Muhlenberg College - Ciarla Yearbook (Allentown, PA)

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Muhlenberg College is known for its beautiful campus, magnificent buildings, well-equipped laboratories, learned faculty, efficient staff, and excellent courses of study. In reality, it is more than all these combined. Essentially it is a faith and a life. For it is an adventure in the realm of the spirit to explore the possibilities of human beings for a larger and better life in an atmosphere dominated by the spirit of the Master. Everyone who has contributed to Muhlenberg’s growth has had faith in its performance. Every student who enters the College has faith, whether he recognizes it or not, that the struggle and the venture will be worth the effort. Every teacher lives in the faith that each student will catch his enthusiasm, will glimpse a wider vista of the possibilities of human life, and will go forth a better person. Muhlenberg’s educational program is only partly aca- demic. It is the total impact on the students of a special way of life over a period of four years lived on the campus. That is why the residential character of the College is so important. That is why the size of the student body makes a difference. Learning to live together is a part of the process of growing up. Living together on the Muhlenberg cam- pus is an essential part of Muhlenberg’s educational pro- gram. One learns to live with one’s fellows in the corridors of East and West Hall, in fraternity houses, in the Commons, on the athletic field, in student government, as a member of the numerous student organizations and clubs, as well as in the classroom and laboratory. Here are found, in the give and take characteristic of group life, opportuni- ties to share ideas, to develop basic attitudes, to learn how intelligently to manage one’s life, and to make life-long friendships. Participation in campus life is a highly edu- cational process. It provides no academic credit but a student neglects it to his own loss and regret. Classroom and laboratory procedure is necessarily organ- ized and formal. Campus life is informal and free. Par- ticipation in both is essential for a liberal college educa- tion which prepares men for responsible leadership in a free society.