Page 3
President Hobbs at
Another University?
Installment #2
September 29, 1975
On a previous trip to Europe
in 1960 Lois Ann and I
discovered that we most
enjoyed travelling through the
countryside on a flexible
schedule, camping for a night
or two at some attractive spot.
Fifteen years later we decided
not to undergo the rigors of
camping again, but we wanted
the same sort of flexibility and
open schedule. Renting a car
in various places has freed us
from a great deal of hassle and
involvement in large cities,
and from dependence upon
pre-arranged reservations in
hotels. Using the extensive
assortment of tourist homes,
which label themselves "Bed
and Breakfast," or sometimes
just "B and B," has made it
easy to be out upon the
countryside and has put us in
direct contact with the rank
and file of people in a given
area. We had earlier stayed in
a few such homes in Britain in
1960, as well as those labeled
"Zimmer Frei" in Germany
and Austria and had found
them to be clean and
satisfactory in every way; also
quite inexpensive as compar
ed to most hotels. The homes
we have used both in Ireland
and Scotland have been
uniformly good, clean and
comfortable. Of course we
have used some care in
selecting the places. One
criterion which Lois Ann uses
with good results is to find
ones with colorful flower
gardens and with crisp white
curtains at the windows. Often
we mingle with the family and
other guests when we come in
after supper, or at the
breakfast table. It is usually a
warm and delightful time. The
people who offer these
services and the people who
use them are different,
somehow, a bit like campers--
a breed apart. We feel we
have come to know more about
each country as a result of
getting to know such hosts and
guests. On occasions when we
have used hotels, as in Dublin,
the experience has been quite
different. Less personal, and
often not as clean.
The breakfast menu at B
and B's is almost identical,
from place to place and even
from country to country. We
have concluded that this must
have been established at the
Geneva (or some such)
Convention! There is always
fried eggs, sliced ham, link
sausages, cereal, home-made
bread plus white store bread,
toast, jam and butter. Ail in
great plenitude, and usually
beginning at 9:00 a.m.
This time has apparently
been fixed for it gives the
housewife-manager time to
get the children and husband
off. Often the B and B's are
farm houses, and the husband
may well be out tending to the
milking.
The smaller roads in Ireland
are not well marked and this
caused us to ask directions
frequently and became the
source of many delightful
encounters with people. The
Irish seem to desire to talk;
they often become quite
excited, and use many
gestures to reinforce a point.
A simple question concerning
a road direction easily
becomes a 10 minute or more
conversation, the direction in
question being repeated
several times. They are an
open, enthusiastic and thor
oughly lovable people.
The Scottish people seem,
on the whole, more reserved,
but also very interested in
Americans. Like the Irish,
each family seems to have one
or more relative in "the
States." There have been
many sets of migrations. One
important Scottish migration
came to North Carolina
following the great exodus of
highland Scots following the
tragic battle of Culloden,
before the American revolu
tion.
The Scots speak with a
delightful burr and ask many
questions about America--a
great deal of their questions
has concerned crime. Like all
Europeans they are fed a great
number of our American
movies and T.V. programs
dealing in crime and violence
and they easily assume that
this is simply the way the
United States is. I would
suppose that our commercial
programs which deal so
extensively with this do the
United States' image a great
deal of damage abroad.
Apparently European audi
ences like this type of
programming as much as the
Americans.
The Universities
One of the things which Lois
Ann and I have been doing
sice we left Guilford College
three weeks ago is to visit
university campuses. We also
visited Newtown Friends
School in Ireland. Universities
here traditionally open quite
late in the fall, so the students
were not in attendance. The
most impressive of the
universities we have visited is
St,. Andrews, not far north of
The Guilfordian
Edinburgh in Scotland. It is
Scotland's oldest university
and, like the pattern of
English universities, is com
posed of several colleges,
sharing a central library
facility and a graduate faculty.
Prior to visiting St. Andrews
we had visited the University
of Edinburgh which is built
side by side with other
commercial and municipal
buildings in the heart of the
city. It is gigantic and has no
discernable campus of such.
New sections with contempor
ary architecture are being
added as new city blocks are
purchased and cleared for
university use.
St. Andrews, by contrast,
has small and tidy campuses,
beautiful buildings, with
green center courts and
luxurious plantings. I was
pleased to see, however, that
in spite of their dramatic
exteriors, the science build
ings were not as well equipped
as Guilford's.
St. Andrews could not be
situated on a more beautiful
spot in Scotland. One of its
campuses faces out upon the
North Sea, next door to the old
and important Castle of St.
Andrews, now in ruins. Close
by are the remains of an
ancient abbey which contained
both a Norman church and
huge Gothic church, as well as
chapter rooms, cloisters and
service buildings for a huge
ecclesiastical compound. All
was surrounded by a heavily
fortified wall. How archaic all
this seems. All these ancient
citadels, now have public
bridges to make them easily
accessible to anyone, a symbol
of our new and democratic
age.
Curricula in British Univer
sities, while hard and
demanding upon the student,
lack the flexibility of those in
the United States. Subject
matter here is a bit more
traditionally oriented, and the
personal interests of the
student in learning are not
considered as important.
In Ireland we visited the
campuses of Glasgow Univer
sity and Trinity College in
Dublin. The two campuses
couldn't be more different.
The Glasgow buildings are
neo-Gothic and are almost
completely black, like most
other Glasgow buildings with
the grime of the city. One
enters Trinity College through
a large gate house, and is in a
quadrangle of buildings with
cobblestoned walks and lovely
plantings. Other quadranges
lead off the first one. Most of
pctllppl
ASTRONOMICAL FEATURE FOR NOVEMBER '75
A total eclipse of the moon occurs on November 18th. In
the Southern states the eclipse is in progress as the moon
rises, and ends soon after.
V.
Faculty Grants
are Dorm
by Marie A. Elkins
The Keenan Foundation, a
nation-wide organization, has
awarded Guilford College with
three grants to be used in
different areas of future
academic developement.
The first of the grants is the
Keenan Reduced Load Grant.
This grant will be used to
release a professor from his
teaching for a semester, to do
some research in his particular
field of study. The research is
done in an attempt to enrich
and bring up to date, the
academic material covered in
the classrooms here, at
Guilford.
The second of the three
grants is the Keenan Grant for
Improved Teaching. This
grant will enable a professor
to secure equipment, such as
video-tape machines, comput
ers, etc., needed to improve
the classroom learning. Also,
this grant will provide for
special activities, including
the buildings seem to be of the
late 16th or early 17th century,
and it came as quite a shock to
see their new library whose
architecture is extremely
contemporary. Many prepara
tions were underway for the
opening of the new year. I
remember how forcibly im
pressed I was, standing in the
main quadrangle of Trinity
College, and thinking of the
influence which this great
university had exerted upon
Ireland and the world. How it
had stood against superstition
and narrowness and thus
guided generation afiC" gen
eration of students destined to
become the political and
financial leaders, artists,
scholars, and literary figures
of their day. You will not be
far wrong if you also conclude
that 1 was thinking with pride
of the same mission and
heritage of Guilford College.
November 4, 1975
seminars, visiting speakers,
and the like.
Last, but not least, the
Keenan Grant for Teacher Self
Improvement. This grant,
which is divided into ten
one-hundred dollar allot
ments, will be used to improve
the teaching method of
professors on campus. Con
sultants will be brought to
campus to observe professors
in a classroom situation and
evaluate their teaching me
thods.
The consultants will also
provide instruction for the
professors in the use of
equipment now available on
campus.
Professors who wish to use
the grants must submitt a
proposal to the Grants
Committee, an administrative
committee appointed by the
administration, and the facul
ty. The Grants Committee
considers the proposals and
then decides which professors
or group of professors will
recieve them.
Up until now, there has not
been a great deal done with
the Keenan Grants, although
Guilford has had them for a
year. However the Committee
on Evaluation and Develop
ment, a new organization on
campus composed of faculty
members, held a three day
workshop in September to
examine their needs in the
way of improvement.
Give A Kid
A Break
Student volunteers who
would like to play with
children who are, for the most
part, from underprivileged
backgrounds, are greatly
needed to help in an
after-school recreational pro
gram sponsored by Fisher
Park Community Program at
Hayes-Taylor YMCA.