50th Anniversary Convocation (April 12, 1975) / Duke Chapel Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

(people chattering indistinctly)

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Prayer Leader

Let us pray.

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O God, transcendent and eminent,

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majestic and simple, awesome and loving.

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We give you thanks and praise for the sanctity

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and sacredness of this day and of this weekend,

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set apart to remind us of our heritage

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and to confront us with our future.

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O God, we thank you for those characteristics

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which have been the hallmarks of this university,

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these 50 years.

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Distinction, and service, and fame, and struggle,

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and pain, and growth, and discovery, and caring.

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Gifts of love from your spirit to those who have lived here,

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learned here, and left here to serve you

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and their neighbors.

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We give thanks for this university

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where the chapel is seen as the center of the campus,

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and where religion is seen as the heart of our personal

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and corporate lives.

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Where understanding and knowledge are our common goals,

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and learning is the constant companion of us all.

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May we accept, O God, the words of this occasion

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as symbolic of your shared wisdom.

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The fellowship of this gathering

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as symbolic of your ever-present love.

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The joys of this day as symbolic of your goodness.

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May Duke University and all who represent it

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be a light of truth in a world of darkness,

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a witness to freedom in a world where many are enslaved,

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and a bearer of justice to all

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in a world where many are deprived.

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O God, praise be to you for your caring in the past,

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your presence in the now, and your promise for the future.

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Amen.

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(people shuffling)

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President

50 years ago, right now,

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the skeptics and the cynics of the country

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were having a field day.

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They were snickering at a bunch of Southerners

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who were trying to turn a little Methodist college

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into a great national university,

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right in the middle of this deprived region,

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that still was less than 50 years out

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from being occupied by federal troops,

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following the Civil War.

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They chortled about how quaint those Southerners were,

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how quixotic.

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One of the nation's leading magazines scoffed at those

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who thought they could build a great university

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the same way they built tobacco factories,

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by just putting enough bricks and mortar together,

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and journalist H.L. Mencken agreed

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and said that the new school

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would be running the students in on the railroad spur

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with the bricks and the mortar.

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Other observers and commentators were less kind.

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In a way, those cynics were right

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when they compared the Southern attitude

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toward universities and tobacco factories.

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Any cynic who looked at this country as red clay earth

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and saw it as a barren land.

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But the Dukes saw it as fertile ground.

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And the Dukes were right.

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In agriculture, and in education too.

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When J.B. Duke began developing hydroelectric power

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for his home region of the Carolinas,

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he talked idealistically about harnessing

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the great resources of this region,

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and translating them into benefits

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for the people of this region,

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the people who properly owned those resources.

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And later when he signed the indenture

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providing for the creation of Duke University,

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he talked in the same idealistic terms.

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And the cynics and the skeptics laughed.

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But 50 years later, we come here to this campus,

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to find that idealism turned to reality.

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It's worth remembering that the same kind of skepticism,

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but in a much milder degree,

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greeted the proposals to create great national universities

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in the Midwest at Chicago and on the west coast at Stanford.

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And it's worth remarking that today,

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that kind of regional snobbery

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is very obviously obsolescent.

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If Duke University had made no other contribution than that,

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and that kind of contribution

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to the power and the force of America,

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to our still developing American society,

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that alone would've given cause for celebration today.

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Happily, we come here to celebrate far more than that.

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We come here to celebrate

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all that this remarkable university has achieved

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by transcending those archaic limits of regionalism.

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Here, 50 years after the founding,

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Duke University no longer needs to be known

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as just a Southern university.

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We can forget, forever, that label

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of the "anything university of the South."

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Our medical center, for example,

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is no longer the medical capital of the South,

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but it is a, if not the, medical capital of the nation.

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Our scholarship is no longer the scholarship

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of one of the best universities in the South,

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but it is leading scholarship for the nation.

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It is true that the benefits generated by this university

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first served its native region.

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But in fact, they became too great

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to be contained by regionalism.

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The contributions that Duke University makes today

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are contributions to the state and to the South,

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but they are more than that.

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They're contributions to humankind, and to history.

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To our common history. Our common humanity.

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And that, after all, is the greatest contribution

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that Duke University could ever make to its own region,

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to move it beyond the need for regionalism.

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We have maintained our own regional identification,

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and in fact, we have bonded it when it was proper.

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But we have also asserted our national identification,

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and our national place, when that was appropriate.

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And this way, we have become, to our own state,

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what no state institution can become.

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And we have become, to this, our nation,

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what no other national university

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in any other region could become.

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We have been able to do this because we have been blessed

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with the service and the stewardship

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of the best North Carolinians, the best Southerners,

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and the best Americans we could attract.

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That selfless service of three generations of Americans

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is now institutionalized in Duke University.

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Today, when we gather to honor Duke University,

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we honor all those great men and women,

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many, many of whom are in this audience today,

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and some of whom are on this program,

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who have, with their broad-minded, far-sighted intelligence,

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and their humanitarian souls,

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so blessed this state, this region, this America.

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We face our problems today with that same kind of spirit,

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and we prepare for the challenges of tomorrow

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with that same kind of spirit.

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We welcome you all to this happy celebration.

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, oh, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Alleluia ♪

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♪ Amen ♪

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Male Speaker 1

Mr. President, distinguished guests,

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and members of the Duke community.

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There could be no more appropriate person to talk to us

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this afternoon, in this fitting observance

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of the 50th Anniversary of Duke University,

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than Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans,

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closely connected as she is to Duke University,

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through family, through education, and through service.

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She is part of Duke's founding family.

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Her great-grandfather, Washington Duke,

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and her grandfather, Benjamin N. Duke,

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were among the chief benefactors of Trinity College

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for 30 years before her great uncle, James Buchanan Duke,

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signed the indenture on December 11, 1924,

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which provided the funds

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which transformed Trinity College into Duke University.

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And today she serves as Vice Chairman of the Duke Endowment

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created by that indenture.

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Tangible reminders of the distaff side of her family,

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are the Sarah P. Duke Memorial Gardens,

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named for her grandmother,

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the Nanaline H. Duke Building for Medical Sciences,

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named for her great aunt,

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and the Mary Duke Biddle Music Building,

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named for her mother.

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She is a graduate of the Women's College of Duke University.

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She has served for many years on our board of trustees,

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and she is currently chairman

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of its Committee on Academic Affairs

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and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board.

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Her family and her education enrich her service,

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for she brings to the board a firsthand knowledge

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of the traditions of the university,

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and a firsthand knowledge

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of the educational opportunities it offers.

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When these are combined with her keen intelligence

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and gentle spirit, they set for the rest of us,

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both an example, and an inspiration.

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To the Durham community, Mary Semans is a warm friend

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and civic leader.

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She and her husband, Dr. James Semans,

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were the first recipients of the Humanitarian Freedom Award

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presented by the Durham chapter of Hadassah,

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and she was recognized by the Durham Chamber of Commerce

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as the community's most outstanding citizen in 1958.

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To the State of North Carolina,

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Mary is a participant in government, and patron of the arts.

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She's a member of the board of directors

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of the North Carolina Museum of Arts,

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and is chairman

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of the Executive Mansion Fine Arts Committee.

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She and her husband are recipients

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of the North Carolina Governor's Award,

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as well as the Morrison Award,

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for their contribution to the arts in North Carolina.

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Nationally, she and Jim Semans have received

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the National Brotherhood Award,

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presented by the National Conference of Christians and Jews,

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for distinguished service in the field of human relations,

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and she's a member of the special projects panel

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of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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All who know Mary recognize that her compassion

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and concern for the dignity of mankind

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and the quality of life, parallel and intertwine

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with her dedication to the cause of higher education,

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and her love of the arts.

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All of us call on her for counsel and advice,

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which she gives generously,

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and without yet impairing her roles as devoted wife

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and loving mother of seven children.

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It is now our privilege

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to hear from this great lady of Duke University,

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Mary Semans.

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Mary Semans

Mr. Chairman, you are much too kind.

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Mr. President, distinguished guests,

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friends of Duke University,

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and members of the total Duke University family.

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Good afternoon.

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It is indeed a golden afternoon.

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Thanks to the keen eye of one of Duke's recent graduates,

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I discovered the following words

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of President William Preston Few,

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expressing his educational philosophy written in 1904,

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during the period following the Bassett Affair,

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landmark in the history of academic freedom

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at Trinity College.

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"I believe the supreme need in Southern education,"

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he said, "is a small number of well-equipped

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and well endowed colleges for men and women,

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so organized and so controlled

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as to become true seats of learning

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and large centers of influence.

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Such colleges must stand fast for truth and freedom.

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There is much in life which tends to put undue emphasis

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on the local and temporary,

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and to obscure the universal and permanent.

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The educated should not spend their lives

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in easeful, kid glove seclusion from their fellows,

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but in the stream of the world.

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They ought to be gallant,

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and thoroughly disciplined soldiers in the long warfare

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for the emancipation of humanity

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out of darkness and ignorance, into light and truth."

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That's Dr. Few.

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This was, in effect, his definition

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of an ideal private institution.

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As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Duke University,

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what may we say to President Few

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about the fulfillment of his aspiration?

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Far too often, in our day, this term, "private,"

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is only ritualistic,

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and the distinction between public and private is blurred.

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Too often, the word is merely a screen

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which conceals conformity.

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Such institutions become copies of accepted models,

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wherein excellence has not been measured.

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In its purest meaning, the private university

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must be a special sort of thing.

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As far as possible free from controls,

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its support largely from private sources,

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selective as to quality and size, a standard-setter.

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It must become a stimulator of the unusual,

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even of the eccentric vision.

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It can perform a function of supplying the risk capital

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of intellectual activity.

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Inherent in the freedom of the private institution

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is its ability to move quickly and be elastic.

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Example, a public institution,

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when offered a superb educational program,

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responded negatively when faced with the importance

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of the speed of decision.

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This was recent.

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The researcher involved was advised to try Duke,

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which, being the private institution,

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could respond more readily, with less restriction

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and bureaucratic red tape.

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Duke received the grant, the service, and the program.

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It allowed for the unanticipated.

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In the anniversary issue of the Alumni Register,

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Earl Porter comments on the wisdom of Trinity and Duke

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having avoided the bandwagon.

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Dr. Few's term was, "gusts of wisdom."

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The force of tradition must be recognized,

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but skepticism about pedagogical fashion is sound,

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only so long as it does not grow into self-satisfaction

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and does not cling to a concept,

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past the point of intellectual reward.

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It is necessary to stimulate the imaginative

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and even be ready for serendipity.

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Duke must not be part of the drift toward homogenization.

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Example, Western land-grant colleges must be observed

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with regard to creative thinking in the arts.

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The recognition of the strong arts leadership

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in public institutions of higher education can be seen

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in the increased public and private funding

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of their programs and concepts.

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Many private Eastern schools still hold to the anachronism

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that doing creatively is developing a skill,

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not as intellectually respectable

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as thinking and writing creatively.

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A painting hanging at the Whitney,

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or a performance with a New York Philharmonic

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should be recognized on the same plane as a scholarly paper.

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What is our attitude?

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Well, we have moved ahead.

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Duke has been known through the years for its fine choir

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and organ programs.

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Now, for example, there's a string quartet, a museum,

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and composers and artists-in-residence.

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Learning evolves.

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From time to time, we have to remind ourselves

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that the bedrock reason

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for an educational institution, is learning.

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From the adaptation of older classical

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and humanistic learning,

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to the rise of the experimental sciences,

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and the later development of the social sciences,

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the arts have come slowly into focus.

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President Bok of Harvard says that an understanding

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and competence in the arts is one of the lasting values,

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which we have reason to hope can be enhanced

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by attending a liberal arts college.

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Private faculties, in many cases, however,

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have been slow to realize that study and performance

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are closely interrelated.

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One enhancing the capacity to understand the other.

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That the most exciting prospects for curriculum development

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are in the integration of these two methods

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of aesthetic experience and understanding.

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So tradition for tradition's sake is, as we know,

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no better than change for the sake of change.

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When Dr. Few asked educators to spend their lives

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in the stream of the world,

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in the warfare for the emancipation of humanity,

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he was saying that their judgements

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must involve the total value to society.

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The key is constant reassessment.

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Dr. Few and Mr. Duke designed Duke to be special.

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Not imitative of some accepted pattern,

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but as one of the small band

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of great creative communities of the world.

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This is high purpose.

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Educational standard-setting met its difficulties

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in the early part of the century,

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as the president pointed out.

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In the economy of today, it meets difficulty too.

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But now, as then, we know what the expectations are.

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With a common sympathy, patience, and mutual understanding

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of the difficulties of creative problem solving,

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we will sustain.

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We have spoken for the need of responsiveness and buoyancy

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in the private university,

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and yet, there's another broad, but distinctive,

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identifying mark of such a place.

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A private institution, in being able to determine its size,

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can individualize its services.

54:35

The student who chooses this direction does so

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because he wants a personal relationship

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with his associates.

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This mustn't be underplayed.

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It indicates something special in that student.

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He hopes that his life will receive a permanent imprint

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from his professors, that it will be humanized.

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This sort of personalization is developed

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by teachers and students caring for each other,

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forming a sort of connective tissue for the university.

55:03

It applies to all aspects of such an institution,

55:08

to the patient who expects a more personalized treatment

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from those whom he comes in contact with,

55:13

to the employee who expects to achieve

55:17

a special dignity.

55:19

And it applies to employers,

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who expect from those employees

55:24

a particular sort of loyalty to the institution.

55:27

In the character of Duke University,

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has been a sense of vital identification

55:33

with its own people.

55:36

In the years to come,

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with the complications of this society,

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we may have to work even harder at this.

55:41

John Knowles of the Rockefeller Foundation,

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one of Duke's trustees,

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when interviewed in the National Press recently,

55:50

commented about our times.

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"We can all behave better."

55:55

Ada Louise Huxtable, in the New York Times,

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asks where delight has gone in the life of 1975?

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And a physician sighs to his colleague

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in the halls of Duke Hospital,

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"let's retrieve the lost joy in the practice of medicine."

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Mr. Duke, we find, thought a lot about attitudes.

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He asked that those who teach here uplift mankind,

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in addition to specified disciplines,

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he emphasized the teaching of the lives

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of the great of earth, because, he said,

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"I believe that such subjects will most help

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to develop our resources, increase our wisdom,

56:36

and promote human happiness."

56:39

He asked that care and discrimination be exercised

56:41

in admitting students whose record showed character,

56:45

determination, and application,

56:48

evincing a wholesome and real ambition for life.

56:50

He would not, for instance, have expected us

56:55

to treat the rise in cheating as a passing problem

56:57

of our competitive society of 1975.

57:00

But Mr. Duke believed in the integrity of the young

57:05

and he had high expectations for them.

57:08

He gathered around him young people

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to stimulate ideas and concepts,

57:13

and he asked that Duke secure,

57:16

for its officers and trustees,

57:17

those of outstanding character, ability, and vision.

57:19

In order, he said, that the institution attain and maintain

57:23

a position of leadership in the educational world.

57:26

Here again, quality of person emphasized.

57:30

In a letter to George Allen, chairman of the Duke Endowment,

57:35

written when she relinquished her trusteeship

57:39

to a younger member, Mr. Duke's wife,

57:41

Mrs. Nanaline Duke, wrote,

57:44

"I know that only

57:47

by constantly bringing into our group of trustees,

57:48

young people with fresh ideas,

57:52

can we continue to properly keep the Duke Endowment,

57:54

the live, modern institution,

57:57

totally capable of carrying out its responsibilities

58:00

in our ever-changing world that my husband envisioned.

58:03

We must not forget that my husband appointed two trustees

58:08

who were younger than this," 37,

58:12

"and the average ages of all the trustees that he appointed

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was considerably under 50."

58:19

This demonstrates the burning hope

58:23

of that founding generation, several of whom

58:25

were still alive in the fifties, that the Duke institutions

58:28

receive constant refreshment and vitalization.

58:32

Mr. Duke also made clear that this must be a place

58:36

which feels responsibility for qualities beyond the mind.

58:39

From the early training he and his sister and brothers

58:44

received from their father,

58:47

Mr. Duke realized the importance of the spiritual.

58:50

By requesting that this chapel be in a central position,

58:55

he showed his hope that the intangibles,

58:58

ethics and honor, humility, compassion, and faith,

59:01

be held high.

59:04

The concept may be old-fashioned,

59:06

but the accountability which we value so highly today

59:09

rests on old-fashioned responsibility.

59:12

And without the old absolutes, we seem to drift.

59:15

Our civilization may well be remembered

59:19

as much for its artistic and spiritual contributions

59:21

as for its scientific and scholarly discoveries.

59:25

This is indeed a moment of honor for this university.

59:29

With us today is a group of faculty members, staff members,

59:34

and non-academic employees who symbolize

59:40

the striving toward the goals,

59:43

which Dr. Few and Mr. Duke set.

59:45

These remarkable people were all in the service

59:49

of Trinity College at the time of the founding

59:53

of Duke University.

59:56

We were hopeful that each member of this group

59:58

could march in the procession and attend this occasion.

1:00:01

But we would be so thrilled

1:00:05

if those who were able to be present today

1:00:07

would rise and be recognized.

1:00:10

Would you please rise?

1:00:12

(audience applauds)

1:00:18

The names of these dedicated people,

1:00:31

those who were standing, and those not able to be here,

1:00:34

are printed in today's program.

1:00:39

We all join in grasping your hands and thanking each of you

1:00:42

with heartfelt fervor.

1:00:48

You are truly appreciated.

1:00:51

And that goes for everyone who is not here,

1:00:55

and each one of you who is here.

1:00:58

You have set the tone for this institution.

1:01:00

It was deemed appropriate by those who planned this occasion

1:01:04

to recognize from this group, three representatives,

1:01:09

three distinguished scholars who taught at Trinity College

1:01:15

before it became Duke University.

1:01:18

Who remained at Duke, completed their academic careers here,

1:01:22

and have continued their scholarly activities

1:01:27

ever since that time.

1:01:31

That their careers have spanned both institutions

1:01:35

with service, teaching, research, and dedication,

1:01:39

personify what we are recognizing today.

1:01:44

Those whom we honor

1:01:48

demonstrate the combined characteristics

1:01:50

which with the passing of years

1:01:52

have been building into tradition.

1:01:54

They set high standards. They expected the best.

1:01:58

These qualities must be worked on, verbalized,

1:02:02

and held up to the light to become factors of consciousness.

1:02:06

Then the tradition becomes the personality

1:02:10

of the institution.

1:02:13

As we honor our pioneers,

1:02:14

and as we feel this wave of admiration, caring,

1:02:17

and devotion, we come closer to the feeling

1:02:21

that the Duke spirit, which our founders hoped for,

1:02:25

has gained really forward motion.

1:02:29

Spirit is an ephemeral thing, a binding thing,

1:02:33

an affectionate exchange about the past.

1:02:40

A vital self-criticism.

1:02:43

A comfortable feeling of place in this city

1:02:46

and in this state.

1:02:50

It is a preposterous sense of loyalty.

1:02:52

A sense of each other.

1:02:56

A sense of community through good times and bad times.

1:02:59

Through hard decisions and easy ones.

1:03:04

It is laughter and love and a reaching.

1:03:08

And it is a dazzling touch, which identifies Duke as unique.

1:03:13

If we keep caring, as we have during these 50 years,

1:03:20

if we keep trusting that wonderful may take place,

1:03:24

we may never know, we should probably never know,

1:03:30

when that tradition will envelop us.

1:03:34

It may have already, but it just doesn't happen.

1:03:38

It has been nourished

1:03:44

by these University family members honored today.

1:03:47

And so it must be continued, throughout the generations.

1:03:51

Therein lies the joy.

1:03:59

(audience applauds)

1:04:05

Female Speaker

Honorary degrees will now be conferred

1:04:22

upon these three emeritus professors.

1:04:25

Each candidate will be presented by a member

1:04:29

of the Board of Trustees,

1:04:31

and each candidate will be accompanied by a member

1:04:34

of the faculty of Duke University.

1:04:37

The three trustees who will sponsor these candidates

1:04:40

and present them one by one, are Mr. W.M. Upchurch,

1:04:45

Mr. Marshall Pickens, and Dr. John H. Knowles.

1:04:50

(papers shuffling)

1:05:01

Presenter 1

Mr. President, it is my pleasure

1:05:16

to present to you and to all of those assembled here,

1:05:19

Professor Allen H. Gilbert, as a candidate

1:05:26

for the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.

1:05:32

Dr. Gilbert's nomination has been approved by the faculties

1:05:37

through the Academic Council, and by the Board of Trustees

1:05:42

of Duke University.

1:05:47

Accompanied by his faculty sponsor,

1:05:50

Professor John Leon Lievsay,

1:05:53

I present to you Professor Allen H. Gilbert.

1:05:58

President

We welcome your return,

1:06:09

Professor Gilbert, to the halls of Trinity Duke,

1:06:11

where you have long been a symbol of ego, broad-visioned,

1:06:15

unselfishly shared pursuit and interpretation

1:06:19

of literature and thought, which are the enduring marks

1:06:22

of the effective humanist.

1:06:25

You have accomplished much on this campus,

1:06:29

in teaching and research,

1:06:32

and in helping to build up the library's collections,

1:06:34

but, early and late, the world beyond these bounds

1:06:38

also has been made aware of your unceasing efforts.

1:06:42

Even during your alleged retirement.

1:06:47

Scholarship and letters have benefited

1:06:50

from your renewed interpretations of Plato and Aristotle.

1:06:52

From your enduring concern with problems of criticism.

1:06:56

From your perspective studies of such English giants

1:07:00

as Spencer and Johnson and Milton,

1:07:04

your presence does us honor.

1:07:07

Speaking for us all, and by the authority vested in me,

1:07:10

I confer upon you the degree of Doctor of Literature,

1:07:13

and I admit you to its rights, its privileges,

1:07:18

and its obligations.

1:07:21

-

[Allan H. Gilbert] Thank you.

1:07:24

(audience applauds)

1:07:26

(papers shuffling)

1:07:55

Presenter 2

President Sanford,

1:08:14

it is a great honor and a personal pleasure

1:08:21

to present to you and to all assembled here,

1:08:25

Professor Paul M. Gross, as a candidate

1:08:28

for the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.

1:08:31

Professor Gross's nomination for this distinction

1:08:35

has been approved by the faculties

1:08:37

through the Academic Council, and by the Board of Trustees

1:08:40

of Duke University, and accompanied by his faculty sponsor,

1:08:44

Professor Marcus Hobbs, I present professor Paul M. Gross.

1:08:49

President

Since the day you joined the faculty

1:08:59

of Trinity College in 1919, Dr. Gross,

1:09:01

we have been the beneficiary of your exceptional teaching,

1:09:05

your innovative chemical research,

1:09:09

and your enlightened administrative skill.

1:09:11

You have advised us wisely and served us well

1:09:14

in every aspect of our endeavor.

1:09:17

And by your state, national, and international service

1:09:21

as a statesman of science,

1:09:25

and especially as a charter member and vice chairman

1:09:27

of the board of the National Science Foundation,

1:09:30

as president of the American Association

1:09:34

for the Advancement of Science, and as president

1:09:36

of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies

1:09:39

for nearly two decades,

1:09:42

you have added stature and recognition to this university.

1:09:45

For your vision of what this university could achieve,

1:09:49

and for your continuing efforts

1:09:54

to make that vision a reality, we are forever in your debt.

1:09:56

Today on this 50th Anniversary Convocation,

1:10:01

we honor you as one of the chief academic pillars

1:10:05

on which Duke University has been built.

1:10:08

By the authority vested in me, I confer upon you

1:10:12

the degree of Doctor of Science,

1:10:15

and I admit you to its rights, its privileges,

1:10:17

and its obligations.

1:10:20

(audience applauds)

1:10:23

(papers shuffling)

1:10:56

Presenter 3

Mr. President, it is my pleasure

1:11:07

to present to you and to all assembled here,

1:11:11

Professor William T. Laprade as a candidate

1:11:13

for the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature in absentia.

1:11:18

Unfortunately, Professor Laprade was, he's now,

1:11:25

fortunately, recovering from a recent illness.

1:11:28

Professor Laprade's nomination for this distinction

1:11:32

has been approved by the faculties

1:11:35

via their Academic Council, and by the Board of Trustees

1:11:36

of Duke University.

1:11:39

His daughter, Mrs. Nancy Laprade Hamilton,

1:11:42

has come home to Duke from Mississippi, happily,

1:11:47

to represent her father,

1:11:50

and is accompanied by Professor Robert F. Durden.

1:11:52

President

Nancy, we are pleased to have you

1:12:04

representing your father,

1:12:08

and I hope you will stand up in front of him

1:12:09

when you go home and read this to him.

1:12:11

(audience laughs softly)

1:12:14

Having come to teach at Trinity College in 1909,

1:12:16

Dr. Laprade, you have witnessed

1:12:20

and been an important participant in many changes

1:12:23

in this institution.

1:12:26

Author of long-respected studies in British history,

1:12:28

and inspiring teacher of thousands of students at Trinity,

1:12:32

and then Duke, until your retirement in 1953.

1:12:37

You are a cherished living link

1:12:42

with a rich segment of our past.

1:12:44

We happily acknowledge your role in the building

1:12:48

of the history department of this university,

1:12:50

in editing the South Atlantic Quarterly,

1:12:53

in guiding the Duke University Press for many years.

1:12:56

In leading the National Organization

1:13:00

of the American Association of University Professors,

1:13:02

and in continuing your scholarly activity

1:13:05

until the present time.

1:13:08

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the organization

1:13:10

of Duke University around Trinity College,

1:13:13

it is altogether fitting that we confer upon you

1:13:17

the highest honor that we have in our possession.

1:13:21

By the authority vested in me, I confer upon you

1:13:24

the degree of Doctor of Literature,

1:13:27

and I admit you to its rights, its privileges,

1:13:30

and its obligations.

1:13:32

Dr. Laprade told me, two months ago,

1:13:35

that nothing in the world

1:13:38

would keep him from being here today,

1:13:41

but since we have

1:13:44

the number one medical center in the world,

1:13:46

the number one medical center overcame that insistence.

1:13:48

(audience laughs)

1:13:52

I hope you'll, uh...

1:13:53

(audience applauds)

1:13:55

(grand orchestral music)

1:14:10

Male Speaker 2

My very agreeable assignment

1:15:04

is to introduce the 50th Anniversary Convocation speaker.

1:15:07

I shall make free to use the occasion, also,

1:15:12

to introduce a bit of poetry,

1:15:14

the most neglected of the arts in America.

1:15:17

I shall read the last stanza of a poem

1:15:20

by the contemporary English poet, Philip Larkin.

1:15:24

He asks himself in the poem,

1:15:28

why has he toured the countryside?

1:15:31

He had wandered into one more picturesque, empty,

1:15:34

English church, run down and unused.

1:15:38

What was the good of entering it?

1:15:42

Nevertheless, he remained there, standing in silence,

1:15:46

assessing his reasons for having come, and having lingered.

1:15:50

The concluding stanza of his poem then reads:

1:15:55

"a serious house on serious earth it is,

1:15:59

in whose blent air all our compulsions meet,

1:16:04

are recognized, and robed as destinies.

1:16:09

And that much never can be obsolete,

1:16:13

since someone will forever be surprising

1:16:18

a hunger in himself, to be more serious

1:16:20

and gravitating with it to this ground,

1:16:25

which he once heard was proper to grow wise in,

1:16:28

if only that so many dead lie round."

1:16:32

Our compulsions have brought us here today,

1:16:37

that they may be recognized and robed as destinies.

1:16:40

We thank our speaker, Dr. Philip Handler,

1:16:45

for being here to help in that ceremony.

1:16:47

He joined this university's faculty

1:16:51

as a fledgling instructor in biochemistry,

1:16:54

more than 30 years ago,

1:16:56

and rose to become a James B. Duke Professor.

1:16:58

Last, or, two months ago, he was reelected

1:17:02

to his second six-year term

1:17:05

as president of the National Academy of Sciences.

1:17:07

The interval between tales of achievements in research

1:17:11

and in service to the scientific community,

1:17:14

the government, and the nation,

1:17:18

his own research has been concerned, among other things,

1:17:20

with biological oxidation and enzyme action.

1:17:23

He is co-author of a standard text in biochemistry

1:17:28

used widely by medical students.

1:17:31

He has been a respected teacher,

1:17:34

and a leader in curriculum reform.

1:17:36

He has had remarkable success in persuading Congress

1:17:39

that it is not just to prevent congressmen

1:17:44

from having heart attacks,

1:17:46

that they should provide support for scientific research.

1:17:47

(audience laughs)

1:17:51

Perhaps, better than anyone else,

1:17:52

he has been able to explain to them what basic science is,

1:17:54

and what it is not.

1:17:58

He has kept this distinction clear,

1:18:01

even as he has also undertaken the reorganization

1:18:03

of team research efforts that are problem-oriented.

1:18:06

In recognition of his abilities as scientist,

1:18:11

and expositor of science,

1:18:14

he has held numerous influential posts,

1:18:16

advisory to the president,

1:18:19

and various agencies of federal government.

1:18:20

These responsibilities,

1:18:24

which he carries out with disarming ease,

1:18:26

have involved him in the broadest kinds of issues

1:18:29

that this country, and indeed, the world, face today.

1:18:32

As president of the National Academy,

1:18:36

he will remain the notoriously plain-spoken spokesman

1:18:39

for science, that senators, congressmen, colleagues,

1:18:42

and students have known him always to be.

1:18:47

The dead lie round in this chapel.

1:18:54

They who so generously endowed this institution

1:18:58

dedicated to learning and teaching.

1:19:01

We cannot know whether they would commend or rebuke us

1:19:04

for what Duke University has become today.

1:19:07

The men of the past always rebuke us.

1:19:11

That is one of their roles.

1:19:14

"The past rebukes us more," Robert Penn Warren has said,

1:19:17

"than does any dream of the future.

1:19:20

And," he adds, "it's a better rebuke

1:19:22

because you can see what some of the costs were.

1:19:26

What frail virtues were achieved by frail men.

1:19:29

You can see how they had to go at it.

1:19:34

The drama of the past that corrects us

1:19:37

is the drama of our struggle to be human,

1:19:41

or our struggle to define the values of our forebears

1:19:44

in the face of their difficulties."

1:19:48

It is now our time, in this university,

1:19:52

to define again the values that brought it into being

1:19:54

50 years ago.

1:19:58

We measure them now.

1:20:00

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure and privilege

1:20:04

to welcome Dr. Handler home again,

1:20:07

and to present him to you

1:20:11

as our highly distinguished colleague and much honored guest

1:20:13

who will help appease that hunger.

1:20:18

We surprise, in ourselves today, to be more serious.

1:20:20

50th Anniversary Convocation (April 12, 1975)

Transcript

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Duke University Archives