Founders Day speech written and presented by M.W. Russell.  Original found in President Kelly Thompson\u27s papers

Russell, M. W.

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Western Kentucky UniversityTopSCHOLAR®WKU Archives Records WKU Archives11-11-1964UA3/3/1 Founders Day, November 11, 1964: ABrief TributeM. W. RussellFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_recordsThis Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in WKU Archives Records by anauthorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact connie.foster@wku.edu.Recommended CitationRussell, M. W., "UA3/3/1 Founders Day, November 11, 1964: A Brief Tribute" (1964). WKU Archives Records. Paper 186.http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_ua_records/186)J-) .. ,Jt!KN KENTUCKY ~"TATE COLLEGE HOWLING GREEN. KENTUCKY CHAPEL ADDRESS COpy • t FOUNDERS DAY, NOVEMBER II , 1964 A BR IEF TRIBUTE BY: M. W. RU SSELL d Y ::iT A TE COLLEGE • (;U I>i!N. K.liNTUCKY COpy t speak tod~y wi thout claim of being complete ly unbiased. Western Is my a lma mater. Afte r be ing engaged In a var iety of sc ientif ic and t echn ica l pursu its ac ross the country dur i ng the past fou rteen years~ 1 have on ly recent ly retu rned to Western. Therefore, t approach th is occasion f rom two d ist inct ly different vantage po ints, ona from with in and the ot her from t he outside. Du ri ng my twe lve years away from Western It was my good fo rtune t o meet at least a few of the lead ing per sona li ties In this country. Some yea rs ago It came as a p l e~sant rea li zation that t here were certa in Individua ls on t he Western facu lty, some recentl y retired, who we re Just as great and in some ways greater than any men or women I have ever known. Humi l ity Is a cha racteri stic of ~~st t rul y great peop le. Genera ll y speak ing t hose Ind ivid ua ls of whom I refe r couldn 't ca re less about how the worl d rates t hem. To many, t hey rate a longside the first foun der s of Wester n. I did not meet or know the ea r ly founders of this Instituti on. When one cons ide r s the ti mes In which they li ved, t he lack of financi a l support , and t he apa t hy of the gene ra l pub li c tow~rd education, t hei r accomp l ishments can be nothing ot her t han truly remarkable. To characteri ze the traditions at Western and properl y re lat e t hem to Its founders would requIre severa l lectures concerning , the extreme ly Inte resti ng history of Western. In order t o bri efl y provide the setting of t he beginn ing of Western as a state schoo l , I should li ke to quote a stat~ment made by Dr. Gor don Wilson, Sr. who arr ived on the h i II In 1908 as a s tudent, and lat er became the head of t he Eng li sh Depa rtment, a position he held un tl I his recent 2. KENTUCKY ~lATE COllEGE COpy retirement. He stated It In thIs way: tl To a younge r pe rson or an outs ide r It Is hard to visualize Kentucky as It was In the ea rly days of this co l lege. The a lma mater of most peop le, pra-v 1 dad they st llyed in schoo I l ong enough I was a li ttle one-roomed country schoo l, taught by a teacher who had had no wo r d of high schoo l and no course that was s lanted toward teaching . The re were a few high schoo ls In some of the la rger cit ies and towns, but probably not more th an ha lf a dozen In Western Ken-tucky. Ready money was pract ica lly unknown to a ve ry la rge pa rt of the citIzens. The farmer was rea ll y poverty stri cken so far as havi ng any money is concerned . Only an occasiona l person CQu id furnish his chi !dren wIth what amounted to a high schoo l education. Into t hi s strange world came Western and its tw in col lege, Eas t e rn, In 1906. From the fIrst day , our co ll ege stressed the importance of education, the va l ue of the remotes t littl e community, t he worst-favored chi Id, t he humblest t eacher. " The horse and buggy days probably seem very remot e to you who have known t he at omic age and the space age from chi Idhood. Although I am less than ha lf the age of Or. Wil son, and not too many yea rs o lde r than you, my earl y memor ies In Webster Count y a re of a li tt le green schoo l wagon pu l led by two mu les, or four du ri ng the ra iny season when the d irt roads were so muddy that t he wagon whee ls mired a lmost up t o the hubs . remember qu i te we ll when the very first road was paved in Webster County. Education was st! II a controver s ia l subject In small Kentucky communities during the thirties. \~e heard arguments pro and • con about book lea rn ing and book sense , the consensus genera l ly being that It was wasted ef fort to go beyond high schoo l un less one wished to become a medical docto r , a lawyer, or a t eachflf" . With these facts In mi nd pel-hipS one can mo re read il y see why sound educat iona l evange l ism w~s sore ly needed. I be li eve that It Is sa fe t o say that President Cher ry and his co l leagues a long "eNTUCKY ::''TATE COLL EGE COpy 3. with t he second wave of founders such as the truly great teachers Wes t e rn has know n up t o t he prosent have succeeded more tha n most, even In the face of somewhat formldab lo odds . To me, t he word "sty le" mo re than any othe r In the Eng li sh language, character i zes the Ind iv idua ls we have come to know as the founde r s of Weste r n. do not mean by t hi s s t y li sh or we i I dressed . I mean t he compos ite of thought and act ion end pu r posefu l ef for t which eneb led t hem to accompl ish many of the i r goa ls of highe r education aga inst s uch great odds . What we re some of these goa ls1 First and foremost In t he mind of Pres ident Cherry seemed t o be t hat object ive of provI di ng an ed ucati ona l opportun Ity at reasonab le cost for everyone; of c reati ng an environment of opportunity for greatness for anyone, rega rd less of background or humb le beg innings. But be fore conti nui ng, let s consider t his word style which have chosen t o rep lace t he mo re wo r n out t erms of dedication, devot I on, serv I ce , etc . S1-y le i n t he sense t hat I mean It here may be cons ide red as a d Ist Inct ive or cha ract e r istic modo of presentat ion, construct Ion, or executi on In any ~rt or human endeavor. Then ther e is sty le In l iv ing , and lea r ning to l ive; In ach ievi ng and Bccomp l ishment , i n t he pu rsu it of happ Iness . As we observe the happen ings a round us, we recog nI ze styl e In a lmos t every-th i ng that occurs from the concer t ha l t t o t he st y le of Hunt ley-Bri nk ley to the sty le of Danny Kaye. From the sty le of Ed le Adams to the style of Gomer Py le . Then t here 1 s the sty le of a good quar te rback. et c. All ara s uccess ful , mind yOll . As evIdence of our recognitIon of Its Import ance, we have common J{f!NTUCK'Y STATE COLLEGE COpy 4. phrases such as "that cramps my sty le ll and " It' s out of sty le . " Sty le In its finest sense, Is largely an acquirement of the educated mi nd. In t e rms of powe r to ach ieve usefu l goal s, styl e Is t he most Important acquirement of educ~t ' on. Wh itehead has stat ed + ~t sty le Is the ul ti mat e mora lity of mind . The very best st y le of thought and acti on a lways seems to be de ri ved from true s incerity a nd B practi ca l compass ion for one's fel low man . Ma ny diffe rent styl es of action or behav ior may be emp loyed to ach ieve t he Same goa l, but It a lways must be In t imate ly re lated to the envI ronment one encounte r s . Styl e sepa rates tho profess ional from the amateu r. Old our founders exhib it sty les of thought and action app rop-ri ate to the ti mes and t o the needs of the ir ti mes? The answer Is a resoundIng yes ! St y le they had! They were, In a sense. Idea l-Ists with Idea li stic goals wh ich t hey never f ull y ach ieved yet t hey made steady prog ress t owa rd t l' e lr goa ls by remaining prllctlca l minded In their dally work and cont~ct with students. A few of the t rad-Itl ons at \'festa r n wh ich have grown out of Its ea rl y history a re: First, the opportuni t y t o obta in a sound education If the ind ivi dua l appl ies himself. Second, genuine friendliness . Third , genuine and s incer e Interest In Indivi dua l s tudents Inc ludIng assisting the student t o discove r h is Ijentl ·i·y and choose a suitab le profess ion . I t hink thi s las t one exp la ins in part the Intensely loya l a l umn i of Wast e rn, I. a . becausp so ma ny were guided Bnd he lped by members of the faculty and admi nistration In mak ing wise dec is ions regar di ng the cho ice of a career. KeNTUCKY ~"TATE COLLEGE COPy If you think some of this Is a bit outmoded for the present day, let me call your attent ion to a lectu ro 1 attended thi s summe r concer ni ng recent deve lopment s In unde rgrad uate education at Harvard given by Dr. Dav id Riesman, who [s one of theI r ve ry top m~n. He d iscussed attempts to ass is t the upde rgr aduat e to discover ~ ; nlso lf and to dete rmine the bes t profess ion for him to choose . He emphasized that ma ny students made the ir dec isions t oo has t! Iy and t oo of ten chose t he wrong ca reer . He t hi nks t hat t he first two or three yea r s of undergradua t e st udy shoul d cons t itute a peri od of exp loration for the s tudent. He th.ought '"more pe rsona l contact was good. Western has had s uch go I ngs..on for, maQY yeer...s. Yes , there [s someth ing mo re to co l lege t han teachers and student s. the The re Is something mo re to education than me re acquls lton of knowledge. There Is somet hing mo ra or. 1 .• ~ - : 'I mest one hi [I t han Is revea led by the ref lect ion of vi s i ble l igh t . The Idea li stic goa ls of t he past have not a ll been reached and may never be tu ll y atta ined . Bu t t oday, we a re proceed ing forward on the shou lder s of those who have gone be fore us , cogn izant of and gratef ul for tho he r itage t hat Is ou rs and yours; a~a re of t he great advent ures , ot the great prob lems and of the greot opportuni ties ot the future; aware of the need for constructi ve changes in our styl es of thought and action t o make them approp ri ate to ou r own • times and to the futu re . wish that It we re poss ib le for me to convey t o you this mor ni ng what we at Weste r n see In the vast scope a t opportu nl ti e . for you , the new dimensions In c itizensh ip, et c . It Is vlt~1 Iy Important that you don't muff your opportun ity by becom ing discouraged too ,t.;.eRN KENTUCKY STATE COLLEGE BO WLING GHEEN. KENTUCKY COpy 6. Soon by temporary setbacks. We pay tribute to the founders of Western today by g lad ly accepting the awesome responslbr Ilty of helping you to acqu ire the education and the style of thought and action with wh ich to meet the exciting days ahead, as mankind opens a new front ier among the stars . Si nce It Is near the cenienn!a l b Irthday of ~~esternls prlnc l p4tJ founder , t shall c l ose by presenti ng a paragraph f r om his wr itings . Dr . H. H. Cherry said and I quote: " I t I s our duty to sanctify this great hill by hard study; by express i ng Its harmony, Its or der, Its artlcu l ~t i on, its saneness, and Its state li ness In our I !ves; by seeing to It that ITS nobl I ity is not marred by a sing le ma r k or desecrated In any othor way; by mak ing the beautiful sunr ises and sunsets which we sha ll witness from t h is hi II. the ri sing of a soul In a world of prom ise and opportunity and the setting of a sou l admldst the splendors of a t If& well li ved; and by making t h is beautiful physical panorama that we shal I witness from this hi II-top and fro ~ l assroom windows a spir itual panorama to be transmuted Into lI fe, and. fin a ll y. through a patr l ot l ~ use of things spiritua l and things ma t eria !, unlock the door that conf i nes an Impr i son&d se l f and a l Iowa new end gre~te r c itiZen to st ep f orth -- a b l ess I n9 to man. 1I se r vant of God. n 

UA3/3/1 Founders Day, November 11, 1964:  A Brief Tribute

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UA3/3/1 Founders Day, November 11, 1964: A Brief Tribute

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