Dedication Address By Chancellor Caldwell
We are here to dedicate two
college buildings. I call attention
to the fact that these two build
ings, your third and fourth,
typify the student as a lone in
dividual learner from the pages
of books, and the student as a
learner in the comraderie of life.
What a happy combination. I
cannot tell you what an asset
our own College Union has
meant to the stimulation and
broadening of learning at N. C.
State. It is not necessary to re
mind this company that the
library is the heart of any in
stitution of learning.
The North Carolina Higher
Education Act of 1963 will move
the State a long way toward full
participation in the realization
of the American dream. This
dream is one of opportunity for
the individual American to de
velop and utilize his talents and
abilities to their full worth. Ed
ucation is today an indispens
able vehicle.
We have not always under
stood fully the role of higher
education in making America
what it is and what it can be.
Our views of it have character
istically been partial views.
The narrowest measure of it is
’■“presented in the vocational
int of view. At the other pole
the pure liberal arts point
6f view. Both of these ex
tremes have yielded out of ex
perience and experimentation an
acceptance of a complex system
of individual colleges and uni
versities, none of them pure
examples of either extreme.
Also higher education has
long since come out of the ivory
tower and become part and par
cel of a changing, kaleidoscopic
civilization. Most American of
all has been the century-old
trend since the Land-Grant Act
#f 1862 of making higher educa
tion increasingly available to all
economic classes and even races
of Americans. A necessary ac
companiment of the democrati
zation of the clientele of higher
education has been the adapta
tion of its offerings to a wide
range of levels and kinds of
talents and abilities.
In the years since World War
II and especially since the mid-
50’s the Nation has catapulted
higher education as never be
fore into the forefront of its
affections and efforts to achieve:
economic development, military
security, scientific prestige, and
political leadership in the world.
These are present aims of the
American Nation, and we have
called upon our more than 2,000
institutions of higher education
to help reach them. We know
emphatically that without enor
mous inputs of our national in
come into education none of
these conspicuous national aims
is realizable.
I doubt that the people of
Mecklenburg and the surround
ing counties had all these na
tional goals significantly in
mind when they generated and
pushed forward Charlotte Col
lege to its present hopeful stage
of development. No doubt each
person had his own special rea
sons for voting the monies
locally and making the argu
ments for the College. We do
know for sure that thousands of
parents in this area want Char
lotte College for the educational
opportunity it will provide their
boys and girls, hopefully within
their financial capacity.
There has been special leader
ship from responsible industrial
ists who have seen the need for
higher education in the area of
engineering and science and of
business management to serve
the economic growth of Char
lotte.
You have probably heard the
story of the visitor in Italy who
came upon a building project
and asked a mason what he was
building. He said a wall. The
visitor asked a second workman
what he was building and he
said a doorway. And he asked a
third what he was building, and
this workman said a cathedral.
We are here to dedicate two
buildings today on the new cam
pus of what a few short months
ago was a two-year community
college. It is now an authorized
four-year college in the first
year of its upper level offerings.
We can wonder how many peo
ple who have been building this
modest institution in the past
have had the full vision of what
is really being built here. It is
obvious to this speaker that you
are building a university.
Perhaps I could stop with that
concept, but we must not. Col
leges, universities are not ends
in themselves. A university
would not even survive if it
were regarded as an end in it
self and if all its energies went
into self-serving exercises of its
scholars and staff. You are not
building here a university for
its own sake, or to have some
thing about which the communi
ty can boast. You are building
a city. But even a city is not an
end in itself. A city serves and
expresses the civilization of
human beings.
No one can have an adequate
view of this Library and this
College Union Building who does
not see them as vital compon
ents in the building of a civili
zation.
Only in the vaguest and most
generalized fashion can a nation
set goals, define objectives, com
mit itself to a described future.
But a free people organized in
a nation can piece together some
measurable quantitative factors,
predict where they are leading,
and guide the use of resources.
We know, for example, that the
population of this country is
on a steep growth curve and
that by 1975—just a few short
years away—we will have not
180 million people but 226 mil
lion (or more) who will have to
be fed, clothed, housed, cared
for, and provided with jobs. We
know that the overwhelming
mass of these people will be
living in urban communities,
that is, in cities. So successful
has been our application of sci
ence and technology to agri
culture that only six per cent of
the labor force will be required
on the farms of the Nation.
We can make rough projec
tions of per capita income fig
ures which - it is possible for
us to achieve.
We can choose and select de
sirable social goals. We want,
for example, to provide adequate
medical care, highways, hous
ing, and other recreational fa
cilities. A great deal of planning
is being done in precisely these
areas of society. We would like
to eliminate poverty in this
land of abundance. By now we
know that maintaining the peace
of the world is an indispensable
requirement, basic to achieving
these other objectives. I think
we are beginning to realize that
rising expectations among all
the hitherto disadvantaged so
cieties of the world place a
severe strain on the time table
of progress and that a peaceful
world will not indefinitely per
severe half prosperous and half
destitute. So on a global basis
our civilization tries to do those
things which will raise the
measurable standard of living
of human beings.
Charlotte has not been idle.
Spurred by economic ambition
as well as by pride, the Queen
City’s leadership has flexed its
muscles, stimulated its brain
power, and pressed toward the
head of the line, eager to par
ticipate as fully as possible in
the good things that are to come.
We would not be assembled here
today if there were not people
in Charlotte who had some kind
of vision of what they wanted
this great city to become. What
IS their vision? What should it
be? What must it be? We know
this metropolitan community
desires economic prosperity, in
come-producing enterprises able
to employ the energies of men
and women at good wages and
profits; an efficient city in terms
of access, movement, transpor
tation; a beautiful city char
acterized by respect for the in
dividual, respect for law and
order, and the intelligent in
volvement of all people in com
munity decision making.
If Charlotte College is pro
gressively to make its maximum
contribution to the ambitions of
this great community, certain
prescriptions are clear. In the
first place it must be a full
partner in the totality of North
Carolina higher education, even
as the Charlotte Area is a part
of the State.
In the second place, the
grovrth and development of the
College must be thoroughly co
ordinated with all the other ef
forts of the State to achieve
optimum use of its tax resources
for higher education through its
growing diversity of campuses
in many locations.
Thirdly, even as the high
level of quality and service of
the University at Chapel Hill,
the University at Greensboro,
and North Carolina State could
not have been achieved on State
appropriated funds alone, so
Charlotte College must be able
to look forward to substantial
private support to supplement
public funds.
Fourthly, Charlotte College is
a public institution committed
to public purposes. Let there be,
therefore, a large view of its
clientele. By this I mean that
the fixed charges for tuition and
otherwise should be kept at the
lowest possible level to broaden
the opportunity of people. Let
there be no artificial barriers
placed against those who desire
to read these books and to ex
pand their minds in these halls.
There is no greater travesty
committed against higher edu
cation than the narrowly con
trived policy of making the stu
dents pay more and more of the
costs of their education. So be
it. Society is the real gainer. We
do not provide an engineering
school simply because Tom
Johnson wants to be an engi
neer but because the society
needs engineers. Sooner or later
this richest country on the face
of the earth will decide that it
can and must provide higher
education for all who are quali
fied to participate in it on much
the same economic terms that
it provides elementary and sec
ondary education. Charlotte Col
lege can become the State’s out
standing urban university. On a
commuting basis alone, it can
draw into its halls and graduate
a determined strain of first
generation college youth to in
vigorate community and Nation.
Talent and ability are all around
us. A low tuition, commuting
campus will draw it out.
Fifthly, Charlotte College
must include all the conditions
attractive to a great faculty and
ambitious students. To be sure,
this means sound leadership
backed by community support.
It means a splendid library. It
means adequate buildings. It
! means support funds. And above
all, it means an unfettered free
dom to teach and learn, to in
vestigate and to publish. The
two buildings we are dedicating
today cause me to express the
hope that there will never be a
banning of books in this library;
that there will not long be a
banning of speakers from this
Union Building. In other words,
that there be no fear that error
and evil can overmaster the evi
dent values of truth, justice,
and individual worth which are
indeed the warp and woof of
real individualism in the Ameri
can society. Let us not fear that
the young men and women who
come here to learn want any
thing less nor anything more
than the opportunity to become
what you and I are—free,
poised, and proud citizens of a
free land.
It is perhaps fairly common
knowledge that the Trustees of
our Consolidated University of
North Carolina are undertak
ing, under legislative authority,
a study of the possible future
relationship of Charlotte Col
lege to the University struc
ture. Meantime, your own Col
lege trustees are devoting time
and energy to the strengthen
ing and expansion of the cur
riculum and faculty. Decisions
are being made almost daily
upon which the future of this
campus will be constructed. I, as
a Raleigh colleague, Madame
President and Trustees, on my
own responsibility would urge
you at this stage not to limit
your thinking to slavish imita
tion, because you don’t have to.
You have no internal pattern
to be changed. Higher education
needs some boldness of ideas
and departures from conven
tional ways of doing its job in
curriculum, in organization, in
j measurement. I would urge you,
I too, to think of how you can fit
into the total pattern for North
Carolina and of your community
even while you focus upon serv
ing the special needs of this
great commercial and manufac
turing area.
Some of the issues claiming
your attention need to be re
Circle K Handles Four Projects
Under the leadership of Mor
ris Spearman, president of the
Circle K, the club has taken on
a host of projects designed to
broaden student activities and
to provide projects to keep the
club’s rapidly expanding mem
bership busy.
This year the club also has
taken over publishing the week
ly newsletter, containing an
nouncements for the coming
week and a calendar of events.
Perhaps the club’s most im
portant project, or at least the
one affecting the most students,
is the preparation of the faculty
and student directory. The club
is working with the registrar’s
office and the IBM company to
bring the directory out as early
js possible.
At the request of the admin
istration, the club handled the
United Appeal campaign on
campus, culminating in a raffle,
various prizes including tickets
to Cinema I & II, steak dinners,
and suppers at the Luau. The
UA goal was reached.
This year as last, the club
will handle arangements for the
college’s home basketball games.
In addition to greeting the visit
ing teams and showing them
around the campus, the club
will handle the gate and the an
nouncing and will also attempt
to provide entertainment at as
many half times as possible.
Young Democrats
Attend Convention
By Bill Queen
Last September twentieth,
several politically-minded stu
dents formed a Young Demo
crats Club of Charlotte College,
with Dr. John Hall as advisor.
The primary objective of the
YDC is to provide an atmos
phere of political understanding
among the students on the
Charlotte College campus.
Leadership Conference
(Continued from page 1)
in some cases he may be just a
puppet. The “a-head” is the
most interesting type of leader
because he has become the head
through a most important pro
cess which has made him leader.
He works hard, has good ideas,
and gets along well with others.
He added that organization is
an important factor in keeping
a group functioning effectively.
Mr. Henry worked on the
staff of the Student Union at
the University of Wisconsin be
fore he became director of the
Graham Memorial in Chapel
Hill. He said his experiences in
learning about leaders came
from working with others, read
ing books, and working in the
lab. The lab he alluded to was
practical experience.
After some discussion, the
conference broke for conversa
tion and refreshments. Then
President Bonnie E. Cone out
lined the present organizational
set-up as it exists at Charlotte
College and opened the floor to
questions.
solved even now: for example,
as to whether you wish to build
in engineering or not, and
whether that pattern shall be
conventional or fresh. Obvious
ly, your great and impelling
service immediately will be to
the educational needs of your
populous commuting area. The
College Union Building will be
a boon to that concept. Whether
or not you will develop a resi
dential campus can be deferred
for an indefinite period, except
for the making of an intelligent
campus plan.
Finally, I would beg you to
think and plan adequately for
the future physical growth of
this institution. It will be too
easy, believe me, to underesti
mate your space requirements.
Then, may I add my compli
ment to you for selecting a lead
ing American architect to design
your buildings. There is no sub
stitute for the quality of the
architect himself in getting
one’s money’s worth in beauty
and function.
More than ever before in
human history men will be
aware that civilizations are
built around universities, indeed,
that education is the servant of
all the purposes of the society.
The mission of Charlotte Col
lege, hence the mission of this
Library and College Union, is
to help bring to pass the ambi
tions of civilized man.
Young Republicans
Organize Club
Dr. Donald M. Freeman, pro
fessor of political science at
Charlotte College, circulated a
letter to all political science
classes the week of November
7, asking for names of students
interested in seeing a Young
Republican’s Club on campus.
Receiving enthusiastic response
to his letter. Dr. Freeman set a
meeting time for Monday, No
vember 11.
Approximately fifteen stu
dents attended the meeting,
among whom were Ben Horack,
Judy Nediringhaus, Ann Mc
Millan, Fritz Mercer, Jerry Wil
liams, Frank Jones, and Melvin
Threatt. The faculty members
present included Dr. S. L. Burn-
son, Jr., Prof. Verne Ploger, and
Dr. Freeman.
Guest speakers at the meeting
were two of North Carolina’s
most active Republicans, Mr.
Ted Hartsock and Mr. J. Her
bert Saxon.
At its pre-organizational meet
ing, the club elected as its acting
chairman, Jerry Williams, a
political science major. Jerry is
a night student at Charlotte
College and is in his junior year.
It is interesting to note that
the instigator of the Y. R. C. is
a staunch Democrat. After the
founding of an active Young
Democrats’s Club on campus,
Dr. Freeman felt that an op
position party was needed. Dr.
Freeman has no plans for an
“Independent’s Party”. In his
opinion, “An independent is only
a Republican who is ashamed to
admit it!”
“Anybody got a cigarette?”—Prof. Morrill
MacKay Elected
President of
Regional Group
Gordon MacKay, Director of
the College Union was elected
President of Region Five of the
Association of College Unions.
Charlotte College had been a
member of Region Four which
was divided at a conference held
at Tampa, Florida, October 8
and 9.