Vol. I.XVI
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6. 1964
Change, The Life Blood of a University
By ( A'I'ilY N'KV LLE
Emerald Editor
If Homecoming weekend is yo -r first visit to
th * University in several years, some things may
have changed Vo’i may expect to find battle
scars on Johnson Hall from the wars waged over
the Northwes' It-view. You mav exn»ct to find
students running wild because of recant changes
in conduct rules Neither is true
A few buildings may be missing, a few trees
gone and a few new structures sitting v.Ae e
you used to lx * on vour back spring term and
pretend you were studying for finals Ail oi
these changes have been made, but there are
many more that don't show.
The student bod', has grown. In the last four
years alone it ha-, added rough’-/ 3 OO'J stud‘ its.
The State Board of Higher Education will ask
the State Legislature to allocate more money
than ever b *fore to ed icate these students.
Luckily higher education is beginning to be
regarded as a necessary invcstmen*. instead of
as a luxury to be financed after th? important
things are taken care of Several groups of edu
cators and researchers have proved statistically
that greater education increases the individual’s
capacity to earn. sp»nd and pay taxes.
-
But education is important to the state even
b fore the potential bank president emerges
from the hallowed halls. Educational centers
v. i’h adequate natural resources or economic
climate ine/i'ably attract industry and business,
eager to attract the growing market to trained
help. What has been termed a “smokeless in*
d 'slry'’ is created as an institution of higher
education attracts gifts, grants, and contracts
pumping money into the economy and knowl
edge arid discovery into the literate world.
East year the University attracted over $7
million in research grants alone, not to men
othcr gifts and sources of income. Education
has become an investment instead of an expen
diture.
One Continuing Trend
Oie thing about the University that hasn't
changed, except possib'y to become stronger, is
h“r tradition of academic freedom As is the
problem with any state university, the will of
the taxpayers is frequently felt within the sup
posedly hallowed shrine of learning.
In some states this public pressure becomes
virtually unbearable, as at Texas where local
residents are once more waging a war to remove
any teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution
from text books The student revolt at Berkeley
earlier this fall was a reaction to a publicly sup
ported policy prohibiting the advocation of poli
tical ideas on the campus.
Any state institution daring to permit ideas
to grow strictly on their educational merit can
not help but otTend a few from time to time. The
strength of a university such as this one may
very well be measured in its dedication to de
fend the right of student and professor alike to
explore ideas freely.
The research fostered by such free inquiry
benefits no- only those concerned, but the en
tire state and nation. Research at the Univer
sity is attempting to find ways to improve Eng
lish instruction at the high school level and to
integrate it with the freshman college course.
Another research program is attempting to
break down the lag between the breakthrough
in some field of learning and the introduction
of this new knowledge into the curriculums of
public schools.
Dv the time the class of 106.") returns for its
10 year reunion, more drastic changes will have
taken place and the University will probably
have created another image for itself. When this
or any other educational institution stands still,
abandoning change and progress, it will be time
to seriously re-evaluate the goals held by each
American.
IN MEMORIUM—A HOMECOMING THAT WAS CANCELLED
Nov. 22,1963