Dr. William Schuyler Pettit named tenth President of Ursinus College to replace retiring D. L. Helfferich • The Helfferich years: 1958-1970https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1126/thumbnail.jp

Gold, Alan

English

Ursinus College

Ursinus CollegeDigital Commons @ Ursinus CollegeUrsinus Weekly Newspaper Newspapers10-1-1970The Ursinus Weekly, October 1, 1970Alan GoldUrsinus CollegeFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weeklyPart of the Cultural History Commons, Higher Education Commons, Liberal Studies Commons,Social History Commons, and the United States History CommonsClick here to let us know how access to this document benefits you.This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Newspapers at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. It has been accepted for inclusion inUrsinus Weekly Newspaper by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. For more information, please contactaprock@ursinus.edu.Recommended CitationGold, Alan, "The Ursinus Weekly, October 1, 1970" (1970). Ursinus Weekly Newspaper. 126.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/126SPEC IAL PRESIDE TIA ISS E Volume LXX 7'H Y. OCTOBER 1. 19,0 ---DR. WILLIA M SCHUYLER PETTIT NAMED TENTH PRESIDENT OF URSINUS COLLEGE TO REPLA CE RETIRING D. L. HELFFERICH DR. WILLIAM S. PETI'IT Dr. William Schuyler Petti t ha been named th tenth pr . ident in the lOt-year hi tory of Ur inu. ollege. it wa announc d by the olleg Board of Director following a pecial m eti ng on eptembel' 25. 1970. Dr. Pettit. longtime Academic Dean at Ursinu.. ucc ed. Dr. Donald L. Helfferich. who formally retired from office after 12 ~' ar. in the po t at the conclusion of the college's Centennial celebration in June. 1970. Helfferich Named Chancellor In a related board action. Dr. Helfferich wa. appointed to th po. t of Chancellor of Ur inu College. He will be the fir t man in the hi"tory of the college to serve in thi position. The new Ur~inu~ president joined the college faculty in 19R3 a an instructor in Chemistry. He was named A~ istant Prof . or of hemi tn' in 1938 and wa promoted to full professor in 1944. He s n'ed a. a. i. hlnt registrar from 1948-1952 and was Dean of Admission. from 1952-19-.1. Appointed Academic Dean In 1954. he was named Dean of the College • ucceeding the late Dr. Maurice W. Armstrong. In a 1969 campus administrative re-organization. he wa named Yice President for Academic Affairs in addition to his po. t a Academic Dean; and despite his many admini trative duties over the pa t 20 year. Dr. Pettit has continued to teach a course in Organic Chemi try. President's Academic Affiliations Dr. Pettit is a member of Alpha Chi Sigma. national Chemi t ry ociety; Society of Sigma Xi; American Chemical Society ; i past president of the DR. DO"\ \LD L. HEL 'FER I H • "oni. town Ch m i.' t.. Club; and Admi::ion: Ollic r.· ; E :,\1 n. In addition. h i: a m mh ,. If th .' wcom n ,oci y; a Tru:t of the 'I'fontgom ry (Ollll Y Hi'toricnl . od ty; and i: a former m mber of t he BO:1,'\ of Dit, cor. f h )Iontgom ry ( olin y H ~ Ith ancl W Ifar Counci l. He i:~ form r \'ic -chairman of th ;\Iontgomery ounty R d ro~. for-mer PI' ~ id Ilt of the \rore :t I' chool It hori y. and former chairman of the "'01'. t· t I'·Low"1' Pro\' id IlC" ch 01 uthori y. Dr. Pettit i. a mem-ber of 1. Jnm 'Pro ";~tnn Bpi copnl ( hur h. E\·an:burg. Pa. and formerly a \'e.'tryman. . 'ative of . 'ew Jer.'ey Dr. P tit i: a na h' f I urling 011. • \\' .Jer. ey where he was born Mar h 19. Hllb •. 11 f tll Ill" h;II1' and Irene Schuyler Pettit. He wa~ graduated fr m Hurling 011 Higl] ,ch, 01 and arned a B. . in Chemi t ry and. n 1'1. • in ( h mi ·try ft m 1he 'ni\' r:ity of Penn. yl\'ania . In N~­"emher. 1%9. ·r:inu. olleg awarded an Honoran' Doctor of Science (-'c.n.) degr to him. . Th~ new · r.'i~u.: Pr :ident i.-: intere. ted in Colonial hi tory, ant iques and theIr reo' tor,. tlOn. bronze .. tencilling. tile work. and painting. In the latter. h work: m \\" tel' and 011. and more recently in acrylics. rsinu " First Family Dr. Pettit i' married to the former Marion Burgstresser' and is the fath~r of o~e daughter. I. a~elle. a 1967 graduate of Wilson C~llege. The Pet.tIt- . re.'lde at 36 E. 1 mth Avenue. Collegeville, Pennsylvania ; and mamtam a ummer home on .I. "antucket I land. PAGE TWO THE URSINUS WEEKLY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1,1970 URSINUS COLLEGE'S TENTH PRESIDENT URSINUS COLLEGE--GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE " ':~.~'. / ."/ THE URSINUS WEEKLY Publi h d } L ..... to ) \ THURSDA Y, ° TOB E R I , 1970 THE .. WE KL}, PAGE THRE E ------~ THE H ELFFERICH YEARS: 1958 -1970 " I Am A Member Of This Class Dr, Dona ld L , H pl ffprich, Pre i-dent of Ur inu s College since 1958, made form a l a nnou ncement of his deci llion to retire in his address to the Imlduating f;la of 1970, 'lin a very real cnse J am a member of t his cia. s," Dr. H(·lffr'r-ich told the gatheri ng on .J une 8, " I C'ea~e to be president of r inu a they cease to be students of Ursin-us. Here where t he memory of the evil that I did live after me, it may be reckoned on the good side that I leave with thi. ce ntennial class. I have littl e to offer my cia. mates on thh occasio n except affpction and ympa thy. My wi dom I squan-den-d over their fou r yea . But J do have lhoughbl on soml' vexing problem. which J now shan-. "Some of you purents and grand-purent:i were in Bombe rger lI all on a hot Saturda y a fternoon in Sep-tember of 1966 when I welcomed you and the membe rs of t his cIa to the Urll in u. ca mpu , If I may indulge in the unpardonablt' tast(' of quoting my~elf, my favorite au-thor of courlle, 1 quote evend s tllte-ment!! I made on th a t day. "'We know thi . is a n impor-tant. day for you , It is the day against which you ha ve invested yearll of thought, effort and a ffec-tion and committed yourself to a lot of money. We are grate ful l hal you a re entru ting your sons a nd duughlt'rs to our ucademi c pro-grnms and disciplines . It is our plan t.o change them, We doubt if you wil l r ecognize them af te r t.hey have been battle scarred by profes-sors a nd examinations, and probab-ly moM. of all by the rigors of their own recrelltion , "'The end product of a liberal education defies description, Its uti li t.y never ha s the same s ize a nd sha pe for every s tudent. It will t ra in students to think and prevent thcm f. 'om a ll thi nking alike. "'lIa lf the speci fic knowledge of today's lIcienti s ts will be obsole te in a decade, as was the knowledge we ha d a decllde ago, and half of wh a t we need lo know then has nol a s yet been discovered. nder those circu mstances our job is to pre pllre you to mee t the imposs ible , " 'The pursuit of raw in formation in thi ::; g neration and those forc-seellble ahead will pr ove I\ S irrele-vant as offer ing a dying mnn a ten-ycnr's subsc r iption to the Wall Street Journal.' "On that da y in SCJ) l mber, 1966, I did not know the intensity of the Blnck Revolution. the extent of our involvcment in outhcnst sill. thl' (' x plo ra t ion ~ of lhl' moon 's sur-face, tht' sit-ins I\nd othl'r-in: on cnmpuse~ . or t he 'citing conflicl lx.tween ~uppo rt ers of mini. midi action in the public aren to bring about de!lired chanS!' . Hut how much cn'ice of thi kind can a good colle~p. render v;ithout cea ing to be one? "A good college will serve soci-ety be by doing well tho e thJnj:!' it i uniquely qualified to do. It i abo"" all el e a cent r of under-tanding where repre ntaLi\' s of lhe gn'at int ·lIectu:i1 di cipline nnd their tudents come Lo ethl'r in the common effort to di cover the I' n-onable life. "Against the palpnbl,. lunacle to which all nation nr comml erl. a small coUeg!' such us 1; inu eem to avail little. But I have grent ('onfidence that the search Cor an-ity on this campus \\ ill go on." Like mo t of the nation' J..'1'ad-uating college enior., • inu stu-dents chose a visual prol( . t ngain t the war and Dr. lIelfferich made the following comments: ", . , you have noticed that some of the eniors-and some of their inslru('to."s-are \\"earin~ symbol on their arm. They are doins:- so with my approval. In thi yellr of national doubl and turmoil. -1' inu studenls have e"·pre .. ed their opin-ion~ a nd feeling!l in moderate anll reasonable fo rms. I therefore feel it is ap propriate lhat ome of the membe."s of the acndemic commun-ily of rsinus olleg-e be permilted to speak to the gathering in their !lymbolic language-a horthand of respo nsible concern for the welfare of our socie ty. "Those wearing arm bands are say in g to you that they prole l America's in volve ment in \ 'ietnam and Cambodia, which they ('on. ider unwarran ted and unneces. ar~·. They oppose the violt' nce by studenh and a rmed troo ps wh ich led to the death of fell ow stud ents at Kent tale a nd a t J ac kson Slate, lhey a" k that re 'ource!! bei ng spcnt on war be used ins tead to :ol\'e pressinj:!' domestic proble ms. The~' hopt' that their les timony will con tri bute to the continued a ction of all peo plt' to obtain national a nd in te rnational peace and under.- tanding. "Member s of the g rad ua li ng clas. without armbands have thei r pri-vate views on these g rav e ma l te.' .. I know so me agree and other : di:-agree with nil or pa rt of t he (lo.-i-tion I have : tated. .'ome ma y not ag.'ee with my deci s ion to make lhe Ilrmband. nn a pproved port of t his ceremony. "However, I s t..lnti ro m·inred that all men of reason clln 1I g- I"l'e thll l the st'arch for ,' an ily in the' world', affairs mu, t go on." [\.". Hd ffl ' r-kh then asked lhl' a udicnct', while racy. "Ur inu~ College can never cape from the reputation of g-raduates and if your college dl' -cline' in re:p(·cl . /!oodness and im-port..lnce, your degree has con'e-:ponliingly Ie s lu Ire. "Although all of liS differ great-ly. all of u have one thing in com-mon. We carry the .:nme labe l, Cr-:;inu~ graduate , and \\ {' \\ ill ca r ry thi. for life. We are Ii "tl'd as be-longing to Ursinus Coll('gl·. There i: no di vorce from this relution. hip. The ollege COli. idt'no; thi. \\ ith pride. So "hould elll'h of you. "A s we are about to leave thi s ca mpu s, I ('harg - you a nd me to be loyal to 'rsinu!l a nd to all that is bl':t in its t rndit ion ; "I charge you lo work g-cou~ ly, un. clfi~hly; " I charJ;:c you lo work with men of good will in cvery lund: "I l'ha rge YOll to be good ci tizen of our country . " nti now, with the a surnnr e of our pr ide nd confide nce in you, I bid you fare\\ ell and wi ' h you God' ble ing. I dcclnrt' lht, IOOth a ca -demic ycar do. cd." and maxi : kirt :. D ".On thn t da y in e ple mber. 1!1(,6,! ~~ 0 rm e r First Fami ly I chd know : "That you par ents and gl'lmdpllr-ents nrc remarka ble p ople. You de ft>ated epidemics of typhUS, diph-therin, small po.", tubl'rt'u losis, and polio. You lived throu~h t he I/:reat depression. Many of you kno\\ whllt it is to be poor. hung ry. and cold. You hllw recluccd work to fewer hou rs, l'I'ell ted le isure time for thi s gent:' rnt ion to fo llow their life's IImbitions, You buil t school:, train('d tenl'iwrs, mnti t:' h igher edu-l'ntion 1\ poss ibil ity for millions of younl/:ster : whl' rl' once it was only the dream of n w('althy few. In fact you hnve mndc the nited States the s tron J;:l's t, g r('n test nn-tion on the earth nnd hnve g iven it n compnssion beyond understanding. "Whilc you have done nl1 the~e things. you have had some failure". You have not found an IIlte rna tive for war nor for racial hatred. P er -haps. you the members of this class of 1970, will perfect tht> social mC<.'h-anisms by which al1 men may fol-low their ambitions without the threat of force, so that there will no longer be need for police to enforce the laws nor armies to prevent men from trespassing against other men. "There are those who believe that the colleges iWday must take direct ,. DR. A. D MR •. DO. ·ALD L. HELFl'ERICH Former President Relfferich sun' l'vs the pro ...... ess of the c t t' of the n " M "L"b d' - .... OIlS ruc Ion e~ ynn I rar)' unng the final days of his administration. PAGE FOUR THE URSINUS WEEKLY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1970 ---... A MAN NOT SOON FORCOTTEN 

The Ursinus Weekly, October 1, 1970

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The Ursinus Weekly, October 1, 1970

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