Page Six
THE TWIG
February 23, 196?
Fuller’s Lectures to Highlight Directions ’67
R. Buckminster Fuller's 2-Day Whirlwind Visit
Will Center on Life in Today's Cybernated Age
By PAITY LEWIS
“Directions ’67 is a year-long,
extra-curricular exploration by stu
dents and faculty focusing on ques
tions related to the control of life,
It is an attempt to help us under
stand man's new capabilities and
problems in the shaping of his per
sonal destiny.” Mr. Bud Walker ex
plained in this way (he conccpt of
the Directions ’67 program.
The main event of Directions ’67
will be a two-day activity-packed
visit to the campus by Mr. R. Buck
minster Fuller, who has been called
“one of the world’s most distin
guished scientists, architects, authors,
philosophers, and lecturers.”
General topic for “Bucky" Ful
ler’s lectures will be “Directions ’67:
Questions Related to the Control
of Life.” Although he announces
no specific topics, the emphasis in
his talks will be on the “impact
and implications of cybernetics.” He
will be stressing the effect of auto
mation on life in sociological, eco
nomic, theological, scientific, and
political aspects. Among other top
ics. he will discuss “his concept of
man in the 21st century, the politics
of cybernation, and how to make
the world work in the cybernated
age.”
On Thursday, March 2, Mr. Ful
ler will hold a special preliminary
session at 2:30 in 103 Joyner. His
first public address will be at 7:30
that evening in Jones Auditorium.
The lecture will be continued in
formally until 10:45 p.m.
Mr. Fuller’s second public lec
ture will be at 9:30 a.m., Friday,
March 3. At 11:15 there will be a
reactors’ panel in Jones Auditorium.
Reactors will include Dr. Don
Shriver, and Dr. Fred Brooks, head
of informational sciences at the Uni
versity of North Carolina, who de
veloped the 360 computer being
used in the Research Triangle.
A concluding session will be held
on Friday at 2:00 in Jones Audi
torium,
Students and faculty are Invited
to attend all sessions, and 1,500 spe
cial invitations have been extended
to key figures in the 'Research Tri
angle area, including government
officials and administrators and
faculty members of area colleges.
Faculty, Students Cooperate
In Planning Directions '67
Meredith faculty members and
students have joined forces in map
ping out the program for Directions
'67. Working with this year’s theme,
“The Impact and Implications of
Cybernation,” the campus commit
tee for concerts and lectures planned
discussions, book lists, motion pic
tures, and lectures.
A tremendous amount of work by
this joint committee has gone into
planning the highlight and climax
of the program, the visit of R. Buck
minster Fuller March 2-3.
Co-chairmen of the committee for
Directions ’67 are Judy Ramsey,
chairman of the Student Activities
Board, and Dr. Leslie Syron, chair
man of the department of sociology.
Student members of the commit
tee are Elizabeth Maynard, Beth
Peacock, Mary Arakas, Rosalyn
Graham, Betty Hartley, Ginger
Hughey, 'Diane Jones, Judy Korne-
gay, Lynn Mitchell, Mary Watson
Nooe. Sylvia Stoudemire, Becky
Walker. Ellen Warren, and Claire
Young.
Faculty and staff members on the
committee are Mr. Henry Coffer,
Mr. Bud Walker, Mr. Grover An
drews, Mr. Robert Fracker, Dr.
Frank Grubbs, Dr. Ralph McLain.
Mr. Leonard White, and Mr.
Stephen Young.
The Twig wishes to recognize
and salute the people who have
made this program possible, giving
Meredith, as Mr. Bud Walker
stated, “a new direction.”
I Prior to Fuller’s appearance, the
j way will have been prepared for
him by lectures on related topics.
Mr. J. Henry Coffer spoke Mon
day on “The Challenge of Automa
tion.” On Wednesday Dr. Harold G.
Cassidy, professor of chemistry at
Yale University, spoke on “The In
tellectual Structure of the College:
Relationships between Sciences and
Humanities.”
Mr. James W. Fitzgibbon, presi
dent of Synergetics, Inc., a friend
and business associate of Mr. Fuller,
will speak tomorrow in chapel on
“How to Listen to 'Bucky Fuller.”
Mr. Coffer will present the final
preparation address, “The Chal
lenge of Automation” on March 1
in chapel.
Mr. Bud Walker, Mr. Leonard
White, and 'Mr. Faye Humphries
planned the printed brochure of
the visit and plans of Mr. Fuller.
The United Stales Pavihon at Exposition 67 in Montreal, Canada, is a $9.3 million
geodesic dome designed by R. Buckminster Fuller. It has a plastic sliin and windows
gwred to the sun’s pr^ea; solar operated cells open certain windows at certain
times of the day, maintaining a comfortable temperature at all times of the day.
At niglit the dome glows like a fluorescent igloo.
IVIany-Faceted Fuller Is
“Citizen of the World”
R. Buckminster Fuller, who will
lecture here on March 2-3, is a
many-faceted person, a man who
thinks of himself as a citizen of the
world — and merely one of the
first of this “new breed of man.”
An author and lecturer, Fuller
has been called “the first poet of
technology.” An architcct, he has
been hailed as “the greatest living
genius of industrial-technical reali
zation in building.” A scientist and
philosopher, he has been described
as “a seminal thinker” and “an an
ticipator of the world to come.”
One of Fuller’s inventions is the
geodesic dome, the lightest, strong
est structure yet invented by man.
With this structure an entire city of
10,000 people could be placed in a
controlled environment in Arctic re
gions of the world within a single
day. The design itself is so basic in
the structure of nature that Time
magazine described it as “almost
like having a patent on Archimedes’
principle.”
Fuller has also advanced a num
ber of proposals for an approach to
education that envisages great cam
puses as places where students and
faculty engage in basic research
and prepare television programs
which can be beamed directly from
a central transmitter on request to
, any individual receiver. Each stu
dent wijl be able to learn at his own
pace with his own programs,
Within his philosophical frame
work, Fuller advocates a “world-
centered” approach to city, state,
and regional planning. He is a man
immensely excited by the present
technical revolution, a man who sees
great promise for tomorrow and
whose life is dedicated to bringing
that bright future into being.
Born in New England seventy*
one years ago, Fuller was educated
at 'Milton Academy in Massachu
setts. After managing to get him
self expelled from Harvard twice.
Fuller enlisted In the Navy during
World Wav I and went to the Naval
Acadcmy, where he began to form
some of his basic premises.
After failing in the house con
struction business. Fuller took a new
turn in J927. Jn that year he began
the researches which produced his
first invention, the “4D-Dymaxion
House.” (NOTE: “Dymaxion” is
Fuller’s own word, which is a com
bination of the words "dynamic”
and “maximum.”) In 1933 Fuller
produced the three-wheeled “Dy-
maxion Car,” and in 1954 the
geodesic dome was invented, the
structure which has made him
famous.
A professor at Southern Illi
nois University, Fuller now lives in
Carbondale, Illinois.
R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER—GUEST LECTURER FOR DIRECTIONS ’67.
Meredith Home Economics Alumnae and Majors
Present Portrait of Miss Ellen Brewer
On Founders’ Day the Meredith
Home Economics Club and home
economics alumnae will honor Miss
Ellen Brewer, retired chairman of
the home economics department, by
presenting a portrait of her to the
college. The painting by Isabelle
Bowen Henderson will be hung in
the home economics parlor in Hunter
Hall.
President E. Bruce Heilman will
accept the portrait, which will be
presented by Mrs. William Friday,
wife of the Chancellor of the Con
solidated University of North Caro
lina and former student of Miss
Brewer.
Miss Brewer completed her un
dergraduate work at Meredith and
continued graduate study at Cornell
BOOK AUCTION SCHEDULED
CoBon English
Club will hold their annual book auction at 7:00 in (he hut
Uuring the evening bo»ks collected by club members from furiiitv
and students will be sold to the highest bidders. Dean L. A. Pcucock
will serve as auclioncer, a capacity which he has held in past years
to the delight of students and faculty members.
After the auction the club members will decide on a proicct to
which the proceeds will go. Frojtci to
University. She then returned to
Meredith to begin a forty-seven-year
teaching career.
The father of Miss Brewer,
Charles Brewer, was the third presi
dent of the college, and he is the per
son for whom Brewer Dormitory is
named. A cousin of Miss Brewer,
Talcott Brewer, provided for the
construction of the home manage
ment house, which has been named
in honor of Miss Brewer.
After the Founders’ Day cere
mony, the home economics depart
ment will host a coffee hour in
Hunter Hall for home economics
alumnae, trustees, and friends of
Miss Brewer.
Home economics students will
present Miss Brewer with a book of
letters from former students. The
cover of the book will be embroi-
dered in a crewel design.
History Lectures Scheduled;
All Students invited to Attend
Fobruaij 27 Romantic Music Dr. Sarah Lemmon
March 6 Marxism
U“"!! II Dr. Thomas Pamniore
March 20 Imperialism Mrs. Grubbs
Rosalie Gates
Apnl 10 Treaty of Versailles
J! TotalHarianisra Mrs. Frank Grubbs
April 24 To be announced
May 1 To be announced
May 8 Modem Russia Air. Jack Hiuitcr
May IS The Non*Aligned States
May 22 Modem India Dr. Rosalie Gates
Inaugural Week-end to Feature
Unusual Dramatic Production
On April 14 and 15, the Mere
dith Playhouse will present a rather
unusual production. John Brown’s
Body, by Stephen Vincent Benet,
will combine the arts of music,
dancc, and drama.
The play is actually an epic poem
which lakes place in the South at the
lime of the Civil War. There are two
heroes, one from the North and one
from the South, as well as two
heroines whose “lives are eventually
^und up in the lives of the heroes.”
The main characters include John
Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and Rob
ert E. Lee. Sparks of humor brighten
the pnmanly serious poem.
production is new at
Meredith, and already much work is
being put into it. Miss Beatrice Don
ley IS in charge of the music, which
is mostly folk music; Mrs. Frances
Stephens is directing the dancing:
and Mrs. Ruth Phillips is directing
the production. ®