View - Digital DU

"The challenges facingthe colleges ... are soformidable that theseventies maydemand radicalchanges."After having worked and enjoyed twenty-six years atthe University of Denver, I often times am forcedto laugh when asked what I foresee as the future ofhigher education, and what the nation's campuseswill be like in the seventies. I cannot, any morethan anyone else, see the face of the future. Thecampuses will shape and be shaped by our nation'sfuture. To the campuses we will look with interestfor leadership in solving our manifold publicproblems, for new knowledge and the understandingto put it to good use, for the training our youngpeople need to live useful and rewarding lives, andfor the constant independent criticism, which alonekeeps a democratic society vital.The challenges facing the colleges and universitiesare so formidable that the seventies may demandradical changes. Contrasting future possibilitiesabound in higher education, and certainty seems tojostle uneasily with large question marks at everycritical point. There is a possibility of a radical changein the methods we use to organize collegiateinstruction. Buildings that will grace or disgrace thecampuses in the late seventies are being plannedor built now, but the needs of a college may changedrastically in the next decade. Courses and programsfor this decade are being discussed in facultymeetings, student meetings, and administration'sdiscussions, but by the time these plans are fullyoperational, half or more of the knowledge consideredessential today may be outmoded, and there willbe vast amounts of new knowledge and concepts.In short, the campus of the seventies is already here.In a sense, it is being shaped by our decisions, ourprojects, and our dreams. The paramount question is,'How closely will the results correspond to thereal needs of the campus and the nation?'There is an overwhelming list of problems facing thecolleges and universities in the next five to tenyears. In spite of these dilemmas, I do not believethat these institutions of higher learning will go underbecause they are carrying heavy burdens. If they dodeteriorate, and this could include the Universityof Denver, it will be because they lacked the morale,the internal coherence, the adaptiveness to meetthe requirements of the future, or in the moment oftheir greatest success, they could not pull themselvestogether to face new challenges.36