University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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victims of those who would manipulate them for ulterior purposes. The more majestic, the more flamboyant, the more emotional the appeal, the easier it is to lead the youth of any generation in any country. Of course, students frequently resented the administrations vigilance against external influences as unnecessary protection, asserting that they were capable of distinguishing between the true and the false. But even the opposition, during its more charitable and intelligent moments, realized that Dr. Coffman was motivated only by a devotion to the true spirit of university life. Naturally, he recognized that it was impossible-and highly undesirable-to transform a modern university into a Uclois- tered hall, divorced from the external world. All the social currents of our generation How across the campus. Of course they cannot be ignored, nor can we Canute-like demand that they recede from our academic gatesf, But when scholars invaded the world, he wanted them to behave as scholarsg and when students examined propaganda, he wanted them to pos- sess the aid of experience. The conflict between freedom and tyranny is a desperate engagement, and it is not surprising that Dr. Coffman considered discipline vital to success. Only free minds can train citizens who will be freef' he believed. I am sometimes filled with despair, but I know we must never cease our efforts. Education is the only hope. The alternative is ignorance and confusion. And as Santayana said: 'The ignorant are constantly being duped by things they think they knowf This belief in education explains the ferocity of his opposition to the men and the organizations threatening its freedom and, therefore, its very life. Wlien he submerges himself in causes greater and more enduring than himself, a man gains not only tremendous personal satisfaction, but deprives death of its melancholic aspect. Dr. Coffman, confident in the faith that men are ennobled by understanding and that unshackled education preserves democracy, generously bestowed eighteen years of aHectionate attention upon the University of Minnesota. I-Ie sacrificed himself for a cause, and because it is a splendid cause, richly deserving such loyalty and service, sentimental regret becomes inappropriate. Shakespeare said that the good men do is often interred with their bones. But this is pessimism that history has long ago repudiated. By his devotion, by his labor, and by his achieve- ments, Dr. Lotus Delta Coffman has obtained a measure of immortality. Perhaps it is the only immortality to which men may aspire, and if it is, it is enough for men of courage. IOHN L, LAWLER, Mzhzzesom Daily

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