University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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Lotus Delta Coffman, -1938 The inscription chiseled in the stone of the facade of Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium proclaims: The Un1'ver.r1'ty of Minnesota-founded in the faith that men are ennobled by understtzrzding, dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth, devoted to the l.71Xfl'ZlCll.07Z of youth and the welfare of the state. Probably no one believed more fervently in this challenging ideal than Dr. Lotus Delta Coffrnang certainly no one contrib- uted more in the arduous campaign to realize it. Today the University of Minnesota occupies a position of recognized superiority in the world of scholarship, and Dr. Coffman shares with a distinguished faculty and a generous common- wealth the honor of having elevated it to such prestige. The leadership of any large university, especially any large state university, requires an extraordinary versatility. The president must represent his institution before private, civic and legislative agencies, enlisting their moral and hnancial aid to promote his own garden, the college community, inspir- ing morale in the faculty and student body, developing admin- istrative efficiency and tolerance. The completion of these tasks would exhaust any ordinary man, but a university president has just begun his duties. He must vigorously repulse all invasions by those who wish to pillage academic freedom or inoculate students with treacherous doctrines, he must constantly struggle with the university's obligations to the students and to the state, and he must be prepared to redefine the purposes and, consequently, to change the techniques of education as social conditions make such alterations desirable. The construction of over forty new buildings, the improve- ment in various other facilities, the reception of gifts approxi- mating eight million dollars, the astounding increase in student enrollments, the extension of educational work into Helds pre- viously neglected, and the residence of able scholars during his presidency: all of these prove the competence of Dr. Coffman as the Universityls ambassador.', The institution's requests for appropriations were always presented to the legislature and the general public by Dr. Coffman with considerable finesse. He recognized that those deprived of an opportunity to attend college were often sus- picious of its social value and frankly acknowledged that it was possible to maintain a university with a staff of mediocre ability, teaching without adequate equipment in crowded classrooms. But such an institution, he argued, would be an expensive deception: The state as a whole would pay a sorrier bill when, because of shoddy education there was a failure on the part of supposedly well-trained citizens to grasp or solve the tremendous social, political and economic problems of our present and immediate future. '-'The youth of this generationf, he continued, 'Kwill pass this way only once, they have but one opportunity, just one chance to qualify and equip themselves for the consideration of the problems of their day. It is our opinion that true recovery will come to that nation which lays enduring foundations on the things which the mind and the spirit build and that in the end all other things will be added unto them. Because he emphasized the necessity for increased expendi- tures with persuasive logic and because his practical nature appealed to them, Dr. Coffman usually returned victorious from such engagements. He understood, however, that stone walls do not a university make. Buildings, gifts, and equipment, he wrote on one occasion, are but the visible evidences of progress within an educational institution. The real work of the University is to be found not in the buildings about the campus but in the work and activities of the teaching staff, in the stimulation given students, and in the encouragement which the University gives to productive intellectual effort. In contrast to many administrative officers, Dr. Coffman was constantly stressing this primary function of the University. How necessary it is that we should keep in mind at all times, everywhere upon every occasion, that the fundamental purpose of an undergraduate institution is teaching, he once said. All other agencies and devices of every nature and description exist purely for the purpose of making the teaching as efficient as possible ..... H But Dr. Coffman regarded neither the acquisition of funds to operate the University nor the improvement of its standards as his most difficult task. The most difficult as well as the most important responsibility of a university administration, he wrote, is that of keeping the university free to do its workfl This duty necessitated constant resistance to the pressures of individuals and of groups who wished to employ the univer- sity's prestige to further their own interests. During his presidency, he watched cultural darkness descend upon a great portion of the world, witnessed the humiliating subjugation of other institutions of learning, observed the strangulation of academic freedom by dictators. And he noticed, with increasing apprehension, that the bar- barian forces which had extinguished the Hame of scholarship in other countries were gathering strength in the United States. Already, he indicated, twenty states impose loyalty oaths upon their teachers, although they impose no such oaths upon any other class of citizens. This, he maintained, is a clear in- fringement of a liberty cherished, fostered and exemplified by the teachers of America since the days of our forefathersf' He was particularly concerned about the vulnerability of youth to propaganda. f'The older generation declares that ours is a young man's worldg the young men believe it, he wrote in a pamphlet on the 'KProvince of Educationf' Yet at the same time the folly and inexperience of youth make them easy

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