University of Rhode Island - Renaissance / Grist Yearbook (Kingston, RI)

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A Word From Our President Hopefully a university education gives us exposure to people who count. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to encounter them personally. Most of us, however, meet them and get to know them through literature, history, the news, drama, “success stories,” or word of mouth. These are the people who believe so deeply that their actions are shaped by their beliefs. In the course of acting and believing, they help to make the world a better place for the rest of us. Sometimes the people who count are world leaders but just as often they are the common people who, when put to the test, find the courage to say, “Wait just a minute. You can’t do this to me. You can’t treat anybody this way.” It’s as if a button were pushed and shoulders were straightened everywhere. “That’s right,” people respond, “you can’t get away with this.” Sir Walter Scott wrote that “one hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observance of paltry decorum.” The tragedy of many educated people is that they never rise to the occasion. They spend their whole years in a “mean observance of paltry decorum.” Lately we’ve seen more and more examples of people who count, who are willing to say, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” Some of them speak up in South Africa and some in Rhode Island. The trained ear listens for their whisper or their shout. Gradually in higher education and particularly at URI, we’re learning that is is important to take a stand and that education is the process of building a foundation of belief. William Faulkner said that he “found that the greatest help in meeting any problem with decency and self-respect and whatever courage is demanded, is to know where you yourself stand. ’ ’ We’ re discovering that this is what URI is all about. Edward D. Eddy President July 9, 1986 16

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A Few of the People Who Keep URI 18