University of Southern California - El Rodeo Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 11 text:

However, without a responsible student body, such aspirations and efforts are of little significance. The student must seize the opportunities afforded him to share in the process of discovery; he must be willing to open his mind to new facts and insights; he must examine the presuppositions upon which his own life is based. In other words, he must be willing to learn. Bricks and mortar do not make a university — universities are made of teachers, scholars and students who join hands in the search for knowledge and understanding. A new day has dawned for our university. J. Wesley Robb Associate Dean of Humanities

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of our culture and penetrates beyond its obvious superficiality to a deeper under- standing of it. But this is not enough. The late President John F. Kennedy chal- lenged our student body a few years ago to assume positions of leadership within our society, and thus help reshape our world toward the ideal ends we have sought so long to achieve. With such a concern, the moral dimension of education becomes central. For only when such a responsible vision is accepted will the independent mind find direction and have intrinsic value. As I see it, it is within this context that the University of Southern California strives to afford to its students wide opportunities to discover and develop new knowledge and at the same time help him become more sensitive to the common humanity he shares with all men. The Master Plan of the University, dedicated to this kind of outreach of mind and spirit, implemented by new facilities and an able faculty, is a major step in the achievement of these goals.

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Education in America was stirred from complacency ' launching of Sputnik eight years ago. Since then, all of us v work in the laboratory of American higher education have been 1 u — - g|. j p excellence — assessing the ap- ...titutional practices to our objectives, and measuring our oD|ectives against the needs of our land. From 1958-61 at use we spent two and one half years in a careful and sometimes painful self-appraisal. Our goal was to deter- mine what academic and physical developments were neces- sary to place this university among the finest institutions of higher learning in the world. The resultant Master Plan is a $106 million blueprint for enterprise and excellence in educa- tion. It is a plan of action predicated on conviction. We believe that use, with its f ..•-... complex, its eighty-nvc ye . ... . ., . .v,. ,, v,, ... y.v.,,..., family of Alumni and friends, is uniquely capable of serving the social, cultural, and educational needs of the southern Cali- fornia community. We believe further that this university — - of any control and able to pursue truth with vigor and without lise — represents the full vitality and value of the tra- jt our students will be expos w. to the finest minds anywhere and their educational experience enriched by in-depth study of the best that man has said and done. We intend, through ongoing self-appraisal, to continue improving the quality of the USC experience and to arouse in our young people the concerned perplexity which motivates men to become truly educated and to serve their fellows.