Newspapers / North Carolina Central University … / April 1, 1964, edition 1 / Page 3
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April, 1964 I THE CAMPUS ECHO Page Three Full Text Of Dr. Samuel Massie’s Inaugural Address CHALLENGE AND CHANGE The Address Given by Samuel Proctor Massie, Jr. on the Occasion of His Inanguration as the Third President of the North Carolina College at Durham, April Z5, 1964. Doctor Baynes, Governor San ford, Doctor Gilman, Trustees and Other Platform Guests, Del egates of Institutions and Learn ed Societies, State and Local Officials, Faculty, Staff, Stu dents, Alumni and Friends of the North Carolina College at Durham: I am deeply honored and warmly moved by your presence at this ceremony. As I formally assume the challenge and mantle of leadership for this institution, the memory of this day and your presence will add much strength and sustenance in the days ahead. The personal tribute you pay me is great, and were it proper, I would say, I am speechless. I shall be eternally grateful for this expression of your friendship and good will. By your presence here today you not only honor me and my family, you honor the institu tion which I now lead. You honor the memory of its found er, Dr. James K. Shepard, whose family shares with us today the further evolution of his dream of a quality institution, dedicat ed to Truth and Service. You honor my immediate predeces sor, President-Emeritus Alfon so Elder, who so graciously pre sented me and who for almost forty years of his life served in the vineyard of quality educa tion at North Carolina College. You honor the trustees, facul ty, staff, students and alumni of our institution as you demon strate your interest in our con tinuing efforts in pursuit of ex cellence in education. You hon or the city of Durham with its great educational institutions and its ever-continuing forward strides socially in making our fair city a truly democratic laboratory in which students can best live and learn. You honor our state, whose chief executive has graced us with his presence today and who has education and concern for others a capstone of his ad ministration. Finally, you honor the cause of education itself. As we imite in a ceremony as old as the twelfth century, but as new as the morning sun, as splendid as the colorful array of gowns herein assembled and yet as simple as truth itself, once again testimony is given to the signi ficance of education and its in stitutions today. As I formally begin my serv ice, it is proper that I shquld describe for you some of my goals, my dreams, my plans, yea, even my problems. I cannot of fer you a blueprint to be follow ed at all times—such a task would require the combined wisdom of Socrates and Solomon —only to be rendered meaning less by some new advancement. Education, its objective, its means, must be ever changing to meet the chal lenges of a dynamic, evolving society. And yet, in change there must be guidelines; there must be signposts. THREE SIGNPOSTS Three signposts stand out in bold relief in our modern-day world. The first of these signposts arises because of the rapid ad vances of knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, which have occurred in the twentieth century. These advances change the nature of the physical world in which we live and, therefore, change the nature of man’s re lationship to this physical world. By unlocking the secrets of the atom, man has discovered a potential soiurce of unlimited energy. The conquest of disease has lengthened the life span of man. Man travels in and out of our planet with ease, even with the reminder that a bathtub can be more dangerous than outer space. Computers and other forms of automation reduce complex mathematical problems to mere fancy. The removal of salt from sea water and the production of rain will mean un limited supplies of fresh water and a great increase in usable land. The unraveling of the genetic code, the newer birth control pills and the increased coordination of chemistry, biol ogy and psychology promise great if awesome prospects for further modification of the re lationship of man to nature. Now man is not only a pro duct of his environment; to some extent he may even be its crea tor. Second, man’s relationship to man is rapidly changing. No longer can one’s ancestors or previous condition of servitude determine his place in life. No longer are men content to ac cept other men as their superiors without question. The rising cries of freedom heard so loudly in Africa, Asia, South America, yes, even in our nation—^North and South—pro claim loudly what our Declara tion of Independence stated but never fulfilled—all men are created equal, with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The advances in travel and communication have truly made us one world. And yet, as Du- Bois wrote in his Souls of Black Folk in 1903, “Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor—all men know some thing of poverty; not that men are wicked—who is good?! not that men are ignorant—^what is Truth?; nay, but that man knows so little of man.” Our third signpost grows out of the first two. The physical and social changes of our age put within man’s reach for the first time the means, the dream and the will to eradicate igno rance and poverty. As Presi dent Johnson said in his State of the Union message to Con gress, “Too many persons live on the outskirts of hope. Our task is to help replace their de spair with opportunity.” In his announcement of the North Carolina Fund, Governor Sanford reminded us in North Carolina that “charity and relief are not the best answers to hu man suffering—it is not enough to have here the most power ful nation in the world and then to admit that we are powerless to find ways to give our young people training and job oppor tunities—we must work togeth er to try to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage in cer tain neighborhoods in the com munity, in . order that we might see what actually will be neces sary to erase poverty and ignor ance throughout the country.” Yes, everywhere men are seek ing education. Everywhere men are seeking to break the cycle of poverty. The quest for learning has become man’s prior need. From Freetown to Cambridge, from Saigon to Paris, from Cal- cuta to Dvurham, the quickening pulse of a demand for educa tion is felt. Whether you be par ent, teacher, statesman or the person for whom education of fers the opportunity for personal fulfilment, you feel it. The President’s Science Ad visory Committee’s report, “Education for an Age of Sci ence,” reminds us, “Until re cent years the total intellectual capacities of our nation have never really been fully chal lenged. But they are being chal lenged today. Our intellectual resources will be adequate to meet our needs only if all of the brain power of our population is fully developed and utilized. Well trained minds are among the most critical of our present national assets, among the scarcest and most valuable of our resources.” President-Emeritus Elder in his “Study of Long Range Needs at North Carolina College at Durham” in 1960 appraised the need as follows, “The Freedom to develop one’s ability to a de gree less than the optimum is no longer a privilege which the in dividual may enjoy without damage to himself and to soci ety. Individual and group sur vival now demands and will continue to demand that the ability of every person be de veloped and utilized to the full est degree. This is a new point of view for colleges. This is a new approach to education for the local community, the State and the Nation—^the realization that the group is obligated to see that ability is discovered, de veloped and used.” A college concerned with pre paring youth for this world must take cognizance of these three signposts. It must reckon with students teethed on television, to whom repeated textbook material is old and dull. A col lege must deal with youth who have suffered the hose, the dog, the jail, in their quest for jus tice and human dignity. It must deal with youth who, while their parents may have been poor and/or ignorant, will not and should not accept ignorance and poverty as their lot. As a college is shaped by the times in which it serves, so are the times shaped by the colleges of the era. The world has al ways looked to education for its leaders—^the Battle of Waterloo may have been won on the play ing fields of Eton. It is no acci dent nor coincidence that the great social changes of our times—here ani elsewhere— have been led by college youth. For those of us engaged in education and educational plan ning, these signposts raise some important questions about the nature of the education we of fer. I do not propose to answer them today. In fact, I shall pro bably spend my entire tenure at North Carolina College learn ing new questions, seeking new solutions. However, I do wish to give five guidelines which will help us in this task. FIVE GUIDELINES First, I believe that a college must give to and require of its students the highest possible quality of education. Mediocrity of performance cannot be an ac ceptable standard, even though all may not be superior. North Carolina College must constant ly seek answers to questions like these: Do we seek the right kind of students? How do we know when we have found them? Can we attract them to North Carolina College? And after we get them here, do we offer balanced extra-curricular and social programs, remember ing that school is more than books? Do we test and covinsel them properly? Do we provide for the student who, through no fault of his own, has not had all the experiences required of col lege men and women and yet who, too, has the urge and need for a college education? Alter natively, what do we do for the very good student who has had an excellent high school educa tion? Do we properly prepare our students for the next step, whether it be graduate school, business, teaching, law, medi cine or other profitable activi ties? Do we help them after they graduate? These are but some of the questions to which we must give answers. And if the answers do not please us, we must not change the questibns to get more pleasing answers. The students, too, must play a role in the quest. They must work harder, not only because we will require it but because the students themselves will de mand it. They have come here to learn, then learn they must. They must engage in more in dependent study and more self tutorial plans. We shall make reading and learning the most convenient activity on this cam pus. In the words of the poet, “A student is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lit.” And we all know that a good fire needs plenty of fresh air. Our faculty must ever in crease its development of new and ingenious methods of teach ing. Perhaps the newer tools of automation and audio-visual techniques will permit them more time to actually — teach. But institution must not only dispense information, it must also create knowledge. We ex pect to find our faculty parti cipating creatively in the main stream of academic thought. While it is not necessary or even desirable for every teacher to participate to the same degree in these activities, we accept as an axiom that in a good educa tional institution creative acti vity and good teaching go hand in hand. Research must be a vital part of our acitvities, espe cially in our graduate programs. Our graduate and professional programs must be strengthened to meet the needs of the age. North Carolina College must produce students able to com pete effectively and with dig nity in a modern-day world, both nationally and internation ally. We are exploring with some of our sister institutions the possibilities of faculty and stu dent exchange. Certainly the broadening influence of cultural and educational exchange can have great meaning in our pur suit of excellence in education. Now, an adminstration must provide its faculty and students with an atmosphere and envi ronment in which education can most effectively take place. This involves for the faculty, consid eration of many things, such as adequate salaries, sufficient li brary and laboratory facilities, opportunity for professional travel and the like. Good teach ing must be encouraged and re warded. I believe in responsible academic freedom with equal and great emphasis on respon sibility as well as freedom. For the student, it means pleasant and substantial living and studying facilities, financial assistance, wholesome recrea tion; and this administration pledges itself to ever seek to provide these kinds of environ ment and atmosphere. Thus, we shall find it neces sary increasingly to call upon our state government, founda tions, our alumni and our friends for increased financial support. Quality education does not come cheaply not without the labors of many. Second, I believe that a col lege must critically and con stantly evaluate its educational philosophies and program to in sure its ability to meet the needs and challenges of the times in which it serves. We must ever remember that yesterday’s in novation is today’s tradition and tomorrow’s history. I recall that when I first began teaching in 1940 one fact stressed in the chemistry textbook was that uranium has no practical value whatever. How times do change! We must constantly study all segments of our college, daring to change where needed, yet holding fast to those aspects which are good. Here at North Carolina College we will be en gaged next year in an exhaus tive critical self-study, relook ing at our objectives, our philo sophies, our methods, our curri cula and all other parts of our college. Particularly is it necessary that a college like ours, serving students from a wide variety of backgrounds, continually evalu ate it techniques. It is no easy task to make up for the cultural and economic deprivation of six teen or more years and it will require all of our intellectual in genuity, skills and cooperative efforts. A college ought not be static — it may not even be comfortable but it ought be exciting, daring, adventurous. The spirit of dis covery, the excitement of learn ing, of new ventures must be a part of the entire college fajj- ric. We shall continuously ex plore newer methods of learning and teaching. While we will ever be mindful of sound educational principles, we intend that North Carolina College will be an ex citing place to live, serve, teach, learn and work. Third, I believe in the value of liberal education and that North Carolina College’s mission at this time is that of a strong liberal arts college. It was con verted in 1925 into the first state supported liberal arts college for Negroes, and as it moves into its larger mission of providing ed ucational opportunities for all persons, regardless of race, it is as a liberal arts institution that it can best fulfill its destiny. We live in a world in which men need to be broadly educated. In deed, many complex technical professions, such as engineering and medicine, recognize that success in these technical fields is often best built on a liberal education foimdation. The areas of elementary and secondary ed ucation are fast moving toward a wider liberal background for those who teach. But liberal education is not a collection of courses — it is a philosophy of learning; it is not a prescribed set of curricula, but the development of an attitude — truly the end product of our labors must be a commencement — the beginning of real learn ing. North Carolina College must do what it does well. It must re sist the temptation to be all things for all men. It must have a climate, an atmosphere, in deed, a character, in which crea tive, challenging and construc tive thinking can best take place. Fourth, I believe that a col lege must not isolate itself from the world in which it lives and serves. The ivory tower is now passe’ and the college must both (See ADDRESS, page 6)
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April 1, 1964, edition 1
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