Michigan State University Report of the Year 1959-60

[Music] this was a in a universe where nothing was constant but the speed of light on an orb called Earth known to be flattened at the poles and perhaps in its philosophies and an irregular skin of rock called North America in Michigan and East Lansing this was a place to bring a camera into focus and record the doings of a year Michigan State University registration September 1959 the budget for the year was 30 million you could have bought three Atlas able missiles a third of an airplane carrier or a week's Total War in say 1861 the student population was 20,000 they might have outnumbered the Greeks at thop they could have stemmed the Saron tide in Spain saved Rome from the Huns kicked the extra point at waterl or with Lee made Lincoln's Gettysburg but their objectives today were purely educational their identity for the moment seemed to be a matter of alphabetical order and IBM machine they came from 50 different states they came from 90 foreign countries together spoke 70 different languages and the key word in each was confusion registration had the appearance of a Bazaar where courses in a 100 Fields were open to purchase and barter but this annual seeming chaos was actually a time of serious selection and commitment to a program of studies that would take brains blonde brunette and bald they were Endo Ecto and mesomorph they were Christian Jew maslim Shinto and undecided the colors of their skins were an iris of humanity this was a beginning like any other year the Freshman had arrived a week [Music] before and when they came they brought teenage ambitions they brought ideals and the need for ideas they brought the spice of their backgrounds and recipes for Success they brought fear hope ambition invention and Dad's old stubborn [Music] bicycle they brought the truth of themselves and they brought a hunger for the truths of the world they came on the fulfilled dreams of parents on the money of fathers on the scholarships of alumni by loan by Saving by contest they brought the coin of the realm to exchange for the means of education and while they paid their dollars the PE and enlightened people who knew that facts without purpose are sterle training without understanding is weak degrees without wisdom are inadequate and Any Man educated at the expense of the people is a gift of the people to themselves the smallest was 4' 11 the tallest 6'9 the weight range was 94 to 276 and all of them were a well from which Humanity would draw the conclusions decisions and actions of the next 30 Years in many ways the Academic Year 1959 1960 was like any other year obeying old and often superseded [Music] laws but in motion tended to stay in motion until acted upon by some outside [Applause] force bodies at rest tended to stay at rest energy in every case continued to equal the mass times the speed of light [Applause] Square there was unity and balance there was point and Counterpoint things moved to the dactyl and to the anifest there was basting and brocade beginning and end fall winter spring summer and bodies at rest were often hatching qu Miracles it was a year of new facilities like the new education building the new kesy art center and the new women's intramural building training of old there was more room as in the new library but there was more need there were perhaps more teachers but there was more to be taught and there were more students to teach it to like any educational institution of Distinction Michigan State easy to pin down it had to do with the geography of the intellect and the spirit it had to do with the Topography of minds and characters it had to do with the prevailing direction of educational and social philosophy which undergirded the whole dynamic program of the university the climate was not subject to exact description but it could be said to promote growth in searching Minds maturation and character it could be said to conduce to the eventuation of educated human beings with a fix un ific an goals an a regard and a reaching for culture and an honest Advance into the deep ignorance that precedes wisdom and social responsibility in 1959 1960 Michigan stated much that was new but much that was traditional and perennial the academic year was punctuated by a familiar [Applause] spectacle but there was also a rhythm of quiet ongoing research teaching and living as Michigan State sought the delicate balance vital to its successful function serving the educational Ambitions of the largest number without hurting its service to the aspirations and capabilities of the insatiable gifted preparing men and women for the qualifications of extent jobs without precluding the development of new qualifications for new jobs it dially dealt with the half truths of today's society while it felt for the fundamental truths of any day's society and tomorrow's technology it balanced the need to fit with the need to Misfit recognizing that change and growth are more vital to social health than a simple subservience to a status quo and it held itself remarkably alive and remarkably sensitive to the changing needs and the changing knowledge World it could no more hold still for its portrait than a healthy child drawn to the Wonder in mystery of gulls and flight much of what Michigan state was in 1959 1960 was what any land grant University was much of what it did would be of interest only locally within the state and for the alumni but under the pattern of raw growth the deliberate and often desperate accommodation to Growing numbers of Education Avid students person it and the distinction were continuing to evolve which made it yes a land Grand College a People's College a big 10 University a State University but with all an educational institution unique bold different and crucial it came in part from an omnipresent man President John Hannah a university leader and an educ it came in part from a faculty young statistically but Leen with provocative age and tradition it came from students young not leavened at all upstart Eiger ambitious bright plotting beautiful and needing brains to get by it came from an alumni whose deep Pride gratitude and sometimes sentimental affection mustered into support of the university and its programs in dozens of ways [Music] it came from inside and outside many distinguished visitors spoke at the University and there were cultural offerings as vital as classrooms like redwood trees Michigan state was young at age 104 and yet it went back beyond the moral act through five Millennia of thought with Russell Galileo and Einstein Shaw and Aristo Avid and Sandberg but who can deny that it had its non sequitors and anomalies the ducks on red cedar the birds who came to dinner and never left bman Tower a heap of ordinary of lovable Stones whose quarter hour tones had edged themselves deeply into the fabric of Campus Life Mac Michigan almost a profanity in the days when Michigan state was anxious to attest its status as a full-fledged University but now a fond and allowable part of the University's history B botanical gardens in Winter a slumbering collection of rare plants herbs and shrubs it most remarkable in summer perhaps for its unassailably complete collection of good old Michigan and yours the red cedar not really wide enough for a river too wide for a Creek unconcernedly splitting the campus into North and South a place for ducks canoes Bridges pageants and small boys not needing a fishing license Michigan State in the best sense of the word was conservative it worked to conserve from loss waste and injury the knowledge Traditions ideas and intellectual strength of the past instead of Midnight Oil it generated 59 million kwatt hours of electricity and the lucubrations of its faculty and students exhausted some 30,000 electricite bulbs time the red cedar was in its cups and it was something to call home about in the best sense of the word Michigan state was liberal characterized by catholicity and freedom to think investigate explore synthesize and create and it was generous in its Furnishings for the research for truth and the creative transmission of knowledge in the best sense of the word Michigan state was Radical dealing with roots and the Heart of things things and ideas ideals basic Prime and significant in its effects on people and on Concepts it cataloged 11 books short of 50,000 circulated 500,000 listed its Holdings at 7,311 published items and yet acknowledged that one of its of a still better Library [Music] in sports Michigan State's overall record top the Big [Music] 10 through the Michigan State Development Fund the alumni added a new electronic computer and a new high-speed centrifuge among many other advances the museum opened the new Central American rainforest exhibit replete with bug bites on the here that the art Department crawled out of a paint splattered temporary shed to the magnificence and challenge of aesy gallery and Studios the Kaa of the new educed not only the Hy Indian influence on architecture but a bold new program in teacher preparation continuing education continued to educate beyond the campus classes were held in dozens of Michigan cities knowledge was transmitted in the classroom and Via TV a new videotape complex was put into operation and it greatly facilitated program storage okanawa Nigeria Pakistan Vietnam Brazil and Colombia benefited from the efforts of the Michigan State overseas program BRS during the year the Board of Trustees dealt with many vital matters but none more popularly dramatized than the to be or not to be of the reserve Officers Training Program new on the board were Mr Warren huff and Mr Frank murrman three four of the campus For Better or For Worse there was a tendency in 1959 to take a close look at the Russians who had beaten Us in putting a satellite into orbit who had named the brand of cigarettes after a dog called Leica and had sent the Defenders of American public education scurrying to their Battle Stations a team of Russian Educators had sat in the education lounge and acknowledged faults in their system and faults in ours the Moscow Symphony played to a Full House in the auditorium and in Michigan States fine language laboratory realistic students said yarui a few weeks before the start of the year the panamerican swimming triy outs were held in Michigan State's new outdoor pool 150 new records were established the soccer team continued of increased audience but other teams without uniforms and generally without Spectators conducted other campaigns quiet touchdowns were scored in physics and nutrition problems weightier than a Pennsylvania fullback were tackled in Psychology and international relations in the physical sciences and social sciences agriculture Engineering in the humanities and vet medicine patient researchers Eed out yardage and in the rookie Honors College the sticks were brought in first three years it had managed the necessary first down and it had although it was a year that paid tribute to distinguished retirees ending their long and effective service to the university Michigan State as a whole had a spirit of beginning you could see it in the Footers of new buildings you could see it in the faces of high school students I competitive scholarship exams you could see it in the faces of graduates commencement this was it Michigan stayed in the Academic Year 1959 1960 a year that ended in many ways where it began yet for 20,000 students a year to remember whatever it was that was distinctive and unique you had not quite found you had not quite uncovered you had not quite caught with your camera and you would not find it this year or perhaps any year because almost before the year was documented and tallied it had blended into next year September 1960 freshman registration again dramatizing the unending Dynamic forward progress of time and Michigan State University [Music] [Music] you [Music]