluation extends beyond the ma- terial to the realms of the mental, social, and spiritual. The values that a man holds dear are the best possible indications of his character. Most values cue fixed in terms of money. Experiences are simi- larly evaluated. Entertainment or other experience is measured in terms of what they cost. An edu- cation is often thought of in terms of the cost of its acquisition. Spiritual experiences or ideals are evaluated by our investment in them. There is one thing, however, on which no mone- tary value can be placed. It transcends all mone- tary concepts and material boundaries. It is Free- dom. Freedom is our Priceless Heritage, and with- out it nothing else can have real or permanent value. Freedom lies at the foundation of all material possession. Without it. all values become ephemer- al. This priceless thing. Freedom, transcends all other values. The paramount issue of human life in this age in which we live is human Freedom. And Freedom, the divine inheritance of every person, is being challenged today. An attempt is under way to im- pose a vast system of slavery upon humanity. Today a certain concept of political government would not only place chains upon our ankles and bind us to the dictates of others, but would dominate and control our minds and reduce to unreality the vast sweep of our souls. This, my young friends, is the supreme challenge facing the present generation. Freedom must be defended or lost. Freedom must be loved and protected or it will be infiltrated and ultimately destroyed. A tidal wave of despotism—physical, mental, and spiritual—is sweeping across the earth. In our particular time it has taken the form of communism. This withering blight is in our midst, acting as a general anesthetic upon the minds and souls of men. Not to see it is to be blind; to doubt it is to be dumb. How we are able to perceive this danger, the fortitude with which we meet it. and the thoroughness with which we uproot it will determine the future course and destiny of history. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Man was bom to be free, and above all else. Freedom is our Priceless Heritage—ours to defend and preserve. Sincerely, President of McMurry College 16

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