University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Yackety Yack Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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Dr. Frank Porter Graham President

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F C UIjTY

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PRESIDENT GRAHAM ' S MESSAGE TO THE CLASS OF 1934 The graduation of the class of I 934 brings vividly to mind a quadrennium that has tested the depths and the heights of the human spirit in the affairs of the Univer- sity and the world. What a panorama of local and distant lights and shadows passes in review with the procession of the class from the fall of 1 930 to the sum- mer of 1934. Japan, Jehol, and Manchukuo; Stalin and the Five Year Plans in Russia; Mac- Donald and the National Government of Britain ; Hitler, Nordicism, and the Ger- man totalitarian state; Mussolini and the corporate Kingdom of Italy; Roosevelt with the New Deal for American democracy; Mayne Albright, Haywood Weeks, Harper Barnes and student self-government at the University of North Carolina! Not to mention Gardner, live-at-home, and consolidation; and Ehringhaus, McLean and the eight months school; C.W.A. and intramural fields for all students, nation- al tennis, South Atlantic baseball, Southern track, and state basketball champion- ships! Or the Human Relations Institute, economic and social inquiries, and the Tatum petition against the freedom of the University! The meeting of the Associa- tion of American Universities in Chapel Hill recognized the graduate research and productive w ork of University scholars and teachers. Creative artistry in music and drama prepares the w ay for a three-fold school of fine arts. The completion of the Student Union in 1 93 1 , the institution of the student audit in 1932-33, and the quiet resolve of some 200 students in their cleansing pledge of 1 934 to report to the Student Council any case of cheating or other form of dis- honor, are steps in the development of student freedom, campus government, and self-development in the University of North Carolina. The while there came in quick succession the almost destructive 20 per cent cut of 1 930-3 1 , the additional 30 per cent cut of 1 932, and the 54 per cent cut of 1 933 under 1929! The loan fund of 1932 helped the class of 1934 and their college mates to absorb the heavier shocks to come. All the while the faculty met person- al cuts with harder w ork, and w orld catastrophe with a greater faith. The class of 1 934, as they take their places in the work of this plastic age, will help to restore the security and opportunities of the faculty, advance the University, and make the world a place in which men may work and hope for a better day. The University bids you an affectionate farewell and will follow beside you upon all the w ays of the world. When the w ay is dark and the road is rough alma mater will stand beside her sons and daughters of 1 934. While you keep your feet on the clean earth in the valleys of your day ' s w ork she will look with you unto the high hills of your dreams.