Miami University - Recensio Yearbook (Oxford, OH)

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STUDEN T BODY A clean white envelope with Miami University written in red gothic lettering lying on the table and a shaky hand to open it. Then suddenly, the words popped out of the evenly typed page-11We are pleased to inform you . . . W ho ever bothered to read the rest? Nothing mattered except that someone, not just anyone, had been accepted to Miami University. In 1964 when someone really did enter Miami as a fresh- man, he was one of approximately 1500 chosen out of 4,000 applicants. Applications from out of state were judged on the basis of the applicantls academic achieve- ment4high school grades and college board scores. But the in-staters, who always composed hve-sixths of every fresh- man class, had to worry mainly about applying on time. To the average high school senior, the thought of sending for applications, waiting for them to come, hlling them out and getting a health exam out of the way4all before 1000 other people did so-brought on near hysteria. How many future Miamians ended up being innoculated against polio, flu, diphtheria and small pox all on the same afternoon in the same arm? Consequently, in 1964 a new procedure was announced. From that time on, a speciHc due-date for Ohio men and women applicants would be established. Under this program, early and late applicants would be given equal consideration. Priority was to be given to those stu- dents with scholastic rank in the upper half of their senior class. Possibly in the future the panic would be less, but in 1964 it was definitely still there. It grew as the fall prog- ressed, and the rumor was passed around schools in the area 4- Miami 5 filled up alreadyll, I he one- s-ixth of 196415 freshman class which hailed from outside Ohio represented 42 states, the District of Colum- bia, 43 foreign nations and the Canal Zone. The five states which claimed the biggest share of these students were New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michi- gan. Double trauma4not only did these students have to meet new people and try new things, they also had to learn new accents. The surest way to tell a freshman was to ask him where he was going, then listen to see whether he said 1gdowntownll or 1gupil. A wrong reply brought 11Heyg kid, I donit care what you do in Chicago-we go uptown in Oxforle And there were other things too. Before the end of the first month girls from New York somehow managed to accept the idea that at Miami bigr purses were completely out. 20 However, at least 85 of Miamils students may have had slightly more dramatic problems to cope with in 1964. These were the students who came, mostly on scholarships and govermnent or private grants, from 43 countries around the world. They were part of what Miamians had con- sidered a tradition since 1872-the foreign exchange program. These students came for many reasons, some because they chose Miami, others because they were placed there by the State Department. In fact, some had scarcely heard of this school before the bus let them off in Oxford. These exchange students represented a trend which was gaining momentum throughout the United States. Mr. Donald Nelson, Foreign Student Advisor, estimated that by 1970, one hundred thousand foreign students would be studying at various universities in the United States. And Miami had its place in all of this. 111 only wish the number of exchange students at Miami would grow along with the total number of such students in the United States,,, Mr. Nelson commented.

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Proposed by students, the ilVoicesb program brought four speakers who differed from the prevailing opinion on civil rights and economics. The last speaker, on communism, caused considerable controversy since his appearance was the first test of House Bill 800 after its passage last year. The original Council of Deans decision which disapproved of three of the four speakers was reversed. The final decision was left up to the Board of Trustees. The Board, in turn, gave authority to President Wilson, who approved the program and ended the possibility of a bitter freedoms fight at Miami. Not all speakers last year were as controversial as those on the llVoicesi, program. The W. A. Hammond Lecture Series brought several lecturers who spoke on the iiAmeri- can Tradition? Under the terms of Dr. William Hammond,s $25,000 donation to the University for this series, the speakers, subjects were llan explanation or elab- oration of basic values developed by the American Tradi- tion of a free society that has come to be called the American Way of Life? Former Miamians may not have heard of the latest campus controversies, but they were kept up-to-date on other important events through The Miami Alumnus, the alumni magazine edited by Mr. John O. Hendry. It report- ed on Miamiis academic progress, building programs, athletics and alumnae activities. Its publications projected an image of Miami as a fast-growing university which was successfully meeting its changing needs. Through this contact, fully one-third of Miami alums contributed an average of $13 per person to the Loyalty Fundwver $200,000 a year. A more limited, but none-the-less effective, program which spread the name of Miami University was the newly instituted Southern Student Exchange Program. This co- operative effort by Miami and Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, saw an exchange of four Miamians with four Southern Negro students from Morris Brown. Other Miamians also traveled and spread the image. The Miami University Abroad Program took 44 people to Europe last summer. The students and faculty on the trip traveled all over Europe sight-seeing and hearing lectures on contemporary conditions on the Continent. On the basis of these lectures, observations, interviews and research, the students on the trip could write a paper giving them three credit hours in economics, government, history, social stu- dies or sociology. Miami professors studied abroad also, doing research or taking leaves-of-absence to lecture at other universities. The government department was especially well-represented in this manner with three members absent for the year. Dr. Joseph Black, who recently resigned as chairman of the department, has spent the last two years at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Dr. Black resigned to accept a position as a Vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation. Dr. Herbert Waltzer spent the year in Bologna, Italy, doing research on the welfare program of the communist party there. Before leaving the United States, however, Dr. Waltzer served as a consultant to CBS during the broadcast of the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Also on leave from the government department was Dr. Badgely who was at Kyoto University, in Japan, and a visiting lecturer in the Far East. Through faculty and administrative efforts, Miamiis image spread. The trimester program, Voices of Dissent and other events gave Miami an image of a modern uni- unversity answering the challenge of questioning students. Miamians abroad, both faculty and students, contributed to the Miami image, making it known internationally. Faculty publications such as Dr. Reo Christensenis new book ciChal- lenge and Decisionl, added to the prestige. The faculty and students probed and discussed, challenged old theories and formulated new ones, researched and reviewed in the age- old scholastic tradition. The administration, realizing the need for the questions and the skepticism, encouraged the discussions. Their forward-probing academic outlook has been appreciated by those seeking excellence along with the physical environment Miami provides. I9

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Foreign students came to Miami from many plac'es that, to Americans, are scarcely more than points on a map. They came from tiny towns and large Cities; from Brazil, Cuba, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lebanon and Liberia. From Iraq, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the Republic of the Congo. Some of these places had never been looked up in an atlas by American students. Most countries had only one to three representatives on campus, but Japan had seven, Greece six, Iraq five, and Hong Kong, Korea and Nigeria each had four. The United States government encouraged foreign ex-- Change programs through its Institute of International Education. One of the most complete programs was the African Scholarship Program of American Universities. This program sent high-ranking students to the United States by drawing travel money from the home government. tuition fees from the American university of the student's Choice, and maintenance costs from the United States Government Agency for International Development. Many of the foreign students were employed on campus. Some like P. K. Subramanian of India were working toward graduate degrees and taught courses in their major helds. lVIr. Subramanian, for example, taught Math. Others had less scholastic jobs on campus and uptown. Nagib Saliba of Lebanon was a resident assistant at Hepburn Hall. International Club was the most popular activity for Miamias foreign students, but, in 1964, other organizations composed of students from regions sharing similar cultures began to spring into existence. The two largest groups were the Arab Students Union and the African Students Union. These Clubs sponsored parties, speakers and suppers. Students came to the United States both to partake of our culture and to share theirs with us. They tried to absorb as much as they could of the American way of life without losing their national identity, and what usually resulted was a third cultureea new individuality peculiar to that student. Such organizations as People to People and International Club attempted to draw students together on more significant levels than could ever have been achieved at mere teas and dinners. Perhaps symbolic of this mixing of cultures was Miss Deepa Biswasl regular campus outfit - a Miami sweatshirt under her delicate silk sari. The seniors, both American and foreign students, had to be pretty certain of what they wanted to do, and 38 per cent of the graduating Class went on to graduate school. Of this group, 64 had graduate assistantships, 24 had fel- lowships, and 21 were awarded scholarships. The largest number of students did their graduate work in education, but law, English and business were also popular fields. To prove that Miami life agreed with them, ninety of the 406 students who went on to do further study stayed right where they were. Of course the first few weeks of a term were a big adjust- ment, but Miami students were supposedly well-prepared. All entering freshmen were required to take the ACT tAmeriean College Testing Programl tests. The national norm on these tests was the fiftieth percentile, but the ciaveragei, Miami student placed in the sixty-eighth per- centileean eighteen-plaee advantage. However, this didnit have much effect on the Thveragell studentls uncertainty about what held to major in. As usual, over one-half of the freshman Class ended up Changing their majors. That many Changed their major was no surprise, considering the diver- sified interests of the student body. That many Chose to continue their work through graduate school was also no surprise, because undergraduate training was only a be- ginning in the studentis struggle for understanding. ZI