University of Wisconsin Madison - Badger Yearbook (Madison, WI)

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On Man and Nature From Seclusion I The Distant Past This Man Brings Fig- ures Which Lite Again w™ Prof. Otto was voic new student asks an old what course he should take, the re- ply invariably includes Philosophy 25. A cute young thing who was having her hair frizzed in the beauty parlor asked the oper- ator this ques- tion. She re- plied with the customary Man and Na- ture, and the young thing complacently answered, ' ' Yes, I think ril take that. Those are the two things I ' m most interested in. Perhaps the young lady ing the opinion of many other students. At any rate, enrollment is limited to ;oo. Although he has offered the course for years, Professor Max Otto has a way of making the students feel that the subject is as fresh to him as it is to them. With a poignancy peculiarly all his own. Professor Otto takes figures out of the dusty archives of the past and recreates Fries them into living creatures, in fact so real that one can almost see their mobile forms instead of the abbreviated stature of the lecturer on the platform. His keen compre- hension of human nature enhances his capac- ity to fascinate even the most indifferent audiences with his colorful and vivid character portrayals of such personalities as Socrates, Jesus, Saint Augustine, and others touched upon by the course. Indeed, even the reading list is an in- ducement to take Man and Nature. Books by Breasted, Papini, Plato, Hayden, and Prof. Otto are only a tew that offer personal enrichment to the student finding time to consider them. But no mere enumeration of lectures and titles can give the essence of this course so highly prized by the students. The arresting personality of Mr. Otto himself permeates every angle of the course. His life is the vital expression of the philosophy he teaches. A humanist, groping for a realization of the good life, Professor Otto believes that man- kind yet may take its own destiny con- sciously and intelligently in hand. Instructional Staff Otto Vivas BOEGHOLT Ely Page 22

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Credit and Crescendo Monday and Wednesday at Nine O ' clock in Music Hall; Econ. la Under Kiekhofer. ' ' ITH the present national adminis- tration simmering in a mess ot alpha- bet soup tended by brain-trusting econ- omists it is only natural that the intellec- tual curiosity (such as it is) ot our univer- sity should flow in the direction ot the economist. The brunt ot the wave strikes, in no small part, on the shoulders of Professor William H. Kiekhoter, whose course in Introductory Economics is better known as £co7i a. Three times a week, during the tall semester, a horde ot seven hundred odd souls tile into the auditorium ot Music Hall to hear the silver-tongued Kiekhofer expound on the intricacies of our economic institutions. As arpeggios and arias are gently wafted from other parts ot the Prof. Kiekhofer building, the principles ot supply and de- mand compete tor the attention of the assembly — a sad state —necessitated by the fact that no other hall on the campus can cope with the numbers of the tuture Tugwells and Townsends. It would be a gross injustice, no doubt, to intimate that it took a depression to make £co?i la popular. For many year ' s Kiekhoter ' s oratory has been practically as traditional on the campus as the hand- writing on Kiekhofer ' s Wall . . . which, as he takes great pains to explain each fall, bears no connection to him. Ecoii Jdhas the reputation ot being a tough course to get a grade out of. The tavored tew in this respect are usually journalists or political science majors. The basis for such discrimination seems to rest mainly on the ability to write much ado about nothing. Their papers, being heavier by the virtue ot the additional ink placed thereon, sail farther when thrown down the stairs at the time when the grades are determined. Engineers who trequently wander into this course tind their slide rules ot no avail and atter one semester ot chastisement are glad to go back to their pipes in the plumbing school. It was once rumored that there was a student who did all of the assigned reading although no one has ever been detinitely able to verity the fact. The majority ot the inmates spend most ot their time studying from Kiekhofer ' s Outlines ot Econom- ics — a really good little book which the author constantly revises, much to the disgruntlement ot the local book stores. There is no more cosmopolitan meeting place on the entire campus than Econ la lecture. The forgotten third sits be- side the social register, the grind rubs elbows with the playboy, the star half- hack smiles on his hero worshiper. — The home-ec, the agric, the engineer, the geol- ogist, and the accountant, in tact, toute la monde gathers to pay homage to that spellbinding economist in his melting pot of the campus — ECON la. Page 2 I

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The Alumni Association nnHE Wisconsin Alumni Association is a voluntary, cooperative organization ot graduates and termer students of the University whose purpose is to promote the welfare of the University and to en ' courage the interest of the alumni in the University and in each other. It is a means to an end. The student who takes a genuine interest in the University and in campus affairs wishes to continue that interest after graduation. The Alumni Association is not only the medium through which this may best be done; it is also the instrumentality through which the desire to effectively serve the institu- tion, its students and alumni will find large opportunities. hi the words of President Frank, it is the medium through which a critical loyalty will be able to expose the weakness and promote the strength of the University. The Wisconsin Alumni Magazine, which is the official publication of the Association, was first published in 1899, by a committee of alumni, ot which the late President Van Hise, then serving in the department of geology, was a member. The magazine is now issued monthly and goes to all members of the Association. Its major purpose is to present to former students a living record of the living reaUties of Wisconsin and to interpret the new and vital things that are happening on the campus. In addition, ot course, it brings to alumni news of classmates and friends of college days — where they are and what they are doing, also the ac- tivities of alumni groups throughout the world. Supplementing the magazine, the Association sends to its members from time to time, various university bulletins and pamphlets which are not only inter- esting in themselves but also convey a clearer idea of the services the university is rendering. The production of a second series ot motion pictures has also been undertaken which will be available to alumni and through them to other inter- ested groups. The governing body ot the Association consists of twenty directors elected at large for a term of two years. Ten are elected each year by mail ballot of the membership from a list of fifteen nominees. The officers consist ot the president, vice- president, and treasurer, none ot whom. Myron H.arsh.-wv President Walter Alexander Vice ' President Basil Peterson Treasurer Herman Egstad Secretary Page 23