ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE LIBRARY

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'LILUll'i't!ll;; v ISSUE 6 1

For Nancy Coiner, the overriding impression of Oxford is an aesthetic one. It's the ar­chitecture which has impressed her the most during her first year as a Rhodes Scholar there.

"And how beautiful the place is: the walks - there are won­derful places to walk - and tea­time, and working in the library with its high ceilings, and all the people," she listed some of the pleasures of the place.

M:iss Coiner, a 1977 alumna, was here between terms from Oxford where she has been enrolled this year as one of the first 13 women from the United States to win a Rhodes Scholarship. Next to being im­mersed in an aesthetic ex­perience, it has been the high

(Continued on P. 4)

A premiere performance of a new work Douglas Allanbrook, St. John's College tutor and composer, will be performed by the internationally known An­napolis Brass Quintet on June 30.

The composition, "Night and Morning Music," will be played by the quintet in a concert at Chautauqua, N.Y., Fest:ival and will be performed again here next Spring when the quintet gives a concert at the college. It is being published by Boosey and Hawkes.

A recognized composer, Mr. Allanbrook's works have in­cluded operas, symphonies, chamber music, and com­positions for the. keyboard and voice.

Maria, Mark, and Theresa Fabi on the college quad.

Four point three per cent of St. John's College's graduating senior class is pure Fabi.

Another way of putting this is that there are three Fabi siblings (no twins) from Scranton, Pa., who are members of the Class of 1978. In order of seniority, they are Mark, 23; Maria, 22, and Teresa - Teri - 21.

They demonstrate what one persuaded ~ather can do. Some time in the late 1960's, their father, Dr. Mario Fabi, a Scranton, Pa., physician, at­tended a medical seminar at the University of Chicago when the person who was running it suggested that participants read Mortimer Adler's "How To Read a Book."

Dr. Fabi read the first version, which still contained St. John's name (dropped from subsequent editions) and then sought out the oldest of his six children and talked about the program to which Adler had made numerous references. ,

Mark, then in Scranton Central High School, liked the idea of coming and enrolled in 1972.

Two years later came Maria ("kicking and screaming," teases Mark) and Teri as an early entry, skipping her senior year in high school. Meanwhile, Mark began two years leave from his studies and then returned to share his junior and senior year with his sisters.

EARLY ENTRY BY Teri and delayed exit by Mark enabled them to receive their diplomas together. It's been a collective Fabi achievement for this trio of

'

young people who have survived a tough undergraduate program, which included their senior essay examinations. "It's a great program," Maria, her initial objections over, says. "I've been sold."

As for their senior essays, Ma::k wrote on "The Ether on Trial: Hypothesis Vindicated,'' based on the papers of Farac.ay, :'.\iaxwell, and Einstein; Teresa

(Continued on P. 5)

President Weigle has made his first trip to China since he left it in 1945 and come back impressed by the "tremendous changes" which have taken place there.

In China first in 1931-33 as an English teacher and later during World War II with the military, Mr. Weigle returned as part of a reunion of men who had served with the_ U.S. Army Observer Group in Yenan.

The group consisted of 36 persons, including wives and three sons, who separated to follow two different itineraries. Mr. and Mrs. Weigle chose 'an eastern tour in part to visit Changsha, where he had taught at the Yali Union Middle School as part of a medical-educational mission sponsored by Yale alumni.

(ContinuedonP. 4)

..,,

batting

Referees at St. John's College have solved a problem which is an old one in team sports. What do you do when a referee finds it impossible to call a play?

Bryce Jacobsen, athletic director, and John White, assistant director, have their solution. They let the students call it. ·

Case in point: Some time ago, in a soccer game between the Green Waves and the Guardians, the Guardians shot a goal which neither Mr. Jacobsen nor Mr. White could tell was valid; The game could have reached an impasse had not Eugene Glass, Melrose Park, Pa., senior, and a member of the Green Waves,

(Continued on P. 3)

Scholastic Aptitude Test ratings attained by St. John's freshmen were the highest held by students in both Maryland's public and private colleges for the college year just ended.

Among the state's nine in­dependent institutions, they were exceeded only by those recorded by freshmen at Johns Hopkins University, where higher mathematics scores explain the difference.

Freshmen here scored 640 and 610 on verbal and mathematical scores respectively or a total of 1,250. This compares with 618 ver­bal and 667 mathematical or 1,285 for John's Hopkins.

St. John's combined SAT scores of 1,250 is substantially higher than the 950 scored ~Y

(Continued on P. 5)

e Of the temptations awaiting

them in the "outside world," graduating seniors were warned at commencement of a par­ticularly distracting one to guard against: ''the noonday devil.''

And who is the "noonday devil?" Known by his Greek name, he is Akkedia, which Brother Robert Smith told seniors is "translated by the not­very-revealing term 'sloth."' Do not, he admonished seniors, be deterred by indolence in the performance of good works.

Brother Robert, a Christian Brother released from his order to teach at this secular college and chosen by the class of 73 seniors as their commencement speaker, described the nature of Akkedia as delineated by the fifth century monastic writer, Evagrius. Brother Robert quoted Evagrius and how this demon affected his monastery:

"The demon of Akkedia, or the noon-day devil, is the most burdensome of all. He attacks monks about ten o'clock in the morning and continues his siege until about two in the afternoon. He makes the sun seem to move ·slowly-even not to move at all. The day seems to be fifty hours long. He makes the monk keep looking out the· window, rush out of his cell, look at the sun to see if three o'clock (the time for the single monastic meal) is near ... "

BROTHER ROBERT said the succession of obsessive thoughts described by this desert father became the model for Dante, and in the 18th Canto Dante has Virgil speaking of "luke-warmness in well-doing."

"Luke-warmness in well­doing" is not as graphic as the expressions heard in Evagrius, Brother Robert pointed out, but Dante's voyagers already are assured of salvation. "Evagrius is talking of men in this life who still face as a possibility the ultimate shipwreck described by Dante in the Inferno," he said.

(Continued on P. 3)

President Weigle awards Mary Hanna Jones, of Chesapeake, 0., and Steve Ross, of Alexandria, Va., prizes for their senior essays.

1omPam:m

PAGE2

Two informal gatherings of alumni from the Washington­Baltimore-Annapolis area have been held this Spring. The first brought together 24 alumni, principally from the classes of '57·'58-'59, to the Marriott Hotel Lounge in Arlington, Va., for lots of talk. Sue Lerner, '57, of Columbia, and Don Phillips, '55, of Alexandria, planned it. Bob and Alice McEnroe, '59, flew down from Long Island to join the group. Last month there was a smaller, follow-up gathering at Blob's Park (that's really the name) at Odenton attended by 10 alumni.

* * * * * 1937

Asbury W. Lee III writes that he is living in DuBois, Pa., very near his long-time home in Clearfield. Asbury, whose fifst wife dietl 2V2 years ago, reports that he and the former Esther Buck were married last February. He is retired as president of the Clearfield Banking & Trust Co., but con· tinues as chairman of the board and as director and consultant. Asbury proudly reports six children and ten grandchildren.

1950 Robert A. Goldwin, resident

scholar and director of seminar programs for the American Enterprise Institute, participated on May 4-7 as an essayist and conferee at Kenyon College's Public Affairs Conference Center. Twenty-four carefully se1ected leaders in politics, in· dustry, education, and jour­nalism debated, behind closed doors, in off-the-record sessions, the sources of power in American government.

1955 Barbara Oosterhout

informs us that she is associated ' in the practice of law with Robert

H. Symonds of Lanham, Md. 1965

Sandra ( Gillmeister) Traywick was married in April, and.is now Sandra Gillmeister Karl. She lives in Fayetteville, N. Y., and works as Director of Intake and Family Service at the Syracuse Cerebral Palsy Center.

1968 Anne Beaumont (for·

Anne Beaumont Reid) writes that she is living in Oak Forest, Ill., and is employed as an engineer with Johnson & Johnson Baby Products Co.

1970 The first word we're received

in a long while from VittO -~~~M~n nnmnlnfi

Ph.D. National

Tenn. He is now a post-ctoctora fellow (research

in the ment of at the of Medicine of the University of -California (San Diego) in La Jolla.

.THE RePORTER

nofej By TOM P .ARR.AN

Director of Alumni Activities day,· June 3. The enclosed card sloop of his own design known as announced that Debora Jeanne "Windsprite." Gilliland would receive h~r. M.D. John Rogers has left Columbus degree on that ~ate. (To fm~sh the t 0 j 0 i n t h e w i 1 I i a m story, a prevmus c?mm1tm ent Tolley Company in Washington,· a prevented our atte_ndmg, but our city of many good friends where v er Y be ~t w Is hes• . and he is doing calligraphy, working congratulations, go to Debbie). in color, including gold. "It gets

George and Robin ( Chalek) better and better every week," he Jannes became the proud par~nts reports. As soon as we have a of John Arden Jannes on A_Pril 1, home address for John, we'll let 1978. Our tardy congratulations. you know. Right now he is at-

1~74 tempting to move into the same Stephen Key fin~lly let us k~ow apartment complex in which

that he an~ Leslie Graves, 76, Janet and Donnel O'Flynn live. were married last September. She is executive director of the 1976 Wisconsin Libertarian Party and At the specific request of David the campaign manager for Fields Clement, we advise all his friends for Congress: Steve works as a that he is living at 514 East 81st programmer for an industrial Street #8, Ne:w York City 10028, mkro computer systems telephone (212) 628-9092; David manufacturer. While on their 1e~ends a11 oj>¢h invitat;!on to ho!fey~oon i,n Chicpg'o, '1be Keys any of his friends who happen to discovered Mortimer Adler be in New York to drop in. He is autographing copies of his new working at Windows of the World book in a bookstore - just a (billed as the world's tallest normal St. Johnsian honeymoon, restaurant) on the 108th floor of of course. the World Trade Center's north

1974-Santa Fe tower. David says it isn't all that Jennifer (Jordan) Bredell different from the old Upper

writes from Willow Grove, Mo., Crust in Annapolis, and the that she is raising pigs. What's waiters make a lot of money. He everybody else doing? she asks. has been accepted at the

Alejandro Medina, last University of Virginia's English reported in the October 1977 The . Department and at Columbia College, has been in Germany for University's Department of the past six months, studying English and Comparative German at the University of Literature; a decision must be Cologne. made soon.

1975 Bernadette Keefe reports she is Paul and Tina (Saddy) Bell attending Columbia University's

visited the Annapolis campus Medical School and thus will be in during the spring, accompanied New York City for some time. by their 22-month-old son, S. Larrison is a photo-Joseph. Paul does computer work typesetter in New Jersey, playing for BMW, the German witha''dearlittlecomputerthat automobile manufacturer, while masks her lack of techne in Tina teaches religion to 5th typing." She also reports that a graders once a week. They live in New York print shop and lots of Nyack, N.Y., want more kids, little theaters await her, and that often see members of the New she is learning to hustle with -York : Johan De Roos, Steve Weinstein. '76, P Kimberly (Beaton) Quintero Donabedian, and S. Larrison, '76. writes that she has just received (The last of these was with the her second undergraduate Bells when they visited). degree, this one in com-

On 13 Michael Dink was munications from Brigham scheduled to receive his M.A. Young University. She was degree in philosophy from elected to Kappa Tau Alpha, the Catholic University. He has national honorary fraternity of

his doctoral course journalism. While her future may work, but (as of April 4) had two include graduate school, Kim-comprehensive examinations currently is doing free-and a dissertation to complete.· lance writing and editorial work. Next year he is scheduled to She and her husband, Joseph, live teach a section of the un- in Springville, Utah, and are

welcome. LL lJg.) Gerry

promoted to his present rank last has been in the U.S.

Navy for two-and-a-half years. After more than a year as boilers officer of the U.S.S. Duluth (LPD-6), Gerry became assistant erigineer. The was rlP111011Tpfl

to the Western last fall and has since been in and arnund the Inland Sea of and the

expecting their second chtld in October.

1977 If Africa were ever truly dark,

it will be less so next year when St. John's ebullient Miller starts lighting up that continent. Corry joined the Peace this month and has begun a 11-week training period in the of Togo, a country so tiny hard to find but there· it is, tucke_d

. away under French West Africa. will be.

French the she

is committed to island of Kyushu. 1973 The "W.eekender" section of before return·

ing to the States. Corry One rainy Monday morning in The Washington Post for April 21 was brightened by t~e had an interesting write-up of the

of a most welcome m- activities of vitation: The Medical College of Eugene Kelly. Heading his own Pennsylvania requested the firm, Kelly Craft, 240 Patapsco honor of our presence at the Avenue, Dundalk, Md. 20017, conferring of degrees on Satur· Gene is soecializine: in a 16-foot

has the year since gradua­tion a sort of rest-and recovery period, odd jobbing in the Hunt­sville, Ala., area, including becoming expert in clock repairs in the Westclox factory there.

JUNE, 197~

Number from '78 class plan graduate study

Of St. John's 73 graduates, a number are entering graduate schools immediately this fall. The Placement Office said that they include:

Jill Potkalitsky, teaching fellowship in physics, College of William and, Mary; Frances Merritt, law, 'Boston University; Michael Ciba, partial tuition scholarship in international relations, University of Chicago; Don Edwards, classics, Brown University;

Leland Giovanelli, $3,000 tuition, Committee on General Studies in Humanities, Univer­sity of Chicago; Paula Jacobus," tuition free grant with stipend, post-baccalaureate, pre-medical .Program, ,:Bryn Mawr; Phil Jemielita, economits and philosophy, Oxford University; Richard Levy, tuition scholar­ship, business, University of Chicago;

Robert Levy, English literature, Oxford University; Dale Lively, $2,000 fellowship and $2,000 teaching assistantship, mathematics, University of Virginia; Stephen Magee, graduate assistantship, physics, State University of New York, Stonybrook; Steven Ross, theology, Union Theological Seminary;

Lucy Tamlyn, theology, Columbia University; Robert Perry, physics, University of Maryland; Emily Fox, stipend in philosophy, Georgetown

--university; Russell Dahlberg, teaching assistantship, physics, Northwestern University, and James Walley, Gray Film Atelier.

In many instances, these students were accepted for study at other institutions, but chose not to go there. Among them have been Case Western, Berkeley, Drexell, Rensselaer, Cornell, Wharton, Brandeis, and such universities as the universities of Massachusetts, M , Michigan, North Carolina,. and Arizona.

·-The Placement Office said a number of students will delay their graduate studies. Julia Van

llml Roberta Rusch is rece1vmg

i-"""'",..,,., in the systems engineer development program of Elec­tronic Data Systems. Since

she has been associated with the Rockville, Md., division, where she will be stationed for a six to nine month period. After that she is scheduled to go to Dallas for three months classroom work.

der Veur hopes to apply to a Montessori teaching school in Perugia, Italy, and to the University of California at Berkeley for elementary teachers accreditation, but plans to work, meanwhile, possibly as a carpenter's assistant in the San Francisco area.

Two students will have major fellowships-Amy McConnell, a Watson to make a 900-mile walk following an ancient pilgrimage between Paris and Spain, and Christopher . Olson, a Rotary Fellowship for study in France.

are

(Continued from P. 8)

ape walk~d .across the stage. "Another.time, the whole front

row was occupied by students wearing the whitened faces and reddened Ups of clowns (I asked them to . stand up, ·face the audience, and take a bow); still another time, my lecture was int~rrupted by a repeating sound that no one in the room could identify and that was so mysterious that it distracted everyone's attention from the lecture, including mine. Someone in the rear of the auditorium, which was sloped and graded, had dropped on the stone floor marbles which pinged as they rolled down from level to level.

"IT IS NOT because I could always expect some prank of this sort that I have always looked forward to giving a lecture at St. .John's. With hardly a single exception, my lectures there have been prepared especially for that occasion and have represented an intellectual venture or a phase of thought in which I was intensely engaged at the time.

"I would not have dared to give anywhere else lectures as heavy in substance and as complex as the ones I prepared for the St. John's audience. Not only were St. Johnnies an alert and at­tentive audience, but took part in an open forum for an hour or more after the lecture, often asking questions that advanced my own thinking about the subject of the evening. This, it seems to me, is an ex~ traordin significant measure of the intellectual vitality of a college devoted to .

the great books and to ~,.rmi,.1n11 some discipline in the

by discussing as well as t>y reading them."

. Adler's newest book is Aristotle Difficult Thought

Made Easy.

1908-John I. Burton, Herndon, 1913-Col. Daniel E. Campbell, 1921-William F. Williamson, East New Market,

March1978. 1929-0scar H. MacNemar, Millersville, Md., May 1978. 1932-Robert B. Smith, Edenton, N.C. 1934-Lawrence P. C. Brown, White Plains, N.Y., April 1977. 1955-Mrs. Joan Eisner Gearing, Annapolis, Md., May 1978.

r

11·

with of

awards. Two went to Steven Kirk Ross as one of two first winners the senior essay and for excellence spe~aking·. His father, Rev.

F. Ross, of the ~Dilscc,nai Seminary at

the invocation benediction.

Presented President the awards were as follows:

MARK EB Steitz, Bethesda, Md., of Visitors and Governors silver medal as senior with Alan Lee Bowers, Elkins Pa., Duane L. Peterson

with

academic Markland Foundation;

Kimberly Schraf, Latrobe, Pa., $1,000 scholarship offered by Bela Ronay in memory· of his wife, Joan Yvonne Ronay; Mary Hannah Jones, of <;hesapeake, 0., with Mr. Ross, first for best senior essay, and Mark

essay; Roberta

Silver Wilson, Annanolis.

and Bowser, Alexandria, Va., honorable mention, best fresh·

essays; Miss Jones, honorable best Ene:lish translation of a Greek

Rebecca Brown, of Columbia, translation a French poem; Moeck,

first Michael Glenn Conner, San

Tex., honorable men· tion, best original English Gregory Pa., best brief comment on a

of Sharon Ann McMahon, Lake Katouah, N.Y., member of an or

class who submits solution to a

Rochester, N.Y., Robert James Perry,

and Mark Bernard Fabi, Scranton, Pa., all honorable mention, members of

or senior class who sub· mits most elegant solution of a mathematical ; Ethan Bauman, San Anselmo, Calif., and Patricia Ann Canton, 0., senior man and woman who have contributed most to college's athletic program.

St. John's Board Member Charles H. Watts indicated at the

board meeting that a special ad hoc committee he is heading is inclined to believe St. John's two campuses should continue to operate as a one-

r r

Alumni seminars have been a regular feature of Annapolis Homecomings since 1969. The 1977 session was well attended, and the conversations were lively and quite good.

Here is the list of the readings that have been offered over the years:

1969-Plato, Crito, and Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail. _

1970-Selections from Political Writings by Black Americans.

1971-Plato, Phaedrus (24C-275C), and Thomas Mann, Death in Venice.

1912-The Federalist (10, 39, 51, 61-77). 1973-T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets. ' 1974-Einstein, Geometry a.nd Experience, and

Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. 1975-Nietzsche, Joyful Wisdom. 1976-Bible readings from I and II Samuel and the Psalms. 1977-Alan M. Turing, Can a Machine Think? Here are some suggestions for future seminars: Sophocles, Electra, and Euripedes, Electra. George Santayana, Imagination (an essay). Plato, Philebus. Pascal, De l'espirit Geometrique et de l'art de Persuader,

(translated by R. Scofield). Kant, Perpetual Peace. Edwin Muir, The Animals (a poem), and the Prologue to the

St. John Gospel. The Alumni Association would appreciate your comments and recommendations for other readings. Please send them to the Alumni Office on the Annapolis campus.

program, one-president; one­board institution.

"We are still on the side of a unitary system," he said of discussions underway by the committee, which has been considering the best way to ad­minister the college.

Mr. Watts said members hope to have a series of alternative schemes ready for board review at its July 29th meeting. Of these, the committee would be prepared to recommend one.

"We have come increasingly to the conviction that we are and should continue to be one in­stitution and one program," he said of the campuses at Santa Fe and Annapolis.

Mr. Watts said the committee may be at variance with a con­cept held at the time of the founding of the western campus that it be "spun off" from the parent campus once it reached financial stability.

Prior to its meeting, the committee also is to meet with the board's Finance Committee headed by Richard M. Burdge, of Philadelphia, to make recom­mendations which that group also 'would review for -board con-sideration.

Mr. Watts said it was the feeling of his committee that members do not want to be "prescriptive" in making tneir recommendations but rather would prefer to propose several alternative models.

clarified the matter in a way which helped his opponents. The ball had gone in.

Second case in point: Last fall Sanford Smith, Kenilworth, Ill., sophomore, again of the Green Waves, scored a touchdown, but no one could tell whether he had been out-of-bounds. As possibly the one person who knew, Mr. Smith spoke up. He had been out­of-bounds, he told the referees. The Green Waves lost the touch­down, and the game went on.

MR. SMITH dismissed the incident. "That happens quite frequently here," he said. "My conscience would bother me for weeks if I didn't bring something like that to the- attention of the ref ere es.''

Mr. Jacobsen cautioned that it was just a coincidence that both men were members of the Green Waves. Other teams produce their share of integrity, too. While there may not be a hundred per cent perfection in all such cases, generally Mr. Jacobsen believes that St. John's players "have a pretty good batting average" for describing a play as it really is.

More so, Mr. White believes, than existed ten years ago when he was a student. One of the reasons, he says, is that teams have been reorganized, not by individual classes, but by cutting across classes, which has made them less cliquish and more in

·~

tune with the spirit of the college's intramural program. And since one finds friends on opposing teams, playing becomes very personal. You don't want to undo somebody you know.

"BY THE WAY, the girls are especially virtuous," Mr. Jacobsen noted. "It's not just because they are sweeter and nicer, but this so-called winning thing is not so much emphasized. They like to play and have fun, and they are more relaxed. It's common among the girls when we hesitate in a call to tell us and tell us the truth.''

Mr. Jacobsen chuckled over his softball games with girls. -

When he hasn't really seen a play, he may call out to the batter, "What was it? She'll say maybe a strike or a ball. Or maybe I'll ask the pitcher."

Mr. Jacobsen is cheered by the fact that St. John's may he reaching some of its go::lls regarding the college's in­tramural games. Certain at­titudes of spirit have been more realized as time has gone by -namely, telling the truth. "When you win at all costs, you are apt to cut corners," he says of more competitive situations.

Mr. White attributed the dependability of students to Mr. Jacobsen. "He's tough as nails, but absolutely fair. It'~ his in· fluence," Mr. White said.

~;~4~1:,~0,~,,;:;---.::,\ l,' ',' ,, .... · ··.· ':•

~W:ef:~'Yacations

witl160 hooks to re (Continued from P.1)

level of cultural life of which she is most conscious.

Since the third week after the fall term began, there have been at least three a week, of which she customarily sees one. This term Misgc who was active in John's

the lead in St. Catherine's of "Who's

Woolf."

"IT'S BEEN very she said of Oxford

"

more than ·the freshman or sophomore year here. I had to learn an incredible amount -how things where things are, where to spend time.

"In some ways Oxford is like St. John's. You are over-assigned work, and you have to figure out where to concentrate and how

NANCY COINER much you want to do. There are no lectures required, but you can go to as many lectures as you please."

Oxford terms are weeks vacations are six.

"But just before you leave for vacation you are a monumental '' she said. "For my next term, which I read Chaucer, have a reading list of 40 books, mcluding all of Chaucer's works. nhui"''"'~i,, I'm not going to make it. I will be able to read a third of the books, but I have to consider the list a bibliography."

In working toward a B. Phil. degree, a two-year degree in England, Miss Coiner meets once a week with a tutor, to whom she delivers a weekly essay, usually eight to ten pages long.

"It's probably the hardest thing I have had to do," she said. "It means you must have all the reading and all the thinking done, and the essay written within a week. You have to see a question and find an immediate way to organize your material. It cer­tainly develops facile writing, but I'm not sure if it has anything to do with depth."

FOR THE FIRST term, when she was studying theology, she might write on such a question as: "What effect did the delay of the second coming have on the writings of Paul's Epistles?''

For the second term, devoted to medieval philosophy, one of her topics was: "Would Latin Averroism be'· an appropriate name for the movement of the faculty. of arts in Paris in the third quarter of the 13th cen­tury?"

Parenthetically, Miss Coiner said she felt that she had not had writing experience at St. John's of the kind to enable her to move with the ease with which she

would have liked. When St. John's papers are read, she noted they are read principally for content and substance, and not much attention is paid to style. It helps a lot, Miss Coiner believes, to have the simple logistics of

under Miss Coiner believes she

been fortunate in her tutors. have included A. E.

wrote for the new

Cassian warden of the Franciscan order, and Pamela Gradon, a suecial1:st the Pearl Poet.

LIK OTHER Rhodes scti101~trs, Miss Coiner has the Oxford dons to be tempting to encourage good points and not being hard on bad ones. She said sme Americans feel they even may not be strict enough, especially those who come from, some universities where the professors are accus­tioned. to "ripping you to shreds."

In order to cover the two to three miles across town and make classes, she joins the thousands of bicyclists who must keep clear of automobiles. She already has been knocked off her bike once, not an uncommon occurrence for other _

Miss is associated with St. She lives in big with seven other students were she cooks for herself. She.prefers it that way, having found out that the "'fJ'lL""·"vu for food is justified,

least in an institutional sense. Each term she is five meal tickets to eat with derclassman.

abominable -potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes, and when you

she starches, and

-~-~-':" 1 ·-bland."

there is no con­versation at tabie.

"Peop1.e slurp down their food anC. le<'lvi:>. Anr who are _ the laun-dromat hardly acknowledge your presence in the dining hall."

Undergraduate life is overseen much more strictly than at St. John's. The administration can be very concerned about such matters as party sizes, and the gates are locked at midnight. Among the group of friends she has made, luncheon dates tend to dominate the social life.

"That's when we talk," she said. "I have no idea when the English talk."

Ham,mond gets grant

Ernest C. Hammond, member of the Class of '62 and a Morgan State University faculty mem­ber, has received a $22,648 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to study photographic and spec­troscopic film calibration.

Mr. Hammond will use the grant to provide NASA with a profile of the ultraviolet, in­frared, and visible responses for. spectroscopic and standard film uses in astronomical research.

It can't be! But is it! President and Mrs. Weigle and Arthur Kungle, Jr., '67, on separate trips to China, ran into each other in Peking's Forbidden City.

China is (Continued· from P. l) The Weigles were impressed by

"There have been tremendous .the immense honesty on the part changes in the country," Mr. of the people. "No one ever locks Weigle said. "The most im- his door," he noted, adding that portant change is that everybody they used a key once or twice at a is working very hard toward a hotel, 'but if a key is used at cause - a - and that is to visitors may do so to

and to themselves against it and do it on their own than the Chinese.

without aid or advisers. left something, "IH'uo»•nh.nrl'1 has a whether you

sweening a floor a hotel or

both reasons and to erosion. There are a number of " --is much cleaner than Mr. Weigle remembers it. There were many

'"'" 1~t"''" 1 "·" 1u old women, sw~eenim.e:, roads and sidewalks. There was no refuse, no beggars, and despite the humid weather of southern cities, flies appeared to have been eradicated.

no _ see it as their re~;;puins:ibillity

as their service whatever whether it is a oea or

_ table. Hotels are with such personal items as combs bedroom

Co m unist rnment, Mr.

a system of property exists. People may own

deposit money in the and use the money to

what need in stores. In factories, as contrasted with the former days of the "Gang of Four,'' there are financial in­centives through bonuses.

One such factory the Weigles visited found not only medals

awarded to the 10 beo:>t people in each of three sections, but money paid in recognition as well. Workers are reimbursed for over-time. At home they can raise vegetables and sell them.

Salaries run from about 50 to 350 vuan a month - $30 to $210 -

the higher salaries going to officers or such

as senior

are over­visited one

three-room flat which was shared by seven persons of three

exc:1t11~1g place saw was the ar­center in China's

Yellow River where thousands of six-foot-tall, terra­cotta warriors have been un­covered near the tomb of Ch'in Shih-Huang-Ti, first emperor and builder of the Great Wall whose dynasty provided the name China. Less than a mile away, they also saw his burial mound dating to 210 B.C. which is yet to be excavated. And so, also, Mr. Weigle

discovered, have been dogs, or nearly so. The Chinese have discovered that dogs eat food, and Mr. Weigle estimated that he may not have seen more than a dozen during his three weeks in China.

I ni homecoming housing

"Railroads have been ex­tended, and the roadbeds are great," Mr. Weigle noted. "We rode in a beautiful, air­conditioned car from the border to Cantc>n: It had reclining seats, lace curtains at the windows, and antimaccasars. And there were teapots. The Chinese ply you with tea."

The Chinese are particularly proud of a two-tier bridge more than a mile long over the Yangtze River, for which they completed all the engineer work themselves after the Russians defaulted on promised technical and material assistance. The upper level is used for automobiles, the lower for trains.

Calling all Annapolis area alumni! Would you be willing to house alum­ni/ alumnae over the Homecoming weekend? Lee Perlman '73, a director of the Alumni Association, has suggested that many younger alumni in par­ticular stay away from the festivities because of the high cost of lodging. Lee thought perhaps local alumni could help out in this dilemma.

If you have space and would like a guest or two for September 29-30, please call the Alumni Office (263-2371). And if you want to

\,:'

specify general age groups or sex of your guests, do so when you call. We would like to publish a list of available housing when we send the detailed H o m e c o m i n g a n­no un cement in early August, so call soon.

And to those from out of town who will be staying in hotels or motels, we urge you to make your reser­vations NOW, even if you find you must cancel at a later date. The Alumni Office has absolutely no influence with local hostelries when it comes to last-minute reservations!

Thomas K. Simpson, tutor on the Santa Fe campus, delivers the commencement address to the doss of 54 seniors, the dass since the Santa Fe campus was founded. In the academic

· procession below are Marion Billington, of las Cruces, N.M., fol­lowed by Rene Christian Michel Barnes, of Decatur, Ala., and Vidor Austin, of Woodward, Olda., recipient of the Board of Visi­tors and Governors medal as the senior with the highest aca-demic record. photos by John DeJournett

Freshmen score well (Continued from P. 1)

students - at the University of Maryland at College. Park and the 910 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

National averages for SATs are 429 in English and 470 in mathematics or a total of 899. Both verbal and mathematiCal tests are rated on a scale of 200 to 800.

In its lead among private Maryland colleges, St. John's was followed by Goucher College, where verbal and math scores tOtal 1,060, and by Loyola College, which fQllows Goucher closely by eight points.

Altogether Johns Hankins and the eight private colleges had an average .combined score of 1,013, averaging. 499 for verbal and 514 for mathematical testing. Besides St. John's, Goucher, and Loyola, other private Maryland colleges, listed alphabetically, include the College of Notre Dame, Hood, Mt. St. Mary's, Washington, and Western Maryland.

Among Maryland's state­supported colleges and univer­sities, com6iilea scores ranged from 950 at UMCP to 582 at

,,Coppin State.

THE REPORTER

What is a crackerjack New York policeman doing in Santa Fe's Graduate Institute?

For one thing, he has been cherishing every minute of his first year, and for another he's packing his into an AMTRAK train and coming back fast.

John McGuirk possesses New York have:

and fur­in the best New York he comes from that

race which has produced so many great New York p_olicemen - the Irish. He's the Irish sort, Irish enough to be one of eight men, all vice-presidents, marching eight abreast up Fifth Avenue St. Patrick's Day when the Police Department's Emerald Society threw the biggest party in the city of New York, and he was there, enjoying it all the way.

He got from the New York Commissioner's Office to the Santa Fe campus last summer on a competitive scholarship, not too many years after, at the age of 31, he decided to take his first undergraduate course at Staten Island College. This was while he continued to hold down his

decided to it,'' he recalled. "I decided not

and see if I could hack a course in economics. I could, and then decided I could hack two."

one of the reasons an called the New York Relief Fund, which has a program ed11c2ttirtg

for better law enq forcement, chose him to receive a

to the Graduate Institute.

This montli he and his Maureen, and their three children, will arrive in Santa Fe where he will be enrolled in the math and natural science• segment. Last year he took the segment on ROlitics and society.

"Some of last summer's readings I already had done in college," he said, "but the ap­proach at St. John's is different. Some times there was a situation in which there wasn't a right or wrong, but the possibilities of being two rights.

"My wife sat in on a tutorial with Sam Brown (St. John's tutor) dealing with the Con­stitution and civil rights. Our class was ethnically balanced between blacks and whites. We agreed it was the first time we had ever sat down and had seen something solid come out of the discussion rather than heated argument about who was right and who was wrong.

"I can't say I've changed, but I've learned. It was a personal thing. The summer was very beneficial from the standpoint of understanding and relationships with other people. I arrived at more understanding of human

Fre,11hmnn 11r.nrR/WRll.an .. 'tAT'S

•

nature. People actually listened to you. People reflected. There was action and reaction."

AMONG THE BEST times were those spent in the coffee shop after seminar, he recalled.

"In seminar you mi.ght hold back to other chance to speak, to

ones. Of course, been in my life. But conversations you would let out all your inner "

He was the comraderie and friendliness, the warmth of the St. John's com-

When the Sam Kutlers of the St. John's faculty lent the McGuirks a car their second in Santa Fe, he was astonished. "Your next door neighbors in New York might do it after 30 years if they got a deposit before hand," he said with something of a New York cop's cynicism.

The program itself he found everyone on an equal basis. could talk to an Irish Christian brother, a Benedictine monk (we found ourselves going to mass with both of them), school teachers, tutors, all on a one-to­one basis," he said. "The course of the study was the great equalizer."

IN THE BEST St. John's tradition, Mr. McGuirk found himself talkinE: a bout the

of Absolute Hobbes's Com

the

based upon Hobbes's "Leviathan," and Maria Fabi's was entitled "God, Job, and. the Problem of Human Suffering," based upon the Book of Job.

Aside from the fact that the Fabis numerically justified the use of the family station wagon instead of buses for college holidays, they found there has been an advantage to going to this school together. They share a great deal in common. Their table conversation shows a dif­ference.

All of them mentioned the advantage of attending a college of less than 400 students.

"ST. JOHN'S HAS such a small community," Maria said. "In a way that permits everyone to develop his potential and in· terests. If you are interested in acting, you can be the class actor. If you're interested in art, you canoe an artist. The school gi.ves you so much leeway. You can do anything you want, and you will be recognized.''

Mark agreed. "The size of St. John's is one of

the things that is attractive," he said. "I have visited larger schools, but there is no way to go except to be reduced to a six-digit number. The college is very sel~~ contained socially. Some persons think we spend all our time discussing metaphysics in the coffee shop. That goes on an4 should, but it is by no means the' entire e~tent of the social ac-

t'A\:Plt 3

Olson receives Rotary grant

Christopher Olson, of Reston, Va., has received a Rotary Foundation graduate fellowship for study in France.

Mr. Olson, a member of the graduating class, will study political philosophy. He is seeking to have the award delayed until the 1979-80 academic year. Under a program which seeks to enlarE:e in-ternational un

awards the to

said. "She began awestruck, but she some the books, and we would go back to the dorm and hold a small seminar there."

(It's now turn for his wife to go to college; currently she is enrolled in his old aim a mater -Staten Island).

Mr. McGuirk paced himself by reading 150 pages a night, 400 on weekends. He would study until noon and then on Saturday and Sunday join some of his friends to visit nearby places, including Christ-in-the-Desert Monastery one week and St. Anne's Church, where there were 12 guitarists. One Sumi found themselves attending mass in the Pecos.

Mr. McGuirk has worked with the office of the com-missioner since 1972.

tivities.

the senior and the William Players.

Activities A couple of years ago it was rock climbing and karate. We're still playing war games in the coffee shop."

"We play a lot of croquet in the spring," added Teri. And the she believes, has helped instill the feeling of a family.

"I've loved coming here. By the time you are a senior, after going through the college for four yearsr it's like a family. You know everyone so well. It's nice."

MARK HAD a lead in the college's May production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" in additioµ to having appeared in past performances of Shakespeare and Eugene O'Neill. He also has been active in sports, playing with the Druids and Hustlers' teams. Maria and Teri have been "into social life" . wlth Maria picking up a couple of awards at rock parties as the best dancer there.

All of them are excited about what lies ahead. For Mark, there will be a year in Europe and Africa traveling with St. John's Alumnus Johan de Roos, '76, before graduate work in physics; for Teri, also a year off befnre law school. Maria's plans are undetermined. And, for a while, St. John's will be Fabi-less. But perhaps not for long.

Standing in the wings are Diana, 16 in July; Andrea,~13, and Pamela, 10. Word has it that Diana alre~dy has begun to think a bout early entry. ·

."~,--,-~

4 'l'MS.Dl:.D-"\ll"l'R.D

DEAR EDITOR: Jurte 7, 1948: Donald S. Elliott, David B. Lowdenslae:er. Jack L.

Tricia Kolp, Canion, Ohio, senior, who was in charge of women's sports this year, umpires a partic­ularly tense moment of a softball game. Cathy Buck, Fairfax, Va., junior, leaps for base as Kath­ryn Kominars, Alexandria, Va., catches the ball. Below, Mari Perry, Annapolis junior, reaches for a ball as Elizabeth Groff, Conshohocken, Pa., sophomore, comes running in.

Parents hold session with Dean Sparrow (Continued on P. 8)

from other colleges," Dr. Dorothea Glass, here from Massa chusettSy interjected.

St John's has never made a correlation of the ·academic performance of students who live on or off campus. Permission is necessary from an assistant dean to live off campus.

One father of two St. Johnnies, John Bowers, of Elkins Park, Pa., noted that his daughter, Deborah, with a "tremendous grasp of math and science" at St. John1·.s; is doing yery w.ell m

~.) ,' ~ ,i l ' ,+, ,,

medical school. St. John's ap­pears to have a ratio of students in medical. school higher than that of the Ivy League colleges. (A new career study shows the biological and medical sciences claim the largest proportion of St. John's graduates).

Competition among St. John's sports teams is intense. One parent said the sports program is better here than in the Ivy League colleges, where it is largely a spectator sport.

AMONG THE events which drew parepts over the weekend

·were softball gam.es (one father was spotted playing first baseman) and the King William Players' production of "The Importance of Being Earnest," which Saturday night saw an overflow aµ,dience of 240 persons crowded back stage for the first of three successful per· formances. Altogether about 200 persons attended the waltz party in the Key foyer.

Among the students helping tutors co-lead seminars besides Mr. Jemielita were Richard Levy, Lµc-y Tamlyn, Kari Jenson,

While it was delightful to read about my old·college friend, Ray Cave, and a bit shocking to see him in full beard, it was even

to read that I,

Mason, Simmons, Smith, Wilson have been,.,,,.,~,..;,,"',., of our

("Of the total 73 fresh­men who arrived that time, only Mr. Cave, Peter John Davies, and John Henry Thomas were to their ") But

you know which no one had the ,-.m1r:::ic1""

to tell me. President had some a few years ago about to make ~if ts to institutions of

I should to his

But Bill Simmons would not suffer such a fate.

c.

WE for the figures. Miriam

archivist, in her usual wav. has tried to make sense of presenting us with names and dates of three groups which matricul::..ted in 1944. wav of ex1-murn1,1.un, she out

of the World War II draft, St. John's, like other colleges, offered an accelerated year-round program and opened its doors to youngsters who had not yet completed their high school courses.

The purpose was to enable these boys to complete their undergraduate education before entering upon military service,. Miss Strange said. Because of the tensions and uncertainties of the times, this accelerated plan did not prove too effective, and during the summer of 1945 more normal procedures were re­established here.

Mason, C. Robert Oswald Na Maremont Schutz), William W. Simmons, Wheaton Smith, Jr., George R. Trimble, and Robert C. Wilson.

The three were graduated on June 6, 1949: Ray C. Cave, Peter J. Davies, and John H. Thomas.

The

Two St. John's tutors, Elliott Zuckerman and Thomas will each a week at Anselm's Manchester, N.H., this summer

a nro2ram of ... .,,..,,,;..,.,r1

will be Lucian of political science at the Claremont colleges, who has in St. John's Graduate Institt1te.

the St. John's tutors invited to sneak on

served as a State

which has construct a

new core curncumm. A former vice for academic affairs at St. Mary's College, Moraga, Calif., Mr. Slakey discussed the program derived from St. John's which he had suggested for that college.

Two tutors have spoken at Canadian institutions. Nicholas Maistrellis, discussed the science and mathematics program at the University of Western Ontario at London, and Thomas K Simpson of the Santa Fe campus took part in a day-long memorial service at

Here are the figures and names for the class which matriculated · in 1944 and which were admitted at three different times -March, July, and October.

·the University of Toronto honoring the late Jacob Bronowski. During a panel discussion, he spoke on the use St. John's makes of the great books of science.

Appearing on public radfo last month were Edward Sparrow and Robert Bart, deans of the Annapolis and Santa Fe cam­puses, respectively, who discussed the program during an 85-minute interview on the "Home Show," and Former Dean Robert Goldwin, now with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, who appeared on "Options in Education." Both shows were broadcast from Washington.

THERE WERE 71 matriculants in the class who were joined at one point by two re-entrants from earlier classes.

Of those 71 matriculants, i5 were graduated; 56 · were not graduated.

Of the 15 graduates, the following 10 were graduated in

Robert Perry, Leland Giovan­neli, David Woolwine, Don Ed­wards, Roberta Rusch, Mark Steitz, and Eugene Glass.

The only seminar in which both leaders were faculty members turned out to be something of an experiment. It was led by Laurence and Gisela Berns, who had wanted to lead a seminar together by way of showing that a husband-wife team need not cause the walls of McDowell Hall to come tumbling down. It is believed to be the first time this has occurred.

Geoffrey Comber, director of Annapolis's Graduate Institute, is serving as a consultant to the Department of Higher Education of the State of New Jersey in evaluating a document which would result in expanding financial support for a graduate program.

Earlier this spring he assisted in an evaluation at Georgetown University undertaken by the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Program, of which the e.olleg~ is .. a. membe~.·

to understand how not to contract venereal disease. It's rising to

, and One nice thing abom this little seriously attectm.e:

talk to you is that I did not have to capabilities.' announce beforehand what I was " 'So I spent the rest of the war, going to talk about, or what my as a good soldier, fighting this title would be. The right subject age old battle." and tone for this occasion are Thus, in the War that was to difficult to find ... and a good end all War, in the war that was title is almost hopeless. One to make the world safe for struggles, in vain, for a title that democracy, Mr. Barr's unique would be brief, original, talents as a liberal artist were put humorous and relevant to the to good use. Through a kind of presumedsubjectmatter. gutter grammar,

My favorite example of a good rhetoric and lusty logic he suc­title for a lecture was one given ceeded in containing the by Scott Buchanan, our first problem. He was proud ofthe fact Dean and Mentor, and founding that his regiment, after a time, father of our present curriculum. had one of the lowest infection This lecture would have occurred rates in the Army. Whenever in the period 1938-1942, when I ask th.at perennial was a student here. It was en- question, "What good is a St. titled "Clothes" - not c-1-o-s-e, John's education?", I smile and but the kind that you wear. It was think of Mr. Barr's special brief, and original, at least for.a contributions to the Allied Cause Friday night lecture. And if you in WWI. knew Mr. Buchanan, one of the I remember a few lecturers. I world's worst dressed men (but marvelled that Mortimer Adler, always with the proper jacket still a very young man then, could and tie), you could appreciate the be so intense, and so certain; deep levels of ambiguity, self- about such complex philosophical mockery and humor in the title. minutiae. I marvelled that Also it perfectly expressed, in one Robert Maynard Hutchins, still a commonly used the subject young, famous, tall, handsome matterofhislecture. and man, would even

If I had been askefl +n ~upply a to come all the way to I would have looked for.one Annapolis from Chicago, to talk

as Mr. Buchan·an did... to us about Aristotle - and vir­and that one word would have tue. I marvelled at the exquisite been Memories, which is not very language and penetrating in­original, or humorous, or even sights of Mark Van Doren, when specific. However, it would have he talked to us about the great been brief ... but ·alas, a poor poets. And I marvelled that step-child to Mr. Buchanan's Alexander Meiklejohn could be so Clothes. old in years, yet so young, and

SINCE I WAS here as a student vigorous and forceful in h!s -love many years ago in the so-called of freedom. Golden Age of the Program, and I REMEMBER Dr. Kasner, since tradition and continuity are our visiting lecturer on such important aspects of any m a the m a tic s , a s m a 11 , educational scheme, I thought I dishevelled, mustachioed man, would share with you some of your typical absent-minded what I remember of my student professor type. He never really days. It will come as a shock to understood clothes properly, no you, and especially to the tutors doubt having missed Mr. present, but I remember only Buchanan's lecture! He had about half of my tutors by name! trouble with clothes, matching Mr. Kieffer, Mr. Bingley, Mr. them, keeping them in place, and Scofield, Mr. Martin, Mr. even keeping them on! During Neustadt, Mr. Tilghman, Mr. one of his lectures it became MacFarlane, Mr. Klein, Mr. clear that he h'ad forgotten his Barr and Mr. Buchanan. One belt, or his suspenders, because

. only remembers tutors who are he kept a firm hold on his pants especially virtuous, or otherwise. with one hand, all the while

I remember most of all Mr. gesticulating with the other. But Barr, our first new .program remembering important things president, and my seminar was not his strong suit, so after leader for several years - awhile it happened, what we all energetic, questing, bold, were waiting.breathlessly for: he imaginative, outrageous, always used both hands to describe some pushing us to t~ink more geometrical figure, and, of seriously about thmgs worth course, his pants fell down, right

never satisfied, down to the floor, right about restless, but a most gracious and here where I am now standing! humane person, with a wonderful Well, this was too much, even sense of humor. For example, in a formal lecture, in this very when asked what he had done in Great Hall. We all just the Great War (i.e., WWI), he collapsed with laughter. While we would tell this story, that he howled and the tears rolled, he never tired ofrepeating: just stood there, pants down,

"WELL, I ENDED up in the watching us, unperturbed. Army somehow, and one day I Finally we came to our senses was called up before the Captain, and quieted· down. Then Dr. and he said to me; Kasner, waiting there patiently

"'Barr; we have a big problem in his underwear, drew himself in this Army. 1 see where you up haughtily, and - said, "You scored rather well on our basic think my pants have fallen? Hahl literacy test, and it says here that Just shows you how wrong you you studied foreign languages. are. My pants have not fallen. No, Now Barr, you're just the man we my body has risen! I shall now need to explain certain things descend." And sure enough, he clearly to our troo,ps. So I'm then descended, and be and his, putting you in charge ?f a special pants, >once again, .bore their detail. You've got to getour lads preper relatitn&hiJ :.to ·one

another. Needless to say, I never forgot

. this elementary instruction in the theory of relativity. Years later it occurred to me that maybe he had staged the whole thing, on purpose!

Also, I remember all of the good times that I had par­ticipating in the intramural athletic program. Mr. Barr was particularly interested in this program. When I, and others, won our blazers, he would per­sonally present them to us, in the presence of the college com­munity ..

IN THOSE EARLY days, the concept of the college as a monastery began to take firm hold. Given the nature of the program, this was inevitable. Mr. Barr and Mr. Buchanan would remind us, however, that very shortly we would all be back in the world, confronted at that time by another of its periodic wars.

This natural, monastic idea has become corrupted somewhat, over the years. We see ourselves as separate from the things of the world, and so we are, to a certain extent. But we are not superior to the rest of humanity, who are out there busily engaged in the world's work. We should always be especially grateful to those who are doing the necessary, non­glamorous, and even dangerous jobs out there, such as janitors, cooks, policemen, sheriffs, judges, tax collectors, money lenders, garbage collectors, raisers, butchers, grave diggers, etc. Without this fortunate division of labor, we would all be forced to do these things, which might give us pause. ·

We are not morally superior to those worldlings, nor, in fact, are we intellectually superior. It pains me deeply when I hear us sometimes talk that way. We are not a philosophical paradise, or any kind of paradise. We too have feet of clay. We possess, in ample quantities, all the weaknesses that we note in those "outsiders."

SOME STUDENTS back in the Golden Age used to drink themselves into insensibility on Friday nights, out of sheer boredom and thrill-seeking, I know, because I did, on occasion. Students do it now and will probably continue to do so.

While we are in ·this critical frame of mind, let us recognize

. that there is a great disparity between the college as depicted in the college catalogue and the college as it is. We fall woefully short of to the standards and ideals are set forth in that noble document. Every'tutor and student knows this. Yet that does not mean that we have the wrong idea about

or that this is a bad place. It means that organized and institutionalized education is a perilous and enterprise, fraught with ficulties and pitfalls.

So whatwill YOlJ remember in the years to come? Certainly not this little talk, since I thought to wear a belt! M~rcifully, you will not remember the bad classes, the repetitive seminars and the boring lectures that have been a part of your life here~ Nor . will you remember much· in the way of information,

technique, or knowledge in the conventional sense of the word.

What you will remember, I hope, is that, for a short while in your life, you were part of a community that set a high value on asking important questions, that cherished clarity of thought, and that was genuinely con­cerned about what it means to be truly human. And I hope that you will remember, as I did, that this community was richly endowed, at all levels, with questing, reflective and concerned in· dividuals.

IN ALL PROBABILITY, those institutions, orga:µizations and family situations that you will now move into will not set such a high value on those things. It will be difficult for you to make the adjustment. But you must, if you are to function meaningfully in this society, or any society, for that matter.

Mr. Buchanan is quoted as having said, "The St. John's mission is preparing people to be misfits . . . " This is a typical Buchanan utterance - shocking, alarming, provocative - and both true and false. He did .not mean that we were turning out students who could not, or would not, fit into the maze of custom and law that constitutes the glue of our social fabric. He and Mr. Barr were confirmed traditionalists, in that respect. I tested Mr. Buchanan on this point once. He said, after a long discussion, that "Yes, neckties are absurd, and yes, the Chinese are much more sensible about clothes" but if I insisted on going to dinner without a tie, he would then have to ask me to leave the college. I decided to stay.

What he did mean by misfits, I think, is that insofar as the world sets a high value on things other than those I mentioned as worth remembering, our students will not easily "fit". We hope that you will continue to question, to reflect, to be concerned; if so, you will not "fit" into the

• • •

pigeonholes that the world has waiting for you. We hope that you don't. We hope, in short, that your life will continue to be an educational experience. We wish you well in this most difficult of all endeavors.

I have spoken of memories, and of which I hope that you remember. However, memory in its highest and ultimate sense is not mine, or yours, but ours. It is common to us. It is that recalled and persistent vision, that always present and remembered vision, of the good, that good which uplifts us from beasthood, and beckons us always to that which we might become. It is to this Memory that I refer, in closing. Let us continue to nourish it, to keep it safe. Let us always remember.

St. John's Outdoors Club, reactivated last January, is planning a camping trip to the Appalachian Trail in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia next fall. It also is thinking in terms of a canoe and rock climbing.

Douglass Gray, Catonsville, Md., junior, who is president, said the club already has spon­sored several trips, including a two-day, 40-mile bicycle trip down the C&O Canal the weekend of May 20-21. It was led Stephen Sharkey, Gaithersburg, Md., junior.

Winter activities included two ski trips, the first a one-day, cross-country ski trip in the Catoctin Mountain Park near Camp David, and the second a combination cross-country and down hilr skiing trip to Blue Knobb,Pa.

Members also have hiked for or five miles along the C&O Canal at Great Falls and completed a four and a half mile circuit hike across the river from- Harpers Ferry.

Dr. Thomas B. Turner of the Board of Visitors and Governors

con9~atula····.tes./la.ctrk\.Sh~~t.:z:. ' .. o.f 8 .. · ~t~e .. str;:a .. ~. t. ~5·'e.IJ.i9.1:'1 w ..• ~ f;eC!liv~d:. the board's salver medal a.s the ~tudent 1,Mltft.tf}e highest stand; ing. ·. 1 ·• • · · letmPan-G~ pl'idto

seminar, parents argued over· the justice of the charges brought against Socrates and then went on to lunch and talk and applaud a play and finally to dance together in St. John's third annual Parents Weekend.

"I found the weekend delightful, exhilarating, highly rewarding," Mrs. Richard White, here with her husband from Arlington, Va., enthusiastically told other parents in an afternoon session with Dean Edward Sparrow.

The meeting had been called to answer any questions parents might have, but it also turned out to be an occasion for parents to express their admiration for the students who had helped co-lead seminars that morning. Mrs. Diane Moore; of Orlando, Fla.,

was in a seminar with Philip

was one of ticularly impressed leadership. ·

"If freshmen really saw how th-Oughtftil and interesting seniors are, they might be more encouraged," she observed of the seminar skills which are developed here over a four-year p~riod. ·

ALTOGETHER approximately 150 parents were on campus, dodging . raindrops, observing classes, and generq.lly having a good time among themselves and with their sons and· daughters. Anthony Cox, Annapolis junior, and Stephanie Moore, Raphine,

Va., fresL"'n. wr:-"' in charge. Mr. Sparrow mace a number of

points during ~1is session with parents.

The college neither encourages nor discourages exchanges between Annapolis and St. John's Santa Fe campus; the option is always open to transfer if a student wishes. Mid-year returns are not encouraged, however, and there is agreement between both campuses not to export problems. On the whole, loyalty usually develops on the campus where the student begins although . this is not always so. The western campus generally handles recruitment west of the Mississippi; Annapolis, east of that river.

Freshmen go through quite a shock their first year here, plunging into Homer, Euclid, the Greek language, Aristotelian

and atmosphere

from that which they have· been used to.

Attrition runs to roughly a third of each matriculating class. Reasons for leaving are almost as various as the students themselves and are hard to categorize. If all students left the following year, it would be a dismal sign, but it isn't clear that attrition is a bad thing. Other priorities emerge which take · students away.

"THE DROP-OUT rate is no greater here than anywhere else given. you can't accept transfers

(Continued on P. 6)

:Mortimer J. Adler remains one of St. the good-humored pranks which students now make traditional on his visits here don't bother him a bit. In fact, he likes to write about them.

"St. John's is the only college in the country that, in my judgment, has the right kind of curriculum," America's philosopher-at-large said in a spring interview in The­Washington Star.

"In the first place, it's a completely required curriculum. There are no electives. They read the great books for four years.

have discipline in the to s i ce , in

languages, mathematics for four years. And at the end of four years, I think they are as near to being generally schooled, educated, as any college graduate could be."

Asked if that was what he · would do on most college cam- ·

puses, Mr. Adler said: "I would love to do jt on every

college campus. If I were the educational czar in this country, I would use the St. John's curriculum in one form or another. There might be variations in it."

ONE OF ST. JOHN'S oldest and most loyal supporters, Mr. Adler has lectured here with rare exceptions every year since 1937, an event which has become an occasion for campus pranks. In his new biography, Philosopher at Large, he traces their history:

"From the beginning, my relation to the changing· student body at St. John's has retained an unchanging element of good­humored personal tension. It started with the exorbitant length of the lectures on ArMotle which I gave during the first year. Consisting of single-spaced, typewritten· notes running to 35 and 40 they took me at least two to deliver,

«That first year, the students, not yet realizing that this was much more then they should reasonably be expected to suffer, sat through them with admirable patience, and even returned, after a short break, to engage in

. . . . . .. __ "' open discll,ssion. Looking over the program font Parents We11kend with Anthony Cox, Mclean, Va.

1 iunior, are, :from "Before I made my first visitto

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must be done to prevent Adler from going beyond the limits of an hour. My first lecture, though not quite as long as those of the preceding year, could not be delivered in an hour. When the hour was up, every alarm clock in the college, hidden in the balcony of the lecture room in McDowell Hall, went off simultaneously.

"I stood my ground, waited for the din to subside, and then, with a smile and bow to acknowledge their ingenuity, completed the lecture. The students plotted another way to defeat me. .

"ON THE OCCASION of my next lecture, someone pulled the main electrical switch when the canonical time was up. Utter darkness - and silence -reigned for. a moment. I knew they expected me to rise to the challenge, so I took matches out of my pocket and continued the lecture by matchlight for the brief interval it took for. a member of the faculty to restore the electricity.

"I subsequently shortened my lecture to an hour and a half or an hour and a quarter, warning the audience that I would go beyond an hour and also telling them that I would find a resting place within the hour, at which I would pause and ask them to stand up and to take. three deep breaths before I resumed.

"In the years since then, there has seldom been a lecture of mine at St. John's when the students, inheriting the tradition of playing some prank on Adler, have not graced the occasion with some form of good-humored frivolity. Once, quite recently, just before 1 reached the rostrum to give a lecture on the defense of man against Darwin, the figure of an

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