SUNY at Oneonta - Oneontan Yearbook (Oneonta, NY)

Page 10 text:

The Percy I. Bugbee School of Practice Stare University of New York A DECADE OF GROWTH It is with warranted pride that this year State Uni- versity of New York refiects upon a decade of growth. However, engaged in reflective thought, the University sees not ten years of development but a span of centu- ries. For to this great institution comes the wealth of learning and tradition that finds its roots in the body of human understanding of the ages. It was in the twelfth century that the earliest uni- versities took form. Bologna, Paris and Oxford come to mind as the most notable institutions of this order. During this time, the High Middle Ages experienced a great revival of learning. Enquiring minds eagerly sought the almost forgotten writings of the ancient Greek mathematicians and physicians, the scientific and philosophical works of Aristotle, the codified works of Roman law by Justinian and all the colossal minds that took part in creating the mental chain reaction that led to the changing and expanding intellectual concepts ofi the era. In earlier days, teachers had offered instruction independently or under the auspices of a cathedral school, but now an organization of teachers and students became a necessary and logical solution to the rising de- mand for learning. There were two major forms of uni- versity structure: that of the University of Bologna and that of the University of Paris. At Bologna, the govern- ing body was the stadium, a society or university of stu- dents including, in some cases faculty. At Paris the con- trolling body was the faculty of arts, the teaching masters. And so it was that the university came into being through this union of minds desiring to band together to form a whole Qthus the word univerrifasj and there- by to seek understanding. The name university appears during the time of Innocent III, who in his youth was a student at Paris. It comes to light inci- dentally in his letters of 1208-1209. The historian Has-

Page 9 text:

'E . . . H.,-1 -un--'L ' .l 454- 6 ,i. x if ,Q W V .?5 ., Z fu- 1 -,1 SALE jrf 1, A ' .Q 'll' j. .V I Q fi V' V, ' . F Y ' ' - in 1 Q V yi-Ei. A ,pjggw g it 'zlg ...,,. , ' 'E' . 7 X M 'Jr . ' i L ., P 951 A' , ' X Y' X - A ', i'i5 vs f , Q ek ,ff U4 r' 3 1 1 fl if e 'f l J i l il g! Q-,Qi-1,9552 J, '-,' ' i at f .,,r,,f-.4 it 3 y 'T' t wi ii-X .ff i i . - 1 -ix je , ., ' I 'K ..,,, ' :ja s fx, . . -41' , . A L ,V - :EQ ,,,. ll . , ,..,. Y V I if - J N : ...k i V- - , E 1 H , Q lil 'I ' 5 eei i ft ie' ' if H .J 7 ' in 4 l' 1. viii' K- , -Y - : fs if - ':- we W1-l ,, .. n. . fri., Jw . F' ' I JL- 'I 'yr ll V T' I 5:4252 i 'E H i ' ' ,. 5 Ha ' H it i A Us 5 i W M W ' , ' WU is fag' ig, it -i u 1 F in ' ix -, V 11y,, ,N ,V , ' 'wx f l?i3f5:.eiL--, :.- .,- 'Uv is no i l it it it A G l il ' 1 n ' 'i' 1 l' issfisiiii, .,'4.21x..Y - J, ' .L ,.fje7ee-Wi J I'-jf gn f Y W W.-., - 1 . 5-l 6:11 :gr , 1 1, 'T , 525255322355 in W 1 ' - ' ' it fn' i 2 ....i-522512121 -af if f ' ., . iz, K ,:.:...ee,y .y eel V , v I V vi 1 ni . ,A g,Lf.j:-:EP ,L Q 'I JJ Z AL i-Q? ,V 1 4, r -. N ,-if-f i 5 f, ...,,fN'1,me ini: ,551 we E gf, , 0 '- ' mi , 'T-S :vw 'Q 1 ' H 'uw ' ' 'Ti' Heinrich Pestalozzi, the great educator, once said, What else is education but the reverent joining of the past to the gloom of the fu- ' ture by making wise use ofthe present. In the 1958 Oneontzzn we view the university concept, its origin, its meaning, and its development in the State University of New York. In this way do we observe the tenth anniversary of our university C1948-195815 'I The Editors 1 l l l 1

Page 11 text:

kins says, Here, as so often in the history of institutions, the name follows the thing itself. The university was a guild, a guild of masters and students. The 'masters qualified for their positions by passing examinations based on specihc curriculig the usual length ofstudy was six years. After serving a regency or trial period under recognized masters, the candidate was granted a license. Those who were licensed were designated by the de- gree, master of arts. These masters formed the faculty of arts, which in most universities was the governing body. Men with bachelors degrees were limited to tutoring and the teaching of elementary courses or to the task of assisting the masters in their duties. Those masters who wished specialized education in a particular profession, engaged in further studies leading, in some universities, to doctors' degrees. The usual professional curriculi being medicine, law or they ology. The Seven Liberal Arts formed the basis of the curriculum. These were divided into the trivimn Cgrammar, rhetoric and logicl and the quzzdrivium Carithmetic, astronomy, geometry and musicb. VVhile this course of study may seem restrictive when compared to the diversity of the modern university curriculum, it was far more inclusive than it might be interpreted today. It included among other things, rigid study of many of the known classics, and the art of writing and of discourse. This program made debate a sought after and useful tool of the times. The language of learning was Latin, the methods were logic and philosophy, the aim was intellectual fulfillment. The early universities of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were to be found almost entirely in the minzzfr and lzefzrlr of man. They lacked the physical facilities so vitally necessary to the expanded and developed role of the twentieth century university. Since the early university dealt with a probing and speculative approach to knowl- edge, it did not at first have a conception of research or experimenta- tion by means of a scientihc method. The luxury of a library was in a modern sense, unknown to the early university community. Such a valued addition had to await the mid-fifteenth century advent of movable type and the fiowering of Renaissance humanism. A campus as a necessary and accepted part of the idea of the university devel- oped as succeeding generations of masters and students pushed the barriers to knowledge, and the methods by which it was gained, into an era of scientific and rational enquiry. The Dutch historian, Huizinga has drawn attention to three con- ditions which must be present in order for a civilization to achieve true and enduring greatness. They are: CID a constant and conscious aim to achieve a balance between material and spiritual values, Q21 a striving toward something higher on all levels of society, embodied in a sincere desire to gain wisdom, enlightenment and perfection, C31 the conquest and control ofnature, including human nature. Thus the principle concern of the modern university is to endow the enquiring mind with these ideals and to teach them as a way of life so that they may be translated into action. State University ofNew York has taken a giant step in the direction of the future and in the education of its enquiring minds. Here within an organization of forty-two diversified colleges and institutes, are brought together the students and masters as in ages gone by. Here are studies based upon the empiricism of the distant past, now broadened and vitalized by careful experimentation and research. Here are students and masters enriched not only by a decade of growth, but by centuries of human endeavor, a search after, the good, the true and the beautiful. 5