~Wtt&1 - - Hoover Library

some colleges and universities are now discardingthe whole idea of statements of purpose, regardingtheir main task as one of remaining open-ended toaccommodate the rapid changes. "There is no single'end' to be discovered," says California's ClarkKerr. Many administrators and professors agree.But American higher education is sufficiently vastand varied to house many-especially those at smallcolleges or church-related institutions-who differwith this view.What alumni and alumnae will have to find, aswill everyone connected with higher education, aresome new norms, some novel patterns of behaviorby which to navigate in this new, constantly innovatingsociety.For the alumni and alumnae, then, there must bean ever-fresh outlook. They must resist the inclinationto howl ateverydeparture that their alma matermakes from the good old days. They need to see theiralma mater and its role in a new light. To remindprofessors about their obligations to teach studentsin a stimulating and broadening manner may be acontinuing task for alumni; but to ask the facultyto return to pre-1950 habits of leisurely teachingand counseling will be no service to the new academicworld.In order to maintain its greatness, to keep ahead,America must innovate. To innovate, it must conductresearch. Hence, research is here to stay. Andso is the new seriousness of purpose and the intensityof academic work that today is so widespread onthe campuses,Alumni could become a greater force for keepingalive at Our universities and colleges a sense of joy,a knowledge of Western traditions and values, aquest for meaning, and a respect for individual persons,especially young persons, against the mountingpressures for sheer work, new findings, mere facts,and bureaucratic depersonalization. In a period ofradical change, they could press for some enduringvalues amidst the flux. In a period focused on thenew, they could remind the colleges of the v.rtuesof teaching about the past.But they can do this only if they recognize theexistence of rapid change as a new factor in the Iifeof the nation's colleges; if they ask, "How and whatkind of change?" and not, ,. WI!)' change?" ,"It isn't easy," said an alumnus from Utah. "It slike asking a farm boy to get used to riding anescalator all day long." .One long-time Observer, the editor of a distlnguishedalumni magazine, has put it this way:"We-all of Us-need an entirely new conceptof higher education, Continuous, rapid change isnow inevitable and normal If we recognize thatQUI' colleges from now on will be perpetually changing,but not in inexorable patterns, we shall be ableto control the direction of change more intelligently.And we Can learn to accept our colleges on a whollynew basis as centers of Our loyalty and affection,"The report on this and the preceding 15pages is the product of a cooperative endeavorin which scores of schools, colleges,and universities are taking part. It was pre.pared under the direction of the group listedbelow, who form EDITORIAL PROJECTS FOR.EDUCATION, non-profit organization associatedawith the American AlumniCouncil.Naturally, in a report of such length andscope~ not all statements necessarily reflectthe VIews of all the persons involved, or oftheir insLi:Ulions. C.opyright © 1966 by EditorialProjects for Education, Inc. All rightsreserved; no part may be reproduced WiLhoULthe express permission of the editors. Printedin U.S.A.OENTONBEAL GEORGEO. KI::LLER ROBERT t., l'AYTO!;'Carn~gi" [n,ii/u/e oj T~dIJWIQgy Columbia Ulli~rsiJy WlUhillglf)n Ullh'ersityDAVlD,o,. BURR ALAN W. MACC,o,RTUY 1I.0BERT M. RIlOD!;:ST"~ U"h·erj·il)' oj OHa/wma TIuJ UIJi~"rsily rif Michigan The Uflil1mily oj P(!l!JS)'lvanwOANENOSLEY JOHN I. MATTILL ST,o,NLEYSAPLINStanjord Unif){/rsity MQS$achuseJllln.rlilule oj T~'h"Qlogy N~w roT/.: Uni(lfTsityMARAI..YNO. CII..I..ESPII1. t:EN M£TZLER VERNEA. STAOTMANSWarl1m,are College Th~Uniuersity oj Oregon Tk UII;uersig of CaliforniaCHARLESM. IIEtMI(EN RUSSELLOLIN FREDER.ICA. STOTTAmerican Alumni Coulle;l Tm University IJj Colorado Phillips Acadtll!Y, AndoverJOliN w. [,ATONWufnYOIIUm'ul!Yrit,)lFR~NKJ. TATEThe O/uo Siale Umwr$i{~CI1ARLESE. WIDMAYERDarlmolJ/hCDll6glOOROTln· s. WILLIAMSSimlllonrCollegtTh~ jS~ ~p~;'~'U!l!dsiIJ£L1ZAllETH 1101'10 woo»Swul BTil" CollegeCHES.LI>:Y WORTHINGTONBrQu'" Unit'ersllYCOItBINGWALTNEYE>;ecUliwEditorJOHN A. CROWLAm,cialeEdilQr