Whittier College Poet Commons The Rock Archives and Special Collections Fall 1979 The Rock, Fall 1979 (vol. 49, no. 3) Whittier College Follow this and additional works at: https://poetcommons.whittier.edu/rock Recommended Citation Whittier College, "The Rock, Fall 1979 (vol. 49, no. 3)" (1979). The Rock. 40. https://poetcommons.whittier.edu/rock/40 This Magazine is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and Special Collections at Poet Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Rock by an authorized administrator of Poet Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ASSOCIATES OFFICERS Contents THEROCK Russell P. Vincent '40, Whittier President INAUGURATION Volume XLIX No. 3 Fall, 1979 Wayne Wilson '38, Whittier, Vice President PROGRAM 1 THE ROCK (USPS 608480) is pub- Michael Kovack, Whittier, INAUGURAL REMARKS OF lished four times a year, Spring, Sum- Secretary-Treasurer DR. EUGENE S. MILLS 2 mer, Fall and Winter, by Whittier DELEGATES 9 College, Whittier, California 90608. The Rock Staff PANEL DISCUSSION 14 Daphne Lorne, Editor PRESIDENT'S LADY 20 ALUMNI OFFICERS John Strey, Sports Editor Susan (Elliott) Roberts '67, Hacienda Mary Mann, Typesetting ON CAMPUS 22 Heights, President Graphic Design by Tom White LAW SCHOOL 33 Robert Blechen '56, Bel Air, Photography, Ed Prentiss SPORTS 35 Vice President Glenn E. Stern '78, West Covina, Law School Representative Old Richard Thomson '34, Alumni Director Acquaintances Supplementary Section The President's Corner I welcome the opportunity to greet all alumni and friends of Whittier College. It is a pleasure to return to the campus and I look forward to work- ing with you for many years at this unique institution. One of the first students I met when I returned to Whittier a few weeks ago was a bright, poised young woman from the East. She told me enthusi- astically of her summer employment and of her trip back to California, and then blurted out, "I just love this College!" I returnwith the same sentiments. Dotty and I are enjoying renewing acquaintance with old friends and alumni and are pleased to be meeting so many whom we have not known before. It's great to be associated with Chairman Carl Randolph and other members of the Board of Trustees and to begin our work with the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association under the leadership of Susie Roberts. I am delighted to have several of my former students on these important Boards. It is a relief to find that, even though they sat in my classes many years ago, they have succeeded in life anyway! Dotty and I will be meeting many of you here on campus and in your home communities. We are eager to see the College move forward into the 1980's and are confident that you will join us in the challenges that lie ahead. There is much to be done, but Whittier College deserves the best from all of us and I know the future will see an even stronger and more important role for this special place. Coma visit your campus as often as you have an opportunity to do so. The Inauguration of Eugene Sumner Mills As Eleventh President of Whittier College Saturday, October 20, 1979 CONVOCATION Dr. C. Milo Connick, Chairman, Department of Philosophy and Religion, presiding PROCESSIONAL: John La Mon tame, Organist, Dr. Orpha Ochse INVOCATION: The Reverend Jonathan Moody, Chaplain ANTHEM: Brotherhood (From The Whittier Service, John La Montaine) Whittier College Choir Dr. Stephen Gothold, Conductor Dr. Orpha Ochse, Organist GREETINGS: Dr. Michael McBride, Chairman of the Faculty Ben Davis, President, ASWC Mrs. Susan Roberts, President, Alumni Association Victor Lopez, Mayor Pro Tern, City of Whittier Dr. Raymond L. Erickson, Dean of Graduate School, University of New Hampshire Dr. David W. Ellis, President, Lafayette College Dr. Trevor Colbourn, President, University of Central Florida ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF DISTINGUISHED GUESTS: Dr. Richard B. Harvey, Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Ernest C. Friesen, Dean, Whittier College School of Law INVESTITURE: Dr. Carl L. Randolph, Chairman, Board of Trustees TRANSFER OF THE MACE: Dr. W. Roy Newsom, President Emeritus RESPONSE OF THE PRESIDENT: (The text of these remarks follows) SINGING OF THE ALMA MATER BENEDICTION: The Reverend Jonathan Moody, Chaplain RECESSIONAL: Finale (Sonata IV), Felix Mendelssohn, Dr. Orpha Ochse, Organist Remarks of President Eugene Sumner Mills It is so much easier to forget than to have been Mr. r4'hittier. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Board of Trustees, Members of the Plat- form Party, Honored Guests and Distinguished Delegates, Faculty, Students, Alumni, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a privilege and an honor to have been elected eleventh President of Whittier College and I am grateful to the members of the Board of Trustees for their faith in me. I pledge that I will do all in my power to move this fine College forward into the 1980's. I want to take a minute to express publicly my indebtedness to my Father and Mother for their love and counsel through the years; and especially to my wife and best friend, Dotty Mills, and to our children, David and Sara . they have given me more than I can ever return and this is their special day, too. It is a pleasure also to express greetings to my old friends and colleagues, and distinguished predecessors in this position, Presidents Roy Newsom and Paul Smith. It is an honor to follow them in the work of the College. To the Inaugural Committee, working under the chairmanship of Professor C. Milo Connick, my thanks for your hard work and thoughtful- ness in making this day possible. The late Robert Hutchins, for many years President of the University of Chicago, once remarked that inauguration day is the last time when the new President can be widely regarded as bright, articulate, compelling, wise, thoughtful and worth listening to. He held that the inauguration ceremony necessarily was the only high point in any president's term of office, if Hutchins was right about this, then perhaps I'd better begin immediately to say what I have to say about Whittier College and the time ahead. Perhaps it is because I am an historian of my field, but whatever the reason, I am an inveterate reader of college histories and visitor of college campuses. Whenever Dotty and I travel, we weave our way from one campus to another, trying to get the feel of each, looking for the library, the student center, the building that is the "Founders Hall" of that campus. You see, I really believe that colleges and universities are the most interesting institu- tions in American life. And always, when you visit a campus, there is the sense of scholars and students and benefactors, of visionaries and pragmatists and just plain lovers of young people. of seekers after faith and values and new dreams of society. Where else, but in a college, would you find such a mixture of doers and dreamers and believers in what is best and most hopeful about our brief time on this planet? And where else would you find, as I did recently in walking by the quad north of Wardman Library, a mixture of faculty and students and staff, of men and women—scholars all—locked in a not-at-all-frivolous game of touch-football? We are on this hillside today because of the faith, vision, quiet courage and generosity of thousands of people who have known and loved this college. What we hold in trust is precious. It is an institution of higher learning—not just another college, but a special place. Its founding and the threads of continuity that have brought it to us after nine decades are parts of the American dream—the westward movement of a small, but sturdy band of Quakers whose actions reflected a belief in the interdependence of home, church, school, and community. Their faith in education was strong and their plans ambitious. After all, it happened in California! One of the archival treasures of the College is a handbill or broadside publication that bears the title "College Meeting at Whittier." That meeting was called for January 23, 1888, to be held at the Friends Church. The list of sponsors includes familiar Quaker names: Jones, Sinsabaugh, Coffin, Nicholson and Tebbetts. In bold print the notice urges "Come one, Come all," and then states: "This meeting is of the greatest importance to Whittier and the surrounding country, as it is proposed to build a COLLEGE second to none west of the Rocky Mountains, and which will fill a long felt need in Southern California, to cost not less than $100,000." "Come one, Come all," we're going to build a COLLEGE, "second to none west of the Rocky Mountains." I like that ringing, affirmative, inclusive, ambitious beginning for our special place. Our town and college were founded with the knowledge and in the name of a gentle, but fervent Quaker man of letters. It is our immense good fortune to bear the name of John Greenleaf Whittier. He was a good, cour- ageous, compassionate person. His legacy speaks to our time and can help guide us through the problems that lie ahead. His long shadow falls across this campus. If we will but look to it, we will be reminded of the living faith that gave us our being; of the compassionate concern for human dignity and social justice; of the interdependence of words and actions; and of the personal responsibility that is ours as free men and women in a free society. As poet and abolitionist, he lived a life of principle in a difficult Dr.