University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 8 text:

w hen the University of Pittsburgh decided, in August, 1965, to become state-related, every aspect of campus life was profoundly influenced. As a consequence of this new status, the philosophy which served as Pitt's guiding principle underwent an important change. Under Chancellor Litchfield Pitt was aiming at establishing itself as one of the 10 or 12 best universities in the country, and attracting a nation-wide student body. As a member of the Commonwealth System, Pitt now aims to serve the higher educational needs of the sons and daughters of Western Pennsylvania. Before 1967, the University community shared a goal, and its students were from backgrounds of similar values and they shared a largely common college experience. Since 1967, Pitt has come to resemble more closely a service station in that the University has adapted itself to meeting the needs of a much more diversified student population, and without the direction supplied by a shared goal. The period 1967 to 1971, which will serve as the focus of this Yearbook, has been an important transitional era for the University. It has shifted from shaping a cosmopolitan student body to accommodating itself to a local group, and people

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ice .arid the ex ..J third arid most important cre m- ted by the symbol of the OWL. That is, reflection. The OWL means remembering bow felt and what we believed. Its purpose is to remind us of the place and the times,, not only by what pictured arid written but, more importantly, V acting as a catalyst and causinK us to recall our personal experiences. For within them lie our •deals a riel our Vr

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from both these worlds have been on campus during these years. The 1970-71 school year marked the passing of the first full undergraduate generation since staterelatedness, and this Yearbook will try to relate how and why the University of Pittsburgh is a different place now than it used to be. A university presents its students with two kinds of environments within which each individual selects what is personally important. One of these is academic, and the other is social. The kinds of things a student selects depends on what each person wants in the way of intellectual and personal involvement, and the alternatives for the expression of such involvements which are available at the University.