 |
 |
|
September 19, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A presidential legacy
In the beginning… |
 |
| Wylie |
“Of what advantage is a College
to the community? To this question it is reasonably
expected that, on an occasion like the present, a plain
and satisfactory answer should be given. Institutions
of this kind depend for their prosperity upon public
favor, which, without the prospect of reciprocal advantage,
cannot be expected the public should bestow.”
Andrew Wylie
—excerpt from inaugural address delivered in Bloomington
Oct. 29, 1829 |
“…in
that measure our people have come to believe in education.
… This campus is an Acropolis. And the people know
that they have here a defense that is stronger than a
battleship.…
Let me say this again: what the people need and demand
is that their children shall have a chance—as good
a chance as any other children in the world—to make
the most of themselves, to rise in any and every occupation,
including those occupations which require the most thorough
training. What the people want is open paths from every
corner of the State through the schools to the highest
and best things which men can achieve. To make such paths,
to make them open to the poorest and make them lead to
the highest, is the mission of democracy.”
William Lowe Bryan
—excerpt from inaugural address delivered Jan. 21,
1903
|
 |
Photo courtesy of IU Archives
On Oct. 23, 1915, William Lowe
Bryan and his wife, Charlotte, were among a group
of administrators, deans, faculty and students who
felled more than 200 apple trees in order to clear
the way for the new men’s gymnasium. The actual
groundbreaking (ploughing) for the facility came
later, on Dec. 7, 1915. In 2003, the now former
men’s gymnasium is the oldest building in the
HPER complex. |
|
 |
 |
Photo courtesy of IU Archives
100 years…
Former presidents David Starr Jordan (left) and Joseph
Swain returned to the Bloomington campus for the university’s
100th birthday celebration in 1920. Jordan, who left
the university in 1891 to be the first president of
Stanford University, was a scientist. Swain, a mathematician,
was IU's president from 1893 to 1902, when he resigned
to head Swarthmore College. |
Photo courtesy of IU
Archives
150 years…
Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb (seated) signs a proclamation
in honor of the university’s sesquicentennial.
To his left are alumni secretary Claude Rich and IU
President Joseph Sutton (center). |
| “
The University cannot discharge any of its obligations
to society unless it is first and foremost an institution
dedicated to scholarship and scholarly objectives: a
place where students learn the slow and arduous processes
of mental discipline by which knowledge is acquired
and wisdom won; a place where the frontiers of new truth
are pushed back by the research explorer and old truth
is subjected to critical analysis until it assumes new
significance; a place where reason is exalted over emotion
and force. Unless the University is such a place, it
cannot develop in each succeeding generation of students
that ‘toughmindedness’ which is essential
for effective living in a complex society. Unless it
is such a place, it cannot continue to be a reservoir
of truth, old and new, upon which youth and adults can
draw in charting the course of society.”
Herman B Wells
—excerpt from inaugural address delivered Dec.
1, 1938 |
 |
Photo courtesy of IU Archives
1969…
Former president Herman B Wells
walks with students near Wylie Hall.
“The faculty and students are the most effective
public relations representatives of a university.
When they believe in their institution, they will
tell the world of their enthusiasm.” —Herman
B Wells |
|
 |
| Stahr |
“…We must keep the
door of educational opportunity open. …we must
do every practical thing to insure the continuing vitality
of the proposition that ability to learn, not ability
to pay, is the key to that door. We must help our fellow
citizens understand that the oncoming waves of young
people seeking preparation for productive careers should
be looked upon not as a problem, but as a blessing.
…we must insure that when a youth or an adult
enters our door, he will find education of excellence,
never of mediocrity. This means that our libraries,
our laboratories, our facilities for study and growth,
and above all our faculties, must be of the high quality
needed to educate for tomorrow—for it is in the
complex and demanding world of tomorrow that our students
must live their lives and make their contributions…
…we have a heavy obligation within the University
to insure in every feasible way that the hard-earned
tax dollars entrusted to us are so used as to get every
last penny’s worth of educational mileage out
of every last dollar.…”
Elvis J. Stahr
—excerpt from inaugural address delivered Nov.
19, 1962 |
| “Go where
you will in the United States or the world today and
identify yourself as a member of the Indiana University
family, and you will find you are known—because
a father or sister or husband has attended; or because
a teacher or Peace Corpsman or doctor has brought his
education from Indiana to that place; or because of
the world-wide reputation of our faculty and their research;
or because of many other reasons.…
Nothing is in greater jeopardy in our own current time
than this world-commitment of Universities, and Indiana
must resolve to defend its role both to provide the
broadest possible education for her students who will
help shape the domestic and international policies of
our nation; and for the continuation of her humane concern
for the educational, economic, and social welfare of
others throughout the world… ”
John W. Ryan
—excerpt from inaugural address delivered Jan.
20, 1972 |
 |
| Photo
courtesy of IU Archives
1972…
Laughter is the best medicine—
comedian Bob Hope happily receives an honorary
doctorate. On the far left is IU President John
Ryan and Lynne Merritt, vice president and dean,
research and advanced studies (center).
|
|
 |
Photo by Garrett Ewald
1998—IU President
Myles Brand took on the role of student during "president's
switch day" on the IUB campus and worked a shift
in the Main Library food court. Brand served Sue Conway,
a business graduate student from Detroit.
|
|
|
|
|
IU Home Pages + 400 E. 7th Street. Bloomington, IN 47405 + Phone: (812) 855-6494
Publication Date: August 15, 2003 + Comments: homepgs@indiana.edu
Copyright ©2003, The Trustees of Indiana University
|
|
|
