University of the South - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Sewanee, TN)

Page 31 text:

The very word college assumes that together is the keyword. Only in a narrow sense does college mean these buildings. A college is a company, an assemblage, a society, a community of scholars. The college is people just as the Church is people. You could raze every build- ing of worship to the ground, and the Church would remain intact And as anyone with any sense knows the college with the most or the biggest buildings is not the best college. It is the quality of society, of the as- semblage, of the company that uses the building that determines the worth of the college. The key words to college and its meaning are such words as together, assemblage, company, society, com- munity. And that says a lot It says for one thing that a college is its members. It says this college is us, all of us. This college is neither it — that is these buildings, nor is it them — no matter whether by whom you mean the trustees, the adminis- tration, the faculty, or the students. It is all of us: from the senior professor to the last freshman to sign his name in the book. It is by humility that you discover the college is a community and that you are a vital part of it It is like being part of a huge play which lasts four years. Each of us has his part, and no one else can stand in for us. Like a play, the parts are of unequal length but all of importance. All must be done faithfully or the play will be a failure. Unlike a play we are not acting. This is real life. — JOEL PUGH