Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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But how is this reform and redirection to be achieved? It is first of all necessary that there be certain attitudes and convictions prevalent within the controlling body of the university. Primary among these is a concept of the university’s function in society. President Sterling has said that a university’s “proper business’’ is the service of mankind. But how best can this be done? The answer must be first through the best possible education for its students, and second through the more direct services, such as research or community leadership. It is the university's proper business to serve its students, to enable them, through education, to develop themselves as fully as possible. And it is only through this attitude that the university will be able to keep pace with the changes in its students, for it is only through this attitude that the needs and goals of the students will be the university’s primary concerns. In Stanford's case, especially during 20

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President Sterling's term of office, the willingness to shape the University to the needs of the students has been apparent, though only within the context of its willingness to shape itself to the needs of government and industry, its principal financial supports. This is clearly indicated by the increase in the quality of faculty and facilities which has occurred since 1949, when Sterling took office, and by the fact that the greatest development has taken place in the fields vital to government and industry —the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, and some of the social sciences. The impact of the money is apparent. But though some would say that in this the University is selling out to the highest bidders, it must be considered that the improvement of the schools dearest to the hearts of the money interests has brought with it a general rise in the quality of all the departments and a vastly increased ability on the part of the University to attract unrestricted funds. The question is whether the end justifies the means. On the one hand is the general improvement of the University as a whole and the correspondent upgrading of the education offered, while on the other is the matter of placing the University under obligations to the money interests supporting it which might impair its educational objectives or principles. But what also must be considered is the degree to which the University's goals might be impaired, versus the development it would be able to make on its own without help from government or industry. Seen in this context, 22