Yale University - Banner / Pot Pourri Yearbook (New Haven, CT)

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I ' lijccssidi! wheels pmt Hewitt fie, To many, this timely quip seemed to coincide with a newly published and highly contro- versial book about Yale. After stating that Yale and Harvard were the inventors of a unique institution, the American liberal art institution, he submit- ted that nowhere else, outside of the North American continent, in the English speaking world can institutions of this type be found. The famous educator then listed three ele- ments as being essential to the true function- ing of a university: the collegiate way of life, the advancement of learning, and training of the professions. But also from President Conant ' s speech leaked a few drops of concern. I could easily, he mentioned, dwell on the threats to the independence of all our universities, particularly to those that are privately sup ported; inflation, the strange tendency ol some foundations and potential donors to say that the day of endowments is gone and that we must live hand to mouth; and the unrea- soned attacks from those who fail to under- stand the significance of independent and free inquiry. But a birthday celebration is not a time for foreboding. On the contrary, it is a time for rejoicing. Harvard brings heartiest con- gratulations and, if I may say so, joins with parental pride the other institutions here as- sembled in wishing for Yale University con- tinued leadership and high distinction in the centuries that lie ahead. Leonard Bacon, class of 1909, deli ' ered his anniversary ode. While granting praise to the imi ersitv ' s illustrious history and leadership, he continued: Much has been won. ' hat worlils remain to win. Now and here peals the stroke ol the hour. Begin. After a hymn the program was brought to a close by Reverend Morgan Noyes, ' ho gave the benediction. The participants, in their multi-colored robes, then filed slowly out of the hall and dispersed in the milling crowd outside. That evening the alumni took over Fresh- man Commons for their dinner, forcing the Class of 1955 to seek nourishment in the college dining halls. The dinner began at 6:30 in the huge and especially decorated room. The speakers ' table at the west end of the room was backed by a huge Yale flai , which extended from ceiling to floor, and horn wall to wall. After the meal, Wilmarth S. Lewis, ' 18, addressed the gathering and described the perfect partnership between alumni ;ind their college as one that would permit the institution to administer personal affairs as they think best. This would be an act ol hiitli made in the spirit of partnership similar to the act ol hiith made h ' the Lini ersities in recent cars when they have sought, and taken, acKice Irom their graduates on matters on which they are better informed than the universities. It will do more harm if the graduates in- sist on hax ' ing the head ol Prolessor Jones scrx ' cd up to them on a charger, continued Mr. Lewis. Professor Jones may be a dolt; he may acK ' ocate tree lo e, tree worship, or sim- plilied spelling, but his uni ersil is a better jud e ol his competence as a teacliei ' than are its graduates. 1 i

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the graduates of the ancient EngHsh universi- ties who Founded Harvard, as vc ha ' e re- newed it since their time throiij h our own graduates lor the institutions ot learning rep- resented here todav . . . Thev brought to us a living shoot from the tree of learning, whose shoots reach down through western culture to the lore and learning of ancient Greece. Following President Griswold ' s introduc- tion, Lord Halifax brought to Yale the greet- ings and good wishes of his own universitv. Then, launching into a more serious vein, Halifax stated that the experience of the last few years had irretrievably shattered the dream of any easv or mechanical character of human progress. On all fronts, he said, where half a eenturv ago, security seemed to be fullv entrenched— pohtical, scientific, philosophic, economic— it now only survives as a memorv ol what it once was, and evervwhere in the world, dragging its old anchors, it is moving at headlong speed through new and uncharted waters. If, he went on to sav, our social order todav shows signs of disintegration, this is. I believe, less through the destruction of war than througli the slow attrition of its rehgious and cultural foundations and through the im- pact of intellectual forces which have created a ' acuum without ha ' ing the capacity to fill it themselves. It was fairly clear to all that Halifax v as worried; worried that the old order and system might not be able to withstand the onslaught of new menacing ideologies unless, as he put it, this can be met bv the universities ' capac- it ' to turn out men who are educated and equipped to fulfill their functions as the intel- lectual leaders of society. President Conant of Harvard spoke next and proceeded to amuse the crowd by stating that it was with a considerable feeling of diflSdence that I address this thoroughly Yale audience. With the exception of the Goy- ernor of Connecticut, he remarked, I am perhaps the only Harvard man present. He explained that Yale had been founded bv Harvard alumni in 1701 because at that time alumni who found fault with their own colleges organized another instead of turning around and reorganizing their own. IIvuIk ' ii I lohloi hciirs Iviu ihuimd iilc unice. svtiibol of nciiilciiiic aittlioritr

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The partnership beHeves that our pri- vately endowed colleges arc essential to the intellectual and spiritual health ol this coun- trv, and that freedom from go ' ernmcnt direc- tion is vital to their continued existence. We alumni throughout the country give several million dollars each year to back up this be- lief. It would be a pitv if we nullified so much generosity by imposing our own wills on the university in ways that would destroy what we are seeking to preserve. The last speaker of the evening was Irving S. Olds, who perhaps gave the most significant speech of the evening. Like President Conant and Mr. Lewis, Olds feared government in- tervention in the affairs of private universities. LInlike his two predecessors, he offered a so- lution, support by private enterprise. Mr. Olds said that he was afraid that in- dependent universities were finding it increas- ingly difficult to keep pace with their tax- supported competitors. These competitors seemingly have an inexhaustible source of in- come, and today each of them, on the average, is receiving twice as much in subsidies as we are getting from private donations and be- quests. Abroad, in countries where education is wholly dominated by the state, we have seen the youthful minds of an entire nation subverted by ruthless and ambitious men to the barbarities of Fascism or to the cork screw convolutions of the Communist party line. That must not happen here. His cure for this situation, he explained, would be for American industry to support the privately endowed universities. To a limited extent, he stated, many corporations arc doing that today . . . But their power to contribute is limited by the statutes of the particular state in which each of them is in- corporated, and many state laws cast grave doubts upon the right of a corporation to do- nate the money of its stockholders unless the probability of immediate and direct benefit to the donor is clearly demonstrable . . . That is why they have not felt free generally to finance studies in the liberal arts and humani- ties, even though the most difficult problems which American enterprise faces today are neither scientific nor technical, but in the realm of what is embraced in a liberal arts education. ' The evening closed with the singing of Bright College Years led by a former Whif- fenpoof. Hundreds of white pocket handker- chiefs waved in the air in the traditional Yale gesture, while the waiters impatiently waited to clear the tables and floor for the morning ' s breakfast. More alumni talks, of a more business-like and informal nature, however, followed on Saturday. If the week-end proved anything, it was that on Yale ' s birthday, like on every- one else ' s, people praised the past, were glad things had come so well up to the present, and were apprehensive of the future. Significantly, this was the first time that so much time had been devoted to maintain- ing the status quo of independent universi- ties. Also significant was the fact that everyone seemed to think that President Griswold was the man to handle the job. If a struggle was coming, Yale was well prepared for it. As Mr. Lewis put it, What, we wonder, will Yale be like at the end of her first mil- lennium? Mr. Olds presents educational plan