An open letter of congratulations to the students of Xavier University written by Patrick H. Ratterman, SJ, Vice President of Student Affairs, and Patrick J. Nally, Dean of Students.
This letter was distributed to Xavier University students after the 1969-1970 academic year. During this academic year, which also happened to be Xavier\u27s first year of coeducation in the undergraduate day school, students, faculty, and administrators grappled with social and political movements sweeping the United States. The letter addresses responses to the events and issues that marked the year.https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/activism/1001/thumbnail.jp

Nally, Patrick J.

Ratterman, Patrick H.

Xavier University

Xavier University Exhibit Xavier University Student, Faculty, Staff, and Alum Activism University Archives and Special Collections 1970-06-01 An Open Letter of Congratulations to the Students of Xavier University Patrick H. Ratterman Patrick J. Nally Follow this and additional works at: https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/activism -.. -c • '"' -... .. 0 AN OPEN LETTER OF CONGRATULATIONS TO THE STUDENTS OF XAVIER UNIVERSITY FROM P, H, RATTERMAN, S.J., VICE PR£SIDENT1 STUDENT AFFAIRS AND PATRICK J. NALLY, DEAN OF STUDENTS XAVIER UNIVERSITY, CINCINNATJ 1 OHIO (45207) JUNE l, 1970 United States Attorney John N. Mitchell recently ch8racterized the academic spring term of 1970 as ''the saddest seaester'' in our nation's history. Historians will find it difficult to fault the Attorney General's observation. In the course of this spring over two hundred university and college ca•puscs were forced to close and countless others were upset by serious campus disruptions. At Kent State University and Jackson State University students were killed by Notional Guard and police units . On countless other campuses buildings were burned, offices occupied, stu-dents ond faculty threatened as classes and other university functions were violently disrupted. The priceless educational opportunities of millions of students were interrupted or abruptly terminated as campus radicals boasted three years ago when they proclaimed, ''We will grind the American educ8tional system to a halt.'' Spring, 1970, did indeed witness e ''sad semester'' for American higher education. Page 2 Through the entire 1969-70 academic year, XavieT University •~nagcd to keep its campus open and functioning vithout dis-ruption. (October Closses were suspended on only three occasions lS, May Send 18) . On each of these days the dropping of classes was sanctioned by the President of the University 0fter extensive consultation vith faculty, st~££ and student leaders , On all three occasions, regulor class schedules were interrupted to provide adequate opportunity for the entire campus community to reflect upon the timely ond, at times, deeply personal concerns of its members . Xevicr University by no meens went through the 1969-70 academic year as though it were insensitive to the issues which so disturbed the nation, other campuses and our own s~udents. However, the University did manage to recognize, study and intelligently react to the deepest concerns of its constituent aembors in a aonner befit• ting a truly ocadomic community. FOR THE VERY IMPORTANT RESPONSI8ILITY Tt-;gy SHAR£1) THROUGH 1969-70 IN HELPING THE UNIVERSITi RESPOND TO THE TENSIONS OF TH£ TIMES ACCORDING TO THE HIGHEST ACAD&MIC TRADITIONS, WE SINCERELY CONGRATULATE THE XAVIER UNIVERSITY STUDENT BODY . Now thot the semester is over, exams finished and compus ten-$iOn$ ea3cd, it would be well if vc reviewed togethor eome of the qualities which accounted for Xavier's comperotivcly successful year . We suggest this for a simple reason. Unfor• tunatcly there ls little reason to believe that campus turmoil will decrease throughout the nation in the years ahead. What can Xavier University learn from its 1969-70 experience that wi l l prepare us for the years ahead? The Ability to Hake Perceptive Critical Judgment& 'fhe one factor that helped most to prc$erve an academic attDOS • pherc ot Xavier University throughout the year was the repeatedly demonstrated a~ility on the port of student$ to ma ke perceptive c ri tical judgments. Calm was not obtained at Xavier by sup-pressing the di$cussion of controversial i$Sue$ . Or was it main-tained by curtailing t he appearance on campus of advocates of radical nnd even revolutionary views. Advocates of both far right ond far left ideals spoke on campus in the course of the year. The campus was visited by proponen ts of extreme violence. Discussions were at times tense . The relative ~erits of variou s positions were hotly debated. By no means was there unanimous agreement at the e nd o{ every d iscussion . However, what did manifest itself in the long run was an insistence on the part of Xavier students to know the facts and then to search for a deeper understanding of vhatever dis-agreements remained . Xavier students were not sheltered from controversy . Rother, they learned how to handle it . John Courtney Murray asserts that t he obilit y to disagree rationally is a mark of high civility . The ability to disagree rationally and to search for dee per underst~nding, such as befits an aca-demic community and best prepares a man for life, was obvious throughout the year on the Xavier campus . The ability of Xavier students to make critical, truly perceptive judgments in sometimes tense circumstances was the outstanding character-istic of the Xavier campus through 1969-70 . To this quality more than to anything else, Xavier must attribute its relative cal• vhilc tur•oil c harac teri zed ao many other campuses . Responsible Student Leadershi p ln the course of the last tvo years, Xavier University hat developed progra~s for extensively involving effective student participation in University dccision•making processes. Through 1969.JO, especi3lly when time did not always allow for decisions co be made through normal channels, very fev decisions were ••de without student consultation and involvement. Time and again student le a dership proved i tself valuable particularly in providing insights wh ich were essential to an understanding Page 4 of the complexities of the problems at hand . Another area where responsible student leadership proved itself invaluable concerned the relationship of the University to alumni and parents, so many of whom find today's campus problems incomprehensible in terms of their own experience and background. The ultimate argument in such c•ses must be students themselves. If student leaders appeor reasonable ond rational to alumni and parents, their {aich in the University remains unshaken . Thanks to our campus student leadcrS••and this would include literally hundreds of scudcntS••thc faith of alumni and parents in Xavier University remains· strong . Spiritual Dimension So much is soid today about college students considering re• ligion irrelevant . The Xavier experience for the past year did not confirm this view. It 18 interesting to reca l l that the memorial Mosses on the Moll for the Kent State and Jockson State students-•one of these at 1 : 30 A.M . attended by over six hundred studcnts--werc spontaneously requested by the students ond on oll occasions drew sizeable University congre-gations . When XovieY students wished to express their united concerns and deepest convictions, they sensed that the most meaningful expression was to be found in the Church's liturgy. A great deal of study in the years ahead vill be required to determine how Catholic !aith and liturgy can be related more aeaningfully to the needs of Xavier students . There must be some means whereby Christ's message urging men to love one another con be mode core relevant to student insistance that the inequalities and injustices oi our American vay o! life be r emedied. The messages so complement one another. Page 5 Increased Sensi~ivity -- Urgently Needed ln an address in the University Center Theatre in late Hay, Mr . Thomas A. Foran, U. S . Oistrict Attorney (Chicago), labeled America's racial problem ''the real cancer of our society.'' The continuing anguish ~hich our Xovier University black students experience as a result of this aocietol ''cancer ' ' ls so little understood by the white members of the University community. For instance, suamer jobs will be difficult to come by this year !or college vhitc students. According to U.S. Lobor Depertmenc studies, jobs arc traditionally much more difficult for black students to find just because they are black . However, the deepest concern of Xavier's black students is not for themselves but for their families 6nd friends vho live in ghettos vith little prospect for economic ~nd social odvancc-ment . The consequent frustration of the black students is little understood. By some means Xavier's vhttc students ■ust come to a greater sensitivity fo~ this very real suffering on the part of an increasingly sizeable segment of the Xavier community . Through 1969-70, some limited progress was made toward this deeper understanding. much to be done in this regard. What Lies Ahead for Xavier? However, there is still so As has been re•arkcd earlier, there unfortunately seems little reason to believe that disruptions on American university c••-puses will decrease in the year(s) ahead . What then arc the prospects for Xavier University? Cood, if we can manage to ''keep it cool'' as we did through 1969-70. The experience of 1969-70 provides o tremendous advantage as Xavier £aces the future. There has developed on the Xavier campus . . Page 6 in the midst of so many disruptions on other campuses, a wide -spread University consensus that issues must be foced and causes urged through rational discussion, such as is traditional to academe . As an increasing number of the Xavier University community experiences a sense of pride in the true academic character of the Xnvier campus, the future appears more and more promising . As lon~ as this consensus for rational discussion orevails a~ Xavier University, the fears of some paronts and alumni that Xavier students are being exposed to disquieting ideas can be dismissed. It is not the fuftction of s university to protect students from ideas which might upset them . It is the func -tion of a university to help students to face honestly and to examine critically all ideas which confront our society and our nation . It is the special function of a Catholic university to help students bring the insights of their faith to thi# ' confrontation and examination . This is what Xavier achieved through 1969-70 . With Cod's help, this is what Xavier Univer-sity will continue to do through the years 8head . 

An Open Letter of Congratulations to the Students of Xavier University

https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=activism

An Open Letter of Congratulations to the Students of Xavier University

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