St Francis College - Franciscan Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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St. Francis R m» n Stmt Brookijn. N. Y. — 11 01 College Office of the President June 8, 1968 Dear Graduate: The Board of Trustees, faculty and students join me in extending warm congratulations and best wishes to you on the very happy occasion of your graduation from St. Francis College. During your time at St. Francis, two words have dominated the world scene - freedom” and power. The academic society', the social and ethnic groups, the political subdivisions, the representatives of religious opinion, are only some of those who have seized freedom surd power as their slogan in recent years. These words have been the inspiration for student riots that extended from the Berkeley campus in the west to the Brooklyn College campus in the cast and on through Europe and Asia; the racial leaders from Watts in California to East New York in Brooklyn claim the same banner; the apartheid policy of South Africa, the corruption of Vietnam and other political troubles in various parts of the world all represent the demand for freedom and power. The extremes of conviction on religious matters from strict traditionalism to absolute individualism have one common goal - freedom and power. In all of this you must have wondered, as one would expect any member of the St. Francis College community’ to wonder, about the lack of the use of the words responsibility and self discipline. Few of the leaders of current social movements ever mention these words. It is my prayerful wish that as the Class of 1968 moves from the halls of St. Francis College to the marketplace of life there will be among you many articulate, intelligent spokesmen who will remind society' that freedom without responsibility' and power without self discipline can lead only to chaos and anarchy. Good luck and God bless you. Sincerely yours, Brother Urban Gonnoud, O.S. F. President