University of Tampa - Moroccan Yearbook (Tampa, FL)

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What then is a university? Before all else, a univer- sity is freedom of inquiry and expression. A. univer- sity cannot properly function without it. A univer- sity cannot exist for long without it. It is this spirit of freedom that sets the unversity apart and gives it an atmosphere all its own. A university may be set in the very heart of a city, be a community within a community, and yet not be of the city. It may be de- pendent upon the city ' s environment and yet not lose its identity or its purpose. It need not, or rather. it should not succumb to academic censorship. Nor should it be crushed under the politico-economic pressures that stifle freedom of inquiry and educa- tional growth. A university need not bind itself to any one set of values, orthodox philosophies, or dog- mas. A student must be aroused from his lethargy and be taught to be discriminate in his reappraisal of values, ethics, and creeds — ■ both his own and .so- ciety ' s. He must become dissatisfied with all things mediocre. Finally, he must discard the inadequate 15

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i « » kl The pursuit of knowledge should be valued for its own sake, for the in- sight it renders to humanity — about humanity. A university must not offer its ware only to the community, but to its students an environment that transcends the practical utilitarian world. It must be a neutral ground where its residents can explore the true and the false, make mistakes, question traditions and beliefs, learn to make objections re- gardless of their implications. If we accept this concept, then we automatically rule out a definition of a university in quantitative terms. It becomes more than president, professor, student, classroom, dormitory, alumnus, team, stadium, ixy- covered campus, and commencement exercises - — more than a sum total of its parts. 14

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dogmas of a quiet past to create new ones for a dy- namic, turbulent present. With freedom of inquiry, the university plays a more important role than a fact-disseminating center of pro- fessional training ground. Facts alone, without their proper application, are worse than useless — they are dangerous. A university with freedom of inquiry can teach the use of value judgment in order to translate knowledge into action and to gain further knowledge by action. Such powers of discrimination make the difTerence between the person who is educated and one who is merely knowledgeable.