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THE COLLEGE
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland
Santa Fe, New Mexico
July 1973
�THE COLLEGE
Vol. X)W
July, 1973
No.2
Editor: Robert L. Spaeth
Alumni Edttor: Thomas Farran, Jr.
Editorial Advisory Board: Michael W. Ham, Paul D.
Newland, Barbara Brunner Oosterhout, '55, E. Malcolm
Wyatt.
THE COLLEGE is published by the Development Office
of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Richard D.
Weigle, President. Paul D. Newland, Provost.
Published four times a year, in January, April, July, and
October. .Second class postage paid at Annapolis, Mary·
land, and at other mailing places.
IN THE JULY ISSUE:
Speech, Its Strength and Its Weaknesses.
by Jacob Klein
1
Two Sorts of Poetic Revision.
by Charles G. Bell
7
An Interview with Alvin Fross and Peter Weiss.
by Robert L. Spaeth
11
Commencement Address-Annapolis 1973
by Ford K. Brown
17
Profile: Louis L. Snyder, '28. . . . . . . . . . . .
20
Graduation 1973
22
...........
News on the Campuses
24
Alumni Activities
26
Valery's "Poesie," translated by Timothy Born.
29
ON THE COVER: Ford K. Brown, the Annapolis commencement speaker for 1973. Mr. Brown has been on the
St. John's faculty since 1925. He is now a Tutor Emeritus.
�SPEECH,
Its Strength and Its Weaknesses
by JACOB KLEIN
To undertake to speak about speech means to embark
upon an endless task. Yet there are strict limits that I have
to observe and to be aware of: limits of time, of redundancy, of attentiveness on your part. I shall have to focus
your attention on what people mostly concerned about
speech have said. These were the people whom we call
oi cfnA6aocf>o,, the "lovers of wisdom" among the Greeks.
But I shall also have to appeal to an understanding of
what usually happens to speech, to an understanding which
those people do not seem to have had. I shall be as brief
as possible, and I hope you will not mind my carefulnay, my pedantic use of English and Greek words.
(Parenthetical remark: some of what I am going to say
I have said before in lectures and in print, but not all
of it.)
Let me begin by quoting from Plato's dialogue entitled
Phaedo. This dialogue pretends to describe what happened
during the very last day of Socrates. Attentive reading
shows that the content of the dialogue is mythical, but
that the mythical frame allows us to become aware of
what Plato understood to be Socrates' unique and overwhelming impact. At a crucial point of the dialogue (95 E
ff.) Socrates, after silently looking back into himself for
quite a while, reaches-in speaking-far back into his own
youth. He wanted very much, he reports, to find out, with
regard to any single thing or occurrence, what was responsible for its coming into being, its passing away, its being
the way it was; but he could not find any satisfactory
answers. Nor could he learn anything from acnybody else,
not even from the great Anaxagoras. He had to abandon
the way in which questions like these were dealt with in
the various versions of the "inquiry into nature" (7rEpt
Jacob Klein is a Tutor Emeritus on the Annapolis campus.
This lecture was delivered at Annapolis in February, 1973.
¢1~t:n:w; iuropla). He decided to embark upon a different
journey, a SCcond journey", which means, he decided to
take to the oars, since the wind had failed. This is the
presentation he makes of his new endeavor.
By looking directly at whatever presents itself in om
familiar world, at things and their properties, at human
affairs and actions, we run the risk of being blinded, as
people do when they observe the sun during an eclipse,
if they do not look at its image on some watery surface.
That may well have happened to those investigators of
nature. To avoid being blinded, Socrates thought he had
to "have recourse to spoken words" ( cl-; Toir<; A6ymJsKam¢vyciv) and "see in them the truth of whatever is"
(99 E).
In the dialogue entitled Philebus, Plato again makes
Socrates refer to men engaged in the study of nature (59
A-C): these men want to understand how this world of
ours came into being, how it is acted upon and how it
acts itself, that is to say, they are trying to discover transient productions of the present, the future and the past,
not what unchangeably always is. To discover the immutable it is necessary to rely on the power of discourse
( 1/ roV 8taA€ywBat 8Vvap,t.;;- 57 E), in exchanging questions
and answers with oneself and with others. The power of
discourse is the power inherent in human speech, this
marvel, let me say, this greatest marvel perhaps under the
sun.
The Greek noun -\6yo' and the Greek verb -\iy<tv have
a vast range of meanings. They may refer to reckoning,
accounting, measuring, relating, gathering, picking up (let
us not forget the English words "collect" and "select",
derived from -\iy"v). But, above all, they refer to speaking,
discoursing, arguing, discussing, reasoning. That's how we
have to understand Aristotle's statement (Politics I,Z,
1253 a 10): A6yov . . . ,Wvov llv0pw7roc;; fxn rWv t~wv, "man
alone among living beings possesses speech", and that
implies: man alone possesses the ability to understand the
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spoken word, to understand articulated speech.
We mean by speech-everybody means by it-a sequence of sounds uttered by somebody in such a way as
to be understandable to others. The verb "to understand"
refers primarily, though not uniquely, to speech. Hearing
somebody speak, we may say: "! understand what you are
saying". We may, in fact, misunderstand, but even mis~
understanding involves understanding. But what do we
understand in hearing somebody speak? Not the sounds in
themselves, the audible low and high pitched noises issuing
from somebody's mouth (or some machine, for that
matter). We hear these noises, but hearing is not understanding. That is why we do not understand speech in a
foreign tongue. In a manner which, itself, is hardly or not
at all understandable, the sounds carry with them-or
embody or represent-something else, precisely that which
makes us understand, whenever we understand. This
source and target of our understanding consists of units
to which single words correspond as well as of combinations of units to which sequences of words correspond.
The speaker and the hearer share-or, at least, intend to
share-the understanding of those units and of those combinations of units. The speaker transposes what he means
into sounding words variably intoned, and the hearer who
understands reverses that process in reaching back to the
intended meaning. The intended meaning is what the
Greeks called To vo1T6v ( vo1 Tav being a verbal adjective of
vodv, which means "to receive the intelligible"). Among
the intelligible units, the vo1 Ta, there are two kinds: some
are intelligi-ble by themselves, some l1elp us to receive
those first ones, help us to understand what is being said.
Speech and understanding are inseparable. A6yo> means
inseparably both speech and that which can be and is
being understood in speech. It is in man and, to repeat,
only through man that Aoyo> manifests itself conspicuously.
Neither birds nor porpoises nor seals have A6yo>, though
quire to produce those things, and furthermore, the knowledge that guides his arts and skills, not only to satisfy his
most elementary needs, but also to establish customs and
institutions in which his life flows from generation to gen-
they are able to "communicate" with each other and even
characters". Descartes said: "The science contained in the
great book of the world ...". Harvey said: "The book of
with human beings.
We all remember, I think, a phrase that Homer uses so
often when describing human speech, the phrase "winged
words" ( ii1rm 7Tn:p6£vTa). Whence this image? In most cases
the phrase occurs when a personage, a god or a man,
addresses another single personage, a god or a man. Occasionally it is also used when someone speaks to a group
or a crowd of people. Minstrels in Homer are never said
to utter or sing "winged words". Now, words are not
called "winged" to indicate their soaring or lofty quality.
The image seems rather to imply that words, after escap·
ing "the fence of the teeth", as Homer puts it, are guided
swiftly, and therefore surely, to their destination, the ears
and the soul and the understanding of the addressee. It
is more difficult to reach a crowd of men than a single
man. Exertions of a special kind are then required.
What is speech "about"? About everything man is
familiar with-the sky and the earth, the rivers and the
sea, the living beings around him, on land, in water, in the
air, the things he himself builds and produces, as well
as the tools and appurtenances that his arts and skills re2
eration, in happiness or misery, in friendship or enmity,
in praise or blame, and to which customs and institutions
he is attached beyond his most pressing wants. That is
what his speech and his understanding are mostly about.
What we say, however circuitously . or confusedly or
loosely, is said in words and sentences, each of which conveys immediate meaning. The A6yo~ cannot help moving
in the medium of the immediately understandable. But
words and sentences can also be involuntarily or deliberately ambiguous. We can play on words. Plato's dialogues, for example, are replete with puns. However, am-
biguities and puns are only possible, because words and
sentences carry with them several distinct meanings which,
separately, are clearly understood. To be sure, speech can
be obscure. But it can be obscure only because the clarity
of some of its parts impinges, or seems to impinge, on
the clarity of others.
Speech, then, presents to the understanding of the
listener what the speaker himself understands. It presents
to the listener nothing but combinations of vo1Jnf, of
intelligibles. In doing that, however, speech speaks about
all the things and all the properties of things that abound
around us, all the special circumstances and situations in
which we find ourselves. The question arises: do the vo1Jrtf,
the intelligibles, presented to us in speech, have their
foundation in themselves, or do they stem from the things
and circumstances spoken about? Does not human speech
translate the language, the yAwaaa, of the things themselves?
Let me turn for a moment to the way things and events
around us have been and are being referred to. In Galileo's
words: "The book of Nature is written in mathematical
Nature lies open before us and can be easily consulted".
The phrase "book of Nature" is a metaphor used long
before the seventeenth century, but why was this particular
metaphor ever chosen? Is it not because Nature is under-
stood as something that can be read like a book, provided
we know how to read it? But does not that indeed imply
a language that is Nature's own? Francis Bacon was of the
opinion that Nature is subtly secretive, full of riddles,
Sphinx-like. But secrets can be revealed, riddles can be
solved in words. We persist, don't we, in solving the
"riddles of nature". In ancient times the order of all that
exists around us was -taken much more directly as a lan-
guage, a language not heard and not written, yet visible,
and if not visible, one to be guessed at. Human speech
seems indeed to translate that visible or invisible language
of things into the audible language of words. And just as
the sounds of human speech can be traced down to their
ultimate components to which the letters of the alphabet
correspond, things around us can be decomposed into their
first rudiments-the "elements"-the original letters of the
�July 1973
language of things, as it were. Our speech, even our unguarded colloquial way of speaking, may reveal to the
attentive listener the hidden articulations of the language
of things. Aristotle, no less than Plato, was constantly following up casually spoken words. It seems that Heraclitus,
the tjobscure" used the word "logos" in reference to the
language of things. Let me quote from the fragments in
question. First: "Of the Logos, which is as I describe it,
men always prove to be uncomprehending, both before
they have heard it and when once they have heard it. For
although all things happen according to this Logos, men
are like people of no experience, even when they experience such sayings and deeds as I explain, when I distinguish each thing according to its nature and declare how
it is; but all the other men fail to notice what they do
after they wake up, just as they forget what they do when
asleep". Then this: "therefore it is necessary to follow
what is common; but although the Logos is common, the
many live as though they had their own thoughts". Then
this: "Listening not to me, but to the Logos, it is wise to
agree that all things are one". And finally, to supplement
the last fragment: "Out of all things-one, and out of one
-all things". (Kirk and Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers, 1957, pp. 187-188, 191). The Logos makes us
understand, if we follow Heraclitus, what the things themselves are saying, brightly and darkly, in tune and out of
1
tune.
Speaking and understanding what is being said involves
thinking, involves what the Greeks called 8ufvo•a. Let us
hear what Plato has to say about the relation of speaking
to thinking. In the dialogue entitled The Sophist, in which
Plato makes the Stranger from Elea converse with the
young mathematician Theaetetus, the Stranger remarks
(263 E): "... thought (8ufvo•a) and speech ("-6yo,) are
the same, only that the former-that is, 8ufvow.-, which is
a silent inner conversation of the soul with itself, has been
given the special name of thought". Thinking, as Plato
understands it, is not tied to what the moderns mean by
the ''stream of consciousness". It can be imagined as a
discontinuous, not always regular, stepping forward, and
stepping aside, and stepping backward and forward again,
what speech, too, usually does. It is necessary to note that
for Plato, and for Plato alone, this identity of thought
and speech is not a complete one: facing the highest, allcomprehending intelligibles, thought is not able to transpose itself into suitable words. In the seventh letter attributed to Plato we read the phrase "the weakness of spoken
words" (-rO nOv A6ywv &.aOEvE,-343 A 1), and the dialogue
entitled The Sophist itself shows this weakness rather
clearly, as we shall see in a moment. Moreover, speech
and thinking can both deceive us, disconnect our steps,
and thus distort :md falsify the truth of things. The firework of the sophists, for example,-and there are always
sophists around-make things and relations of things assume a most unexpected, dazzling, and puzzling aspect:
things suddenly appear not to be what they are. But who
is doing the lying, if it be lying, the sophists or the things
themselves? A critique of speech and of thinking, a critical
inquisition into speaking, thinking and arguing has to be
undertaken-as it was undertaken by men as diverse as
Parmenides, Prodicus, Plato, Aristotle. The result of this
critique can be stated as follows: to speak does not always
mean to make things appear in their true light. For Aristotle only one kind of speech, 0 A6yo<> &.7ro¢avnK6<>, the
declaratory and revealing speech, and the thinking which
belongs to it, translate and present the language of things.
To be able to use this kind of speech requires a discipline,
the discipline of the Myo,. Everywhere in Aristotle's work,
one senses, to the annoyance of some and to the delight
of others, the effectiveness of that discipline, the effectiveness of what we call (and the author himself docs not call)
the "logic" of Aristotle. (Cf. On Interpretation 5, 17 a 8;
4, 17 a 2; 6, 17 a 25; Posterior Analytics I 2, 72 all.)
Given the ever-present possibility of declaratory and
revealing speech, Aristotle need not, and does not, set
limits to the power of the Logos. For Plato, however, as I
have mentioned, there are limits that spoken words cannot transcend. This becomes quite clear in the dialogue
entitled Cratylus. In it Socrates first invents fantastically
funny "etymologies" of words, etymologies of proper
names of heroes and gods as well as of familiar designations given to the ways men behave and think. Socrates
then contrives rather playfully (422 E ff.) to describe the
letters and syllables of any word as providing an "imitation", a p.lp.ry~<a (423 B; 430 A,B,E; 437 A) of the very
being ( o~uia) of what is supposed to be "imitated". T11is
"imitation" is also said by Socrates-said more accuratelyto be a udisclosure", a "revelation", a 80Awp.a (425 A,B;
433 B,D; 435 A,B) of the thing in question. Finally the
assertion is made that even "revealing" words may well be
interpreted as not fostering our understanding. One has
to agree, says Socrates, that things which are can be learned
and sought for "much better through themselves than
through names" (439 B). And that is only possible if
what truly is is not subject to change, as Heraclitus claims,
but is immutably what it is. Whether this is so or whether
what the Heracliteans and many others say is true, is a
question difficult to decide, but uno man of sense can
help himself and his own soul by relying on names"
(440 C). The power of the spoken word is thus a limited
one, according to Plato, which makes his dialogues as
troublesome and as wonderful as they appear to be.
Let me try to show you this by referring to, and quoting
from, the dialogue entitled The Sophist. This dialogue is
the central piece of a trilogy, namely the trilogy of the
dialogues entitled Theaetetus, The Sopl1ist, and The
Statesman. The conversations and events which are presented in these mimes are supposed to take place at the
very time the suit against Socrates has its beginning-as
you can read at the very end of the first piece of the
trilogy. V/e find in the second and the third dialogue,
namely in The Sophist and in The Statesman, an abundance of so-ca11ed "divisions"
(StapEun~)
which, in The
Sophist, are supposed to be the means to establish what
a "sophist" is. Opposed to the udivisions" are the Collections" ( uvvaywyai), and let me quote what, in the
11
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�The College
dialogue entitled Phaedrus, Socrates has to say about these
"divisions" and "collections" to that lovable young man,
Phaedrus: "Now I myself, Phaedrus, am a lover of these
divisions and collections as aids to speech and thought;
and if I think any other man is able to see things that can
naturally be collected into one and divided into many,
him I follow after and walk in his footsteps as if he were
a god [this is a playful and ambiguous reference to a line
in the fifth book of the Odyssey J. And whether the name
I give to those who can do this is right or wrong, god
knows, but I have called them hitherto dialecticians"
(Phaedrus 266 B·C). Now, the first five "divisions" in the
dialogue entitled The Sophist do not reach their goal,
except in one very peculiar case. The goal is to establish,
as I said, what a "sophist" is. In this dialogue a nameless
Stranger from Elea performs these dialectical exercises
with the help of young Theaetetus, whose looks resemble
those of Socrates (Theaetetus 143 E). Of Theaetetus we
also know, from the dialogue that bears his name as well
as from other sources, that he was a powerful mathema·
tician, especially interested in incommensurable magni-
tudes and multitudes. Books X and XIII of Euclid's
Elements are based, in part at least, on his work. In the
dialogue entitled The Sophist young Thcaetetus is shown
to distinguish and to count well, so well, indeed, that he
helps us to understand what the Eleatic Stranger, alone,
by himself, could not make us understand. Let us see.
There are five "divisions" in the beginning of the dia-
logue, meant to catch the "sophist". After they have been
made they" are counted up by the Stranger and Theaetetus
in the following way: "Stranger: First, if I am not mis·
taken, he [that is, the "sophist"] was found to be a paid
hunter after the young and wealthy. Theactetus: Ycs.
Stranger: Secondly, a sort of merchant in articles of know!·
edge for the soul. Theactetus: Very much so. Stranger:
And tl1irdly, did he not turn up as retailer ( Ka"'J!>.o,) of
these same articles of knowledge? Theaetetus: Yes, and
fourtl1ly, we found he was a seller of his own productions
( avTom:,J,.~,). Stranger: You remember well" (231 D). I
have to interrupt this quoting to check whether Theactetus
does remember well. By going back, we see that the
Stranger had previously summarized (224 D-E) the third
division in these words: "And that part of acquisitive art
which proceeds by exchange and by sale in both ways
{ &p. r:f>o'ripw<>) as mere retail trade ( Ka7T.,AtK6v) or as the sale
of one's own production ( aVTmrwAtK6v), so long as it be-
longs to the family of merchandising in knowledge, that
part you will apparently always call sophistry". Theaetetus
had then answered: "Necessarily so, for I have to follow
the argument, the i>.oyo,''. Theaetetus remembers well: he
remembers that retail trade and also the sale of one's own
production had been mentioned, but he forgot, he forgot,
the word awpoTlpw' (in both ways), and this makes him
add to the third description a new one, which he calls the
fourth. Both, his remembering and his forgetting have remarkable consequences. In the counting up of the "clivi·
sions" the fourth becomes the fifth, and the fiitl1, which
is the one that reaches its goal, namely the correct descrip-
4
lion of the work performed by a quasi-sophist, namely by
Socrates himself,- this fifth "division" becomes the sixth.
Let us not forget: six is the first
11
perfect" number, and
only a "perfect" number is fit to be applied to Socrates'
work. But, moreover, the forgetfulness of Theaetetus com·
pels us to pay special attention to the word which he forgot, to the word dp,¢o'rEpw<>, or more exactly to the word
al'</>w (both) and to its cognates. We become aware that
this word is used over and over again in the dialogue. Here
is just one example. Speaking of the "sophist", the Stranger
remarks at one point (226 A): "Do you see the truth of
the statement that this beast is many-sided and, as the
saying is, not to be caught with one hand? Tl1eaetetus:
Then we must catch him with both".
The significance of this word "both" becomes fully
apparent when the Stranger and Theaetetus focus their
attention on ''Change" (xtV1Jm<>) and "Rest" (anim<>). I
shall quote again (250 A-C): "Stranger: You say that
Change and Rest are entirely opposed to each other?
Theaetetus: How could I say anything else? Stranger: And
yet you say that both and each of them equally are.
Theaetetus: Ycs, I do. Stranger: And in admitting that
they are, are you saying that both and each of them arc
changing? Theaetetus: No, no! Stranger: Then, perhaps,
by saying that both are, you mean they are both at rest?
Thcactetus: How could I? Stranger: Then you put-before
you Being (To ov) as a third, as something beside these,
inasmuch as you think Rest and Change are embraced by
it; and since you comprehend and observe that these commune with Being, are you saying that they both are?
Theactetus: We truly happen to divine that )3eing is
something tlrird, when we say that Change and Rest are.
Stranger: Then Being is not BOTH Cl1ange and Rest
TOGETHER, but something else, di/lerent from them. Theae·
tetus: So it seems. Stranger: According to its own nature,
then, Being is neitl1er at rest nor changing. TlJCaetetus:
M-hm (in Greek: ax,86v)". The last statement of the
Stranger cannot be taken at face value. And Theaetetus
immediately afterwards recognizes that it is totally im·
possible for Being to be neither at rest nor changing.
The root of the difficulty, of the perplexity in which we,
who listen to this conversation, find ourselves is that, in
the case of Being, Change and Rest, our human speech,
the i>.6yo,, is failing. It is failing when it tries to speak about
such greatest "looks" (!'iywTa ,lSr-·245 C 2-3), that is,
such all-comprehending vo~nf. Being (To ov), Change
{ x[v-,.,m.:,;) and Rest ( anfm<>) appear to be three f_Z81J, three
"invisible looks", while in truth Change and Rest are
C3C
EV
Q
UfL'f'OTfpa OliO •
" h OTIC" (EKUTEpOJI ") 3U d"btht WQ "('""'
''
"')
Botlr together they constitute Being (To ilv). This means
that, according to Plato, Being must be understood as the
eideti.c Two. The eidetic Two is not a mathematical number of hvo indivisible and indistinguishable monads,
among infinitely many such mathematical twos. Nor is it
two visible, divisible and unequal things, two houses or
two dogs or two apples, for example. The eidetic Two is
a unique dyad of two unique EZ81J, of two <lin visible looks",
namely of Change and Rest. And just as they both to-
�July 1973
gether, and only both together, are the .!So,, the "look",
the "invisible look" Being, so the Stranger from Elea and
Theaetetus can only both together deal with the question
of Being. That's why the Stranger says at one point to
Theaetetus (239 C): "let us bid farewell to you and to
me". He means that neither he alone nor Theaetetus alone
can accomplish the task, but that they can do it only both
together. But this they can do "not with complete clarity"
(I'~ .,.,;."11 <m.P~v<i~-254 C 6), because they are speaking
about it.
It is thus that a weakness of speech is revealed in the
dialogue entitled The Sophist. But this dialogue also
shows why there can he falsehood uttered in speech, why
speech can state what is not true. There is, however, a
wide spectrum of the un-true, ranging from falsehood to
likelihood. This is the background of the dialogue entitled Timaeus, and I would like to quote a passage from
this dialogue to make you experience the playful and
saddening ambiguity of this passage. It deals with the
human mouth. It claims that it was fashioned "for ends
both necessary and most good", "as an entrance with a
view to what is necessary and as an outlet with a view
to what is most good". I keep quoting (75 D-E): "For
all that enters in and supplies food to the body is necessary; while the stream of speech which flows out and
ministers to thoughtfulness is of all streams the most
beautiful and most good". Can we forget how much evil,
how much falsehood, how much trifling, how much nonsense also flows out? No, we cannot. But this must be
added: in all those cases I just mentioned speech does not
minister to thoughtfulness, to ¢p6v~"''·
Let me now turn to a character of speech to which the
ancients apparently did pay only scant attention. A most
remarkable similarity obtains between words, spoken words
of live speech, and rnoney,-money, that is, available in
coins and bills. Both are precious, both circulate freely,
coins and bills from hand to hand, words from mouth to
mouth. The imprints on coins and bills are gradually
erased, effaced, rubbed off, just as the meanings of words
seem to become fuzzy, blurred and empty with the passage of time. There is even counterfeiting in language as
there is in money. Human speech can and does deteriorate
to an extent which renders it obnoxious, makes it unable
to reach anyone, deprives it totally of wings.
It was Edmund Husser! who, in modern times, pointed
to this inevitable deterioration of human speech. According to him the signifying power of a word has, by its very
nature, the tendency to lose its revealing character. T11e
more we become accustomed to words, the less we per~
ceive their original and precise significance: a kind of
superficial and vague understanding is the necessary result
of the increasing familiarity with spoken-and writtenwords. Yet that original significance is still there, in every
word, somehow "forgotten", but still at the bottom of
our speaking and our understanding, however vague the
meaning conveyed by our speech might be. The original
"evidence" has faded away, but has not disappeared completely. It need not be ''awakened" even, it underlies our
mutual understanding in a "sedimented" form. "Sedimen-
tation is always somehow forgetfulness" (Die Frage nach
dem Ursprung der Geometri.e als intentional-historisches
Problem, first published by Eugen Fink in "Revue internationale de philosophie", I, 2, 1939, p.212). And this
kind of forgetfulness accompanies, of necessity, according
to Husser!, the development and growth of any science.
(The text about the "origin of geometry" appears alsoin a slightly changed form-as the 3rd Appendix to Walter
Biemel's edition of the Crisis of European Sciences and
Transcendental Pbenomenology-Husserliana, Vol. VI,
1962-and as the 6th Appendix to David Carr's translation
of the "Crisis"-Nortl1western University Press, 1970. The
sentence <~sedimentation is always somehow forgetfulness"
is omitted in Biemel's and Carr's versions. I assume, however, that this sentence is based on Husserl's own words,
uttered in conversation with Fink.)
'T'o be sure, the original evidence can be "reactivated",
and indeed is reactivated at definite times. This interlacement of the original significance and of its "sedimentation" constitutes, we read in Husserl's late work, the true
character of "history" (Ibid., p. 220). From that point of
view there is only one legitimate form of history: the history of human thought. History, in this understanding,
cannot be separated from Philosophy. Husserl's own
philosophy, as it develops in its latest phase (1935-193'7),
is a most remarkable attempt to restore the integrity of
knowledge, of /.,.""~"~' threatened by the all-pervading
tendency of "sedimentation". It has remained an attempt.
But it may help us, in any event, to understand the character of speech, the character of the spoken word. It may
help us to be cautious in our speaking and listening.
When we hear-or read-words intended to convey
opinions about things, about what they are and how they
are, it is amazing to observe their almost total dependence
on the Latin rendering of crucial Greek, and especially
Aristotelian, terms used in searching or revealing speech
or, as we say, in "philosophical" discourse. The adoption of
this Latin rendering by modern western languages usually
involves a radical change and certainly a "sedimentation"
of the very meaning of the terms in question. We hear a
great deal about pollution today-the pollution of air,
water, and land, which burdens our lives. But we hear
rarely about the pollution of our language, which burdens
our understanding. Our daily language, not to mention the
"elevated" language of inquiry and exposition, is perme-
ated and polluted by distorted terms in pseudo-Latin or
even pseudo-Greek guise. Don't we use words like the
following ones all the time: "actual", 11 dynarnic", "potentialities'', "matter", "substance", ''theory", ''information",
"energy", "category", "logical", "formal", "abstract"? How
strange and how discouraging! Do we know what we mean
by these words? I could extend this list quite a bit, but
I should like to add only these six terms: "ideal",
"essence", "concept", "reality", "individual", and-hor-
ribile dictu-"mind".
This tendency of 11 Sedimentation" of human speech
finds, it is true, its counterpart in the tendency to re-
5
�The College
activate its original significance. Beyond that, it may happen that human speech reaches levels previously not experienced at all: they may increase its vigor, lift its signifying power to new heights, elevate it truly. Responsible
for this arc mostly-and rarely enough, to be sure-written
words. New words or new combinations of words can be
"coined", as we so aptly and significantly say. At decisive
points in his dialogues Plato resorts to this kind of coining;
in the dialogue entitled The Republic, for example, but
most notably in the dialogue entitled The Statesman.
(We are aware, of course, that Plato's dialogues, although
presenting lively spoken words, are the result of uniquely
careful editing and writing.) Story-writers engage-sometimes-in this kind of inventive writing, as Joyce and
Faulkner did. The most important cases of newly articulated written speech, however, are found in declaratory
works which intend to convey knowledge, derived from
questioning that is profound and deeply serious. Such
works are those of Aristotle, of Hegel who raises Aristotle
6
to new levels, and of Heidegger who opposes Aristotle
radically. Their peculiar way of speaking sheds new light
on things, on their roots, their relations, their very being.
We have to note: none of these authors has written
works that are easily translatable,-and this cannot be
otherwise.
Let me be fair to people of the Latin tongue and, by
way of conclusion, quote Virgil, the poet. In a letter to a
friend Virgil says that he gives birth to verses in the
manner of bears and according to their custom (parere se
versus modo atque ritu ursina), that is to say, that he
produces his verses the way the mother bear handles her
newly born cubs: assiduously and persistently she licks
them into their proper shape. Such assiduous work, performed on the written word and undertaken to assure the
right articulation of a composed whole, can and does restore and preserve the integrity of human speech. It is
thus that the written word repays its eternal debt to the
spoken word. II
�Two Sorts of Poetic Revision
by CHARLES G. BELL
I doubt if rules can be given for the making or shaping
of poems. Some come easy, some hard, nor will the end
product necessarily betray the manner of its birth. Is anything but curiosity to be served by raking up the files?
Yet we live in a curious age where the exhibition of
process tempts us more than participation in a timeless
goal. And what is more immediate than a draft?
Charles G. Bell is a Tutor on the Santa Fe campus. His
poems, ((Diretro al Sol," ~~Heraclitus in the West," and
"Touch~me-not" arc from Songs for a New America
(Norman S. Berg, Dunwoody, Ga.). "Moonrise" was published in Contemporary Poets of the English Language
(St. James Press, 1970), and "Resonance of Towers" in
Quarterly Review of Literature (Princeton, 1972). "A
Fly Trown into the Fire" has not been previously
published. All poems are copyrighted by Charles G. Bell.
The poems in my first two books (Songs for a New
America and Delta Return) are mostly statements in the
classical manner. They would come to me when I experienced a particular in its universal aspect. I would write
the first sketch as fast as my pen would move, and later
work it up, trying to bring out its implicit form.
By the early 1950's I had turned from the Augustinian
drift of my war years toward a celebration of the tragic
glory in which I thought of America as living. I was teaching Thucydides in Hutchins' College. One afternoon
Elizabeth Mann Borgese drove some of us to a winetasting in the Electric Club high over Chicago, where I
sampled maybe thirty kinds of wine. As we raced back
south through the evening traffic of the outer drive, a
poem came to me. As soon as I could get home to my
desk, I dashed off the following lines, though my head
swam so I could scarcely hold the pen in my hand:
7
�The College
We came out on the high platform above
The city of giant endeavor taking below
The advance of evening and in reddening glow
Clear stars returning, lights of windows round
In band and height to the over-pluming skies
And cars in streams pouring to the suburb homes.
Around us drinking the wines of France
Men of every nation with voices not yet hushed
By the encroaching shadows, speaking in the
Tongues of their native lands,
Of women and the world and who should rule,
Still free in slams and laughter.
And the dusk deepened as the city glowed
And out of the past of another great evening
Through which the spirit lives came the
Voice of Pericles as Athens stood on the
Beach of that mad sailing that bore them down.
These words echo in the mind. In the
living dusk the great towers flash skyward.
Along the water front stream the metal cars.
Planes above, flashing lights, the destinate
roar, South, West and East. And the
voices of free men. And we too on the
beach of the perilous parting.
Well we have lived. To all who
may come-by these presentsHere perilous spirit took the dusk on wings.
(There wa> also an alternate version of the close):
The end is less than the knowledge of having
Dared for vision, if only we truly dare;
Above the blind world-closure of our wasting
Still the incredible promise brightens the shore.
Ships sailing to the dark ...
And the twilight air
... rustles with the rush of wings.
For a week or more afterwards I was working with those
notes, actualizing the meter, stanza structure, assonance
and rhyme, word repetition, etc. latent there. Here is the
result as it appears in my Songs for a New America (the
title from Ulysses' "mad flight", Inferno, 26):
DIRETRO AL SOL
Over the gulf and soaring of the city
We came at dusk to the roof-garden rail.
Darkness flowed in the streets; the dream-world beauty
Of towered steel rose in the violet airBands and heights of light under the sky's plumes;
Cars to the suburbs burn the long road lanes.
Here on the terrace, drinking wine and eating,
People of every nation, hearts unquelled
By the encroaching shadows, mingle, speaking
Tongues of kindred lands. Their voices tell
Of customs and of needs, of the fools who rule;
They are loose in talk and laughter, slurs and dreams.
8
And the clouds relinquish the sun's brown setting.
Twilight deepens as the city glows.
Out of the past of another world-evening
Spirit has suffered, a great voice looms;
It is Pericles-with Athens at the bourn
Of her adventurous sailing into ruin:
"We are the school of Bellas. Wonder unending
Of after ages will be ours. We have
Made sea and land the highway of our daring.
If now obedient to the general law
We invite decay, the greatness we have known
Will he some break of beauty in that gloom."
These words echo in the mind. From dark flashing
Along the gray shore and the wash of waves,
Towers, and cars streaming. Up vibrant air reaching
Cones of light catch at the destinate planes.
The roar west and east.
Here in the hum
Of mingled voices, careless freedom sings.
And we too have lived the dayspring and daring
That all time will remember; we have seen,
Over the earth-foreclosure of our wasting,
Still the incredible brightening of the dream .....
Now promise is almost presence under the dome
Of night stirred with light and the rush of wings.
The same method may be illustrated with another
poem, a little earlier and darker,
~~Heraclitus
in the West".
In March of 19 50, as I was walking by Lake Michigan (it
becomes the Atlantic in the poem), the setting sun broke
from clouds at my back and poured a shaft into the general dark, catching gulls invisible before, shining flecks
against the storm. I was teaching The Heart of Darkness;
to Conrad's symbol I added that of historical east and
west, the turn from the free motion west hack to the
church-close of Eliot's surrender. I scribbled five lines:
And the streaming sun from behind out east
Over the sea; far against the drop of
Dark cloud and above the wind-tossed gray
The wheeling gulls, before swallowed in fog,
Burn silver sparks of searching, motes of fire.
To which, on my return to the house, I added (drifting
toward prose) :
Once we looked west over the sea to the golden oblate
And beckoning sun, dropping under the limb of the unAnd the call was westward, touching
/explored.
the rooks and swallows
On the flat land behind, tentative wings sweeping out
west over the waves.
Here the great globe sets at our hacks behind us, and the
call has been followed to the last limb of land, the wall
struck and the wave rebounds, drawn now down the
stream
�July 1973
of spreading rays, east again east, home to the womb and
mother, the peaceful church close and garden of old
time ... beside the river ... among
For months this remained in my pocket, ineluctable. Then
I saw it as four five-line stanzas, knit together with the
tolling of repeated words (a variant on the line-endings of
the Sestina), thirteen in each stanza: sun, behind, east,
sea, river, light, dark, cloud, gray, drop, gulls, burn, fire-
besides other words echoed, if not so many times: land,
call, west, down, up, wind, verge, etc. 'T'he last stanza
consciously transcends Spenglerian gloom in a timelessness
of light against dark, rounding the poem out with ponderous solidity, at the same time that it sacrifices the
broken poignance of the original sketch. For there is no
gain, even in art, which is not in some sense a loss.
HERACLITUS IN THE WEST
"The way up and the way down is the same"
And the raying sun from behind breaks out cast
Over the sea, opening a river light
Into the dark of cloud and the wind-tossed gray;
Against that drop, the unguessed wheeling gulls
Burn silver sparks of search, volitional fire.
Once we looked west over sea to the golden
Oblate and beckoning sun dropping without cloud
Behind the fired earth's verge; and the call was sunward,
Burning rooks and gulls of the dark eastern land,
Stirred wings west up rivers of light from the gray.
Here the great sun drops at our backs behind us;
The call has been followed to the last verge of land,
The light struck and the wave rebounds; into dark
We burn down rivers of fire, re~entering cloud,
Gulls to the gray-walled close by the eastern sea.
Sunlight before or behind are tides ·of one motion;
The way up and down currents of a single sea;
Beyond east or west rounds the gulf of one darkness;
And every ray of flight burns rivers of fire,
Gulls to the landless drop of the wind-gray cloud.
This classical method of revision remains the same,
whether the first sketch comes from within, or as often in
fiction, from conversations heard. 'T1ms, Christmas vaca-
tion of 1951, returning from Mississippi to Chicago on the
night train, I waked from a doze to a conversation in-
credibly satirizing itself by its own symbols-tourist-talk
from the seat in front of me. I took down in the almost
dark on an envelope:
And the cigar factory, did you go?
Yes, we were there. I bought two boxes
& the Trocadero (?)with the frosted drinks,
diacheris I guess. We bought the banana liquer.
Something going on all the day. Cocktails.
And we never had to walk.
But the people are strangers
Very unfriendly & so many beggars.
Surely sounds interesting-But did you see
the little plant that when you touch it withers all up.
No.
At the side I scratched:
It is the symb.
And in a space at the top, an opening first used m the
poem, then cut to a line, then revised out:
Between waking and sleeping, half in dream
I heard this from the new rich on a train.
I got another paper as soon as I could and noted some
other details they had mentioned, the cruise boat, etc.
The poem came out rather easily in ironic half-rhymed
couplets (as it appears in the revised version of Songs for
a New America):
TOUCH-ME-NOT
"It was wonderfuL The cruise boat stopped at the
stream,
And there they brought a barge and put us on.
We had the deck with curtains; just below,
A marimba band played the whole day through.
So we went up the river. It was nice.
They have beef steaks at fifty cents apiece,
And frosted drinks."
"I guess you docked in Cuba?"
HFor three days."
"Did you see the Tropicana?"
'We were there; the ceiling's made of glass.
And we drank daiquiris, I think it was,
At forty cents a throw."
"Fancy that.
I bought banana liqueur."
"And on the boat
There was something every hour. Cocktails helped.
And when we went ashore we never walked."
"Did you see them lick cigars with their tongues?"
"Sure. I got two boxes, but they were strong."
"Sounds interesting."
"Only the people are queer,
Unfriendly, you know, and beggars everywhere."
"And did you see the small plant touch-me-not
That when you touch it it withers all up
Before your eyes?"
"No, that we did not find."
Go back; it is the essence of the land.
So far I have illustrated only the one method. In most
of my later poems, revision has taken a different slant. The
longer versions here given were already revised poems,
worked up from such sketches as have just been considered. What has happened from that point on is a kind of
9
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modern Revision by Excision-to strike out or dissolve as
much of the poem as possible, until it becomes a kind of
archipelago of mountains, remnant of a drowned continent of discourse. The trick is to keep the poem from
sinking altogether, since there is a certain law of gravity
by which, once it has gone below a critical mass, it tends
to wilt without limit, as a bubble under surface tension
withdraws into a pipe-bowl.
The three poems here given, both in long and short versions, have been revised over five or more years and
through innumerable states. It is to be hoped they have
been arrested at the point where space was about to close
up around them.
MOONRISE (early form)
Long ago I stood with a woma·n by the sea
And saw the moon rise naked and alone.
When we did not love in the hollows of the dunes
Or swim in the moon-spilled troughs of the sea,
I grieved for the wasted beauty of the world.
From the sleeping form of another woman now
I rise and climb the dunes, where another moon
Breaks over an ocean shore, it washes clean.
I am content in the ruins of nakedness.
Listen, waking or sleeping, all I have loved:
The heart of an old man wants nothing more
When the dead moon spills its yellow seed
In the heaving and sighing deep furrows of the sea.
MOONRISE
I rise and climb the dunes. A waning moon
Breaks over an ocean shore it washes clean.
I am content in the ruins of nakedness.
Sleeping or waking, listen, all I have loved:
The heart of an old man wants nothing more
When the dead moon spills its yellow seed
In the heaving and sighing deep furrows of the sea.
INVESTITURE (preliminary)
Tonight for the first time I climb the stair,
Turn on the light, that sends four rays
To the dark quarters of the bay and land.
How many have kept lights burning in their towers?
Milton's solitary Platonist,
Image-seeking Celtic Yeats,
Collins in the mountain hut
Over twilight shires of mist.
Think of Dante somewhere in banishment
Climbing another's stairs by candlelight;
Think of all whose height became a sign
Of the brooding eminence established by the mind.
10
Rats with electrodes in their heads
Jump on treadle for a charge.
Action, passion, peace and war
Shrink to pastime-company bad.
Only rays that reach across dark shores
Find the resonance of what endures,
This lighted web of soul in the world
Communion of Platonists in timeless towers.
RESONANCE OF TOWERS
Tonight, in the lighted tower,
I have outwatched the Bear.
I think of Dante in banishment,
Climbing another's stairs by candlelight;
Collins in the clouded hut
Rockwalled Jeffers, embattled Yeats
Rats with electrodes in their heads
Jump on the treadle for a charge.
The night web of soul in the world
Flickers from tower to tower.
CAVE OF FIRE (preliminary)
When logs have burned in a good draft
To a white-hot cave on the hearth,
And flies roused from their winter torpor
Buzz and stretch themselves,
Take a sleepy one and hurl him in that glory.
Tire black body becomes a stuff of burning;
It shrinks and hisses; stirs, fringed with light;
Then it is all glowing, featureless fire.
The suspensions that made it a living creature,
Stretching its neck, preening its head and wings,
Change into incandescence, clear, all made clear.
As if our world were swallowed by the sun;
Or these small suns we make in emulation,
Kindling against ourselves such instant caves,
Had rendered into light love's diapered shades.
A terrible thing-as the old book warnedTo fall into the hands of the living God.
A FLY THROWN INTO THE FIRE
The black body shrinks and hisses
Fringed with light.
What stretched the neck, what preened
Head and wings,
Changed to incandescence.
All flesh grass
In the hands of the living God. II
�Interview with
Alvin Fross and Peter Weiss
by ROBERT L. SPAETH
ROBERT SPAETH: Mr. Fross and Mr. Weiss, looking
back at being students at St. John's from twenty-five years
later, what would you say St. John's did for you? Mr.
Weiss?
PETER WEISS: It gave me a view of the world; gave me
a view of what a sensible life might be like; gave me a
view of a lot of things that came before that one ought to
bear in mind when one thinks about what things are like
today.
SPAETH: Do you thing it did those things for you in a
way that other colleges would not have or could not have?
WEISS: It is awfully hard to say, not having been to
any other college. But I have talked to a lot of people
who have been to other colleges. I think it is clear that
St. John's does some things for people that other colleges
don't do. I think it is also fair to say that St. John's makes
a lot of claims, a lot of exclusive claims for itself that are
probably subject to criticism. I don't think St. John's is
the only place where you can learn to think. I don't think
St. John's is the only place where you can learn how to
think morally. It is probably true that it is a little harder
to go through four years at St. John's without at least
having made an effort to learn how to think and to learn
how to think morally, than at some other places.
SPAETH: Mr. Fross, what do you think of this?
ALVIN FROSS: I think that in some ways, talking to
our generation, you are talking to a generation that had
a rather peculiar and unusual St. John's experience. When
we went to college we started out with a group of about
200 people who were destined to be there as a group for
Alvin Fross, '46 and Peter Weiss, '46 are lawyers specializing in trademark law. They were students on the Annapolis campus both before and after World War II. This
interview was conducted in their offices in New York City.
Because of the press of business, neither could find time
to review this transcript. Thus, the alumni portrayed here
may or may not be .the real Fross and Weiss.
only six months or so. Shortly after we got there the
great exodus began, and large numbers were called up for
the Army and Navy Reserve, and we became a kind of
extended family for those people. Many of them were
not too far away from the College. We shrank at one
point, I think, to a community of only 50 people in residence, with people swarming in on week-ends. The program was not really a reading and studying prograrn but
in a way it was a constant looking-out into a blinding
light and looking back. Your eyes just kept going back
and forth. There were people who were out there who
were trying to adjust to a radically different world and
radically different situation, and we were trying to adjust
to either. So the books were being read in the light of a
very unstable world to which we were exposed on every
single week-end of that early period. I think that in some
ways some of the books we read had special meaning for us
because of that. I think that maybe the books about war,
particularly Homer, Virgil, had perhaps more meaning
for us than they might have for other people. We were
constantly trying to think about what it meant to go off
to war and to be a soldier or sailor. That is one element
of our special experience. Also, I would say that ours was
probably much more of a heterogenous experience. The
reason I say this is because in some way the thing that
stands out most clearly to me after all those years was
not the books by themselves but the books as a medium
for getting to know a small group of people extremely
well. That is, they provided for people of very diverse
backgrounds, very diverse emotional needs, a medium for
getting to know one another, for dialogue. That is, it
opened up new worlds. I came from a very small community. A large town, but a small community in that
town and at St. John's I met people whom I did not
dream existed. If I had met those people in a large university I probably would never have gotten to know them
that well, but at St. John's you just had to. When you
shrank down to 50 you got to know every one of those people, even those whom you really couldn't really sympathize
with, you got to know them awfully well. As to what I
feel about the program, taken out of context, I think the
program taken out of context is pure nonsense. That is, I
think that to talk about it in terms of the ideology of the
ll
�The College
first catalog is to spin a myth. A very useful myth because
it proposes a hypothesis: if we take this program and we
work with a community of a certain size, something, we
hope, will happen. And to relate it back to a Golden
Age, which is some of the rhetoric of the first catalog, is
also to be a living in a classical kind of mythology. It has
a certain wonder. We rather liked that myth. We rather
enjoyed it. I don't think any of us ever fully believed it.
SPAETH: Mr. Fross, you said a number of interesting
things; I'd like to explore some of them. You mentioned
thinking about certain books such as the Iliad in a particular way because the war was on. Mr. Weiss, you used
the phrase "thinking morally" as something that you
learned at St. John's. Is there something about those books
or the program that encouraged more of a concern with
morality than with intellectual development? Perhaps this
has something to do with the war or perhaps it is more
general.
WEISS: It also has something to do with what AI just
said about the smallness of the community. I think it is
interesting that he said that he saw the books as a medium
of getting to know a small group of people very well,
because I suspect that is at least partly a matter of personal
disposition; some people would find themselves interested in relating to the people around them through almost any medium that happened to be available. The
books arc a very good one for that. Other people might
be pushed more in the direction of intellectual exploration by whatever medium happened to be available to
them. Nobody there at that time or presumably today is
just reading the books, but they are working through the
books. They are grappling with them; they are fighting
them; they are repelled by them and attracted to them.
I think we all shared the experience that some of the best
contact we had with the books, some of the best insights
that were produced by the books, were the result of a total
living and learning experience. You asked about what it
was about the books which made it easier or mandatory,
if you like, to come up with some moral distillation of all
this stuff that passed in and out of our range during our
four years there. I guess the thing about that is that after
a while, no matter what your background, the notion that
the people who wrote the books, or even the people who
thought up the experiments, had something serious to
say about what kind of place the world was. That notion
gets to you and it becomes part of your habit of dealing
with the world around you. Sometimes that means that
people get awfully pretentious in their thinking, and everything that happens is either a playing through of some
great paradigm that you have read about in one book or
another, or it becomes the occasion for some blinding
flash of insight, which upon reflection the next day or
maybe a decade later turns out to be only trivial. I think I
would rather go to a place where you are constantly
prodded into thinking what it all means than to a place
where the habit of thought is that it all means nothing
or where the habit of thought is that it all means whatever
12
this expert says.
SPAETH: When you say that you were induced to get
into the habit of taking life seriously and seeing these
moral questions as serious, do you also mean to say that
there was no particular moral direction that you were
urged in?
WEISS: Oh yes, I think that is borne out by the many
different moral directions in which people go after they
leave the place. It would be awfully difficult to say that
there is a consistent moral and political philosophy that
you are bound to emerge with from St. John's if you have
done your work correctly. As a matter of fact, in retrospect
it is a little disappointing sometimes that people don't
come up with a more consistent moral philosophy, particularly if you happen to believe as I guess I do, that
there are some moral philosophies that are more consistent and more valuable than others. That is both a good
thing and a bad thing about St. John's. I think there is a
kind of looseness, a kind of open-endedness about values
which is not good for people who, for one reason or
another, don't either already come to the College with a
well-developed sense of values or don't manage to work
one out for themselves while they are there. I think people
like that can go through the program for four years.being
titillated by the notion of, say, a comprehensive view of
life and can then go on to lead the most ordinary life after
they have stopped being exposed to it and after they have
stopped being exposed to the constant challenge. I often
feel that that is happening to me.
FROSS: I think that the kind of sojourn which people
experienced had to do, of course, with where they were
starting so that if a person came from a small town on
the Eastern Shore or came from an industrial town in
New Jersey with its special provincial character, as I did,
to suddenly find themselves in a community where people
were in the process of conversion to one thing or another
was quite a shock. You always assumed that the next step
was a little step, whatever step it was to be. It was certainly not going to be to throw over the traces of your
entire past life. Nevertheless, what almost all of us saw,
even in the first month at St. John's, is that people are
really susceptible to very major revolutionary personal
change. I think that for most of us that was both a threat
and a promise. I think that is one of the elements in the
answer to your question as to why did people embark on
moral dialogue. In a sense they knew that they were in an
environment where they were potentially changeable and
changeable radically and had to think about what kind of
people they might want to be if that was really possible.
Then the fact that some of the changes were changes of
a religious nature necessarily raised moral issues. What
does it mean to be suddenly taken by an idea sufficiently
to abandon your family and your history and your friends?
At least one of our friends from my home town left the
world that he knew which was a Jewish world and became,
for a period of time, a Trappist monk. A very major change
�July 1973
indeed. He went through several changes along the way
before that hut that was a very major change. That is
another element but I suppose that one of the largest
elements to be kept in mind when you think about the
moral nature of the dialogue is the people who were the
source of leadership to us. They were people who had been
engaged for a long, long time in a moral dialogue. And
an additional important factor was that there really was
a limiting methodology in approaching most of the books.
That is, it was considered improper to look at the books
from the point of view of critical histories. You were not
supposed to go and find out what others had thought
about the books and therefore you were not likely to come
up with a theory which related to what the author really
meant to say. The methodology required you to decide
what the author said to you and once you do that, what
he said to you, you have limited the kinds of things that
you are likely to be able to focus on. We read those
books for their message. When you speak about message
in that way the message is very likely to be a moral one.
SPAETH: Did yonr approach mean that various members
of the seminar would find that the books were saying
different things to them? Would that imply a difficulty of
communication?
FROSS: No, because although you had to search yourself
for what they said to you, what you experienced you had
to justify by the text. That is, you couldn't say, "I read
this book and it inspired me to think about a sunset."
You had to say, "I read this book and this is what it says
literally and this is what it means to me because it says
that." Somebody said, "But is doesn't really say that, I
mean if you look back on it you will see you missed that
other phrase." Then you had to argue about that. In other
words, the books provided a text which had to be focused
on and they provided a medium through which you shared
your experiences and your reactions to the material. I
would say on the whole that it was a rather disciplined
dialogue, especially since most of us had rather disciplined
leaders.
WEISS: Yes, but of course, that raises the whole question
of whether the methodology might not be too limiting.
SPAETH: Limiting also means confining. Did you find
it that way?
WEISS: I didn't find it that way at the time but I remember Alec Meikeljohn used to come by periodically
and sit in on seminars and get a big kick out of them.
Outside the seminar he used to be rather critical of what
you might call the exclusively intellectual approach to the
books and to the entire program and Meikeljohn used to
remind people that the social scientists who were held in
such low regard at St. John's, at least at the time that I
was there, had a few relevant things to say about the very
same things that the book had relevant things to say about.
They were corning from a different place bnt that didn't
mean that their findings or insights ought to be disre-
garded. In retrospect that seems to me to be a valid criticism. We were rather fanatical, all of us at the time, about
defending the purity of the approach. In retrospect it
seems to me to have been a somewhat misguided fanaticism.
SPAETH: Mr. Fross said earlier something that went
farther than purity. He referred to the "ideology" of the
original catalog and that the program was built on a myth.
WEISS: That is a more drastic way to put it but I would
go along with it. There are really two aspects to that. One
is the purity of the intellectual approach and the other is
the purity of the lifestyle. While our lifestyle wasn't any
more pure than any other college lifestyle in terms of
what we did after hours, there was a kind of pnrity of
lifestyle about involvement in the community which I
gather still survives to this day. I mean the notion that
you really have to take these four years out of your life and
think, and then you will be able to do all kinds of things
for the rest of yonr life, but during those four years you
can't get distracted. You can't get distracted by working
on a job, you can't get distracted by getting involved in
politics, you can't get distracted by what is referred to as
extra-cnrricular activities. That is true only to the extent
that the distractions may preempt the real purpose of )'Our
four year stay at college. To that extent that is a valid
goal. To the extent that it places you in a sterile environment from the point of view of your total activity while
you are there, it is probably not a good idea. I would say
it is probably not a good idea under any circumstances to
create intellectual experiences. Some of the books were
not written out of isolated intellectual experiences. Some
of the books were written by people who were involved
in the most intense way with everything around them. I
don't think Machiavelli could have written The Prince if
he hadn't gotten his hands pretty dirty with the business
of Renaissance politics. I think it is important not to
interrupt the business of living for a four year period
while you go about the business of discovering "truth" in
an abstract way.
FROSS: In our period, to try to flesh out what Peter is
saying, I can recall only two kinds of rather strong contact with the so-called outside world. One of them was a
formal one, a Sunday night meeting which was arranged
to take advantage of the existence in 'Vashington, D. C.
of people who were very involved in the war and in government. They came down and talked to us about current
affairs. Usually they were very cerebral and extremely able
people. We would question them in the traditional St.
John's style, but it was very non-activist kind of thing.
The second thing that did involve some activity but was
so minor as to kind of paint us into our proper picture, as
of those days, was that there was a Great Books Seminar
in the Negro community in Annapolis. There was a relationship between some of the members of the faculty and
the black community which was in these days quite an
extraordinary thing because it was about the only tie that
l3
�The College
existed between whites and blacks in Annapolis.
SPAETH: Has it been true for you gentlemen that what
you learned as relatively inexperienced people had a significant impact as the years passed and you gamed that
experience? In other words, did St. John's have a continuing influence in the last 25 years?
WEISS: I suppose it did in terms of style. I don't think
it did in terms of content. It has had a continuing effect
in terms of style and by that I mean that in the four years
at St. John's, interrupted as they were by three years at
war, I developed a kind of view of the interconnectedness
of things. This is something that I insist on not giving up.
I insist, even though in our profession AI and I arc about
as specialized as you can get. .We insist on two things.
One is to go about our specialized professional work in a
very generalized way, that is, by bringing to it as much
knowledge and experience from other disciplines and other
branches of the law as we can muster. And beyond this
office I, for myself, I insist on not taking isolated events
and dealing with them as isolated events because that is
death to the understanding. I would like to think that has
to do with the habit of thought that I might have acquired
in Annapolis. It becomes more and more difficult to make
sense out of the whole. I mean the kind of cosmic structures that you can erect in your minds sitting around a
seminar table just don't seem to stand up too well when
you start sending probes or tamping at the supports. But
you keep trying. You keep trying to relate what has happened in Viet Nam to what is happening in the theatre
and what is happening in the theatre to what is happening
with the distribution of wealth of the world and you
keep being obsessed by the need to know more so that
you can flesh out the tentative structure that you have in
your head. I am not saying that St. John's is the only place
that can give you that but I think it may be a little easier
to get there.
FROSS: I think that Peter may be saying that to some
extent we have learned to live in a world in which we
sometimes think we have grasped some truths but where
the whole picture continuously eludes us, but nevertheless we keep on looking. That is one of the things that
happened in the four years, that the big prize of the total
picture always eluded us and as far as we could tell it
always eluded everyone else. You can either become a
cynic and say it's not worth bothering about, or you can
learn to live with that and just keep on going. Peter, for
example is a very much more patient person, although he
is not an outstandingly patient one, than he would be but
for his having been at St. John's. I think that he puts up
with more nonsense than he would otherwise put up with.
WEISS: Now you are making too big a claim for the
College.
FROSS: I will go back to what I said earlier; we start out
with certain kind of character propensities. Peter said
before that I am interested in people. He is obviously,
14
from what you know about his career, interested in ideas.
He is very drawn to trying to work up an ideological construct, which he tries to test out and see how It works out,
and obviously both of us have our disappointments. People disappoint me; ideas sometimes disappoint him, but I
think we have developed a certain amount of patience as
a result of our experiences. Am I right about that?
WEISS: Yes, you have got to be right about that to the
extent that unless you slept through four years of seminars
you can't take somebody's proposition that is handed to
you and say, "Yes, that is it" without saying, "Wait a
minute, what about this part? what about that part? and
does it square with so and so and such and such?"
FROSS: And really, if it is basically wrong, is it 100%
garbage? That is another thing that one learns, that somehow or other, if it is an idea that comes from a person
who is a thoughtful person, it may be wrong but it rarely
is totally irrelevant. Usually there is something in it that
needs to be found and thought about.
WEISS: Again, I don't know how much credit the College deserves for that but I have, going back to those
days, a kind of sentimental attachment to the truth and
like people telling me that something happened in _a certain way when I suspect that it didn't, even though It
may fit more conveniently to the overall scheme of things
to believe that it happened the way they said it did.
·
SPAETH: You, very much like the faculty and students,
now refer generally to "the College" as having done this
or that or having influenced you in a certain way. Do you
usually think of it that way, or do you distinguish certain
books, or certain parts of the program-or the Tutors, or
certain Tutors?
WEISS: I can't say that some books taught me more than
other books. Obviously they did because some books I
can't even remember, but the thing that remains is the
habit of dealing with the printed words as it communicates somebody's message. That is what remains from the
entire experience of four years of fighting books. In discussions about the war with young lawyers I keep findmg
myself somewhat pompously coming back to The_ Republic as the one book that really teJJs you what law IS, as
opposed to aJJ the theories you get from books of jurisprudence-or at least it is the book that tells you how
law grows out of the life of the people. I could give yo~
other examples like that but it is not important. What IS
important is the habit of thought and the habit of not
standing still. I wonder what it would be like to start
afresh now, if you didn't already believe that, whether you
reach it or not, there is a way to put aJJ the pieces together. If you didn't already believe that, what would
happen if you just started at St. John's today, say, knowing
what AI and I know about what an impossible thing it is
to grasp it all. What would it be like to say-Okay, now
we know about the fact that technology means that we
are going to die faster than we would if we had not tech-
�July 1973
nology; international law means that people can get up at
the UN and justify almost and kind of genocide or other
atrocity in terms of some branch of international law, that
the world's most respected statesmen can get up and lie
like people on their third bottle of booze. What would it
mean to live in that kind of would and have that kind
of experience every time you pick up the newspapers and
then say, "Yes, but somehow it must all fit together and
I am going to keep looking for the grand pattern."
FROSS: In a way you are asking how we would, if we
went back today, read Plato.
WEISS: Yes, I am asking that.
SPAETH: I think that is a very interesting point, because it is often a criticism made of young people reading
those books, that they are reading books written by older
men, who in fact had a life somewhat like you describe.
That is, the authors saw the world as being rather rougher
than an 18 year old has seen it. Hobbes, for example, wrote
in the context of a quite violent society. I don't know
whether that is an argument in favor of reading these
books at age 50 rather than 18, or against it.
WEISS: It is probably an argument in favor of re-reading
them periodically.
FROSS: I think if I was right in what I said earlier, Peter,
what it comes to is that reading Plato at age 18 forever
conditioned us because even though you made this little
speech, you go right on as if it were possible.
WEISS:, Yes, that is true. For instance at the Center for
Constitutional Rights where I do some of what lawyers
call pro bona publico where civil rights are constitutionalized, I sign my letters "Justice". I don't think I would
be doing it unless I believed there was such a thing. I
work with a lot of radical lawyers. I consider myself a
radical lawyer, and they talk about justice but I am not
quite sure what they mean. In fact, it really doesn't make
much difference. Again, coming from different places, we
know when somebody is being exploited and we know
when somebody is being worked over and we know when
the process of the law is being abused, and we probably
fight it in very similar ways. I have somewhere in the back
of my mind a kind of grey omnipresence that says there
is something called justice.
FROSS: And I think that you continue to be prayerful
that the courts will produce it. You know that they often
do not, but you are not eager to see the courts destroyed
which I think some radical lawyers would be willing to
have happen.
WEISS: We can't afford to have the courts destroyed
just now. When we have a just society we won't need the
courts, but that is something else.
SPAETH: Did you come to current civil rights problems
from an. abstract notion of justice rather than some attachment to the Constitution?
WEISS: I come to it from a sense of deep outrage at
what people are doing to people but, you see, my outrage
is compounded and heightened by the fact that they are
doing these things in the name of justice, Constitution,
democracy. Yes, I am doubly outraged when Spiro Agnew
speaks of democracy because it does have a meaning to
me. I think of it as a beautiful construct in the abstract
from those days when I was reading Plato, and the mere
fact that it doesn't work today does not mean that I can't
still in an intellectual way be in love with it and fight all
the harder to sec if we can get a little closer to its realization. What I am saying is that the fact that the world
is becoming messier and messier, that you find it harder
and harder to get a handle on it, doesn't mean that you
get away from some notion of what justice means other
than what Nixon says, or what some of my friends on the
left are saying. Maybe there were times when what my
friends on the left are saying is closer to what I thought
it was when I read Plato. In some way that is coincidental
because some of my friends on the left don't have any
firmer foundation for what they are saying is the right
kind of society than Nixon or Agnew do.
SPAETH: Mr. Fross, do you want to comment on that?
FROSS. Yes, I would. I think that while an individual's concept of what is justice probably can and must
change throughout his life as he is reflective about what
he has seen and read and what he is experiencing, that a
life without a meaningful concept of justice in it which
is always evolving is an impoverished one. I think that
both of us are prepared to risk being wrong about what
justice is from time to time, but we are certainly not willing to give up trying to find out what it is and trying to
do something about it. In Peter's case it is in terms of the
kind of work that he does outside his office, and in mine,
since I don't have his energy or his willpower, it is in trying to control my immediate environment.
WEISS: And somebody has to keep the office going.
FROSS: I don't think it is a matter of difference in just
plain emotional and physical energy. I limit myself to
my immediate environment and try very hard in that
environment to live out what is my belief about justice.
I certainly am willing to suffer distress because of my
wrongness about it from time to time because I have
been wrong. I think that, to some extent, what you are
hearing about us is temperamental and that in a way the
St. John's experience has been relevant in that it has given
us the strength to do the things that we are temperamentally suited to do.
\"'EISS: If you want to put it in plain ordinary English,
there is an abiding distrust of pragmatism which I carry
through life with me and which I picked up at St. John's.
By that I don't mean that I am not willing to try ten
different approaches to a solution if the first nine don't
work, but I mean that I have no patience with the notion
15
�The College
that things are good if they work and had if they don't
work.
SPAETH: I have heard the criticism from an alumnus
from your era that students now-a-days are less emotional
than you were. He said that seminars used to be much
more of a laying out of your own personal behefs and
questions on the tables, a kind of unburdening of yourselves with respect to the argument in question. Whereas
he observed at the College in recent years a more academic
concern with what is in the books and whether it is right.
WEISS: If he was from our generation then maybe AI
gave you the answer when he talked about the special
quality of our generation in terms of the war period.
SPAETH: I would like to use this opportunity to go
back to that. I am interested in the fact, Mr. Fross, that
you said that the scale of the College in those days was
especially important to you as it related to the reading
of the books. It is often said at St. John's now that a
small college is important (although we have grown to
370 students) and it is also repeatedly said that the particular program is important. But I rarely hear the two
related to one another as you have. I think you might say
more about that.
FROSS: I think that the size of the community forced a
kind of seriousness about one another. We were not quick
to dismisS an idea of someone with whom we were going
to live on a regular basis. We might not like his vision
of the world but we really did feel that we had to come
to grips in some way with what his vision was, and sometimes the vision, especially in the period when I returned
from the war, was one that was very difficult to come
to grips with because it was the vision of a 16 year old
kid who really should not have been in the College at all.
Nevertheless the community was small and there was
some feeling of responsibility. I think that that feeling
of responsibility toward one another was an element of
growth and a tension that was very valuable. I said also
that I thought that we were lucky in that the group
changed several times over the period of our years because of the war moving populations in and out, so that
while we were always very small the population itself
was a changing one. Now at this time in history I am
glad that the College is not 200, I am glad that it is
nearer 370 or so because I think that if the College
were as small as we were and the population stayed
the same for four years that it would be very difficult
to have enough freshness in the group. I would hope
also that if the College does stay as small as this, and I
think it should, that there would be a fair amount of
interchange between New Mexico and Annapolis so that
there would be some freshening of the atmosphere from
time to time. Do you have any reaction to all this, Peter?
WEISS: Yes, I agree. I have a discussion sometimes with
my wife and I guess I will increasingly as our kids get to
be of college age. She went to the University of Wiscon-
I6
sin, which is a huge place, and was very happy there
because there were so many people and so much to do,
so much activity, so much ferment, intellectual, political,
social. She finds it hard to conceive of that level, that
intensity of activity taking place in an institution as small
as St. John's. And there probably is, as AI said, a minimum
size that is required for the kind of community that St.
John's tries to be. Obviously you can have a community
of two people or a community of 10 people or of 100 but
not in a college situation.
SPAETH: What exactly is so important in the smallness? Is it how well you get to know your fellow students?
FROSS: I don't think so. I think that it has to do with
the degree of responsibility which you feel for his condition, particularly if you are in a community that is in
ferment, and ours always was. I can't recall any time when
there wasn't some element of ferment in it, personal ferment. We talked about the early years and the conversions
in that period. For those who had returned from the war,
there were the problems of readjustment, of trying to make
sense out of their experiences. There were very many different experiences involved. I think that we all, regardless
of whether we were interested in people or interested in
ideas, or both, simply tried to deal with one another in a
very responsible fashion.
WEISS: At a large university you can get lost if yon
want to get lost. At a place as small as St. John's you really
can't get lost, you can't hide. Whether you want to have
relationships with people or not they are going to be
forced on you.
FROSS: I think it is also very wholesome not to be able
to bite off people who are not part of your past experience
and just say they are irrelevant. Yon just couldn't do that
in that small community.
SPAETH: That is, you were forced to take all kinds that
happened to be there.
FROSS: Right, they were all part of the dialogue in one
way or another even if they weren't talking.
SPAETH: I came from Catholic schools and we were
always told that if we went to large universities we should
find the Newman club and then we could always associate with Catholics. I never went to a university like that
but it would have been a tremendous waste I am sure. At
St. John's I think there are no clubs at all of the sort that
people use to go to, to be with like-minded people.
FROSS: Now hack in our day, Mr. Kaplan ran a Bible
class in which he did try to give, as I understand it, some
understanding of the Jewish religious tradition but that
class was always attended by a substantial number of nonJews.
SPAETH: He is still giving that class.
FROSS: Is he? How marvelous! 11
�COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Annapolis 1973
by FORD K. BROWN
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Freshman Class-of 1969,
naturallyFellow intellectuals, on the democratic premise, necessary to you as to us, that the term "intellectual" implies a
steadfast care for things of the intellect beyond just those
of the intelligible and in so many areas all-too-intelligible
worldBetween 1969 and these present moments a long four
years may have brought about changes in you perhaps
greater than you have realized. A simple example: It would
have been all right for me to address you as the Freshman
·Class back then. Nowadays everybody knows that as a
matter of decency, anti-racism, justice, liberation and so
on you would have to be called the Freshman and Freshwoman Class, which for propriety, justice, decency, liberation and remnants of old-time chivalry would have to
become the Freshwoman and Freshman Class, which of
course in no time-so great our passion for brevity-becomes just the Freshwoman Class.
I feel that the trivial attempt noticeable here, in a
kindly way, to right so great the ancient wrong should be
received with some calmness and sobriety. Back a century
ago Thomas Henry Huxley told us, "The rules of the
game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on
the other side is hidden from us." That player is hidden
from even the triumphant Freshwomen, and he has been
playing (she has been playing?) much the same way for
centuries. No men, perhaps even few gentlemen, have for-
got some sensational feminine characters of the past: that
little Eve for one, and then Clytemnestra and Medea and
all those Roman and Eastern empresses, and Lizzie
Borden and Ma Barker, and the no doubt innocent char·
acter who gave us Howard Cosell, and a character only
now really brought to light, the Abominable Snow
Woman. We know only that her name is Yeta.
I think it was a couple of years before you came that
I happened to listen with an earlier entering class to one
of our own lecturers who, out of the goodness of his heart
-which you would expect from all of us-was trying to
help them learn a mistakenly simple-appearing task, how
to read those of our most difficult books, namely those
that are deceptively simple. I have got permission to
17
�The College
plagiarize a few of this speaker's remarks. Freshmen, he
seemed to believe, on the word (somewhere) of Aristotle,
are by their nature young, innocent, ingenuous and naive,
consequently unsophisticated, idealistic and optimistic,
what is called "generous to a fault"-that is, knowing no
duplicity, trickery or even irony, suspecting none-hence
quite unexperienced in the ways of this novel field of their
intellectual world, given therefore to a feeble acceptance
or a disabling renitency and little competent, even among
the now Freshwomen themselves, to cope with things
attainable only by people who are alert, wary, forewarned
and forearmed and constantly suspicious, in a nice intel-
lectual way, of anything they read.
Discounting now, suspiciously, a good part of that
oracular pronouncement about Aristotle's freshmen, it's
clear that your just being here speaks of a considerable,
in felicitous cases an extraordinary, intellectual and spiritual growth, in some cases (if this class at all resembles
others) almost as if an act of Nature's player, perhaps
even one of those dispensations that leave beholders only
to exclaim mirabile dictul (I speak in Latin to give no
offense) ... and still, even then, with members more than
competent to join with the generality in hosannas along
the lines of an old familiar formula, "What Hath Freshwoman Wrought!", and continuing on devoted solely to
the unflinching pursuit of idle curiosity ... which I perhaps should explain is the curiosity that seeks knowledge
for its own sake. (I interrupt myself here to add about
that paragraph a brand new bulletin fresh from after the
President's Dinner, to the effect that it was a good, civilized show even after the generous booster shots out in
left field.)
I add here, as I certainly ought to do, a trivial incident
but to be sure one that could possibly suit that unknown
player "on the other side," in a conversation I had once
with one of our elder non-statesmen teachers a few years
ago. "Nobody," one of us said, "with such beautiful
violet eyes will ever get a failing mark from me." We
agreed, as I remember. Of course I was joking, and I
think Mr. Kaplan was.
n
It's likely that the nature of this College had something to do with your success, player of Nature or no
player, and, to help explain that, I'm going to take you
back some centuries, to medieval times, and to France,
and particularly to a small town some fifty miles south of
Paris where the townspeople had decided to build themselves a new church. There are extraordinary things about
that clmrch-"cette belle egJise," the preacher there used
to say in modern times, with a monstrosity of modestyand there are two or three things in particular of special
interest to you and to all this College. The first is that
the church was built by scholars; the second is the
peculiar nature of the builders; and the third we might
call "the Epigone Connection."
The church is Our Lady of Chartres, the house of the
Virgin Mary, the Queen of the cathedral; and it was
built back there, from 1194 to 1220, with a care of pre-
18
CISIOn, a meticulous certainty of workmanship, and as
absolute and inspectorate sureness of measure and proportion on the part of the builders as there was in the
imagination of the architects; it had to be that way in this
noblest of all the churches of the Queen, for in it everything was for her alone. There has never been even a
funerary monument in this cathedral and nobody has
ever been buried in it, "Lest there should be a profanation
or contamination of her purity." No other church or insti-
tution possesses the Veil of the Virgin, given in 876 by
Charles the Bald, or the ancient relic known as the Shift,
or Tunic, of the Virgin. The great stained window of the
Bakers' Guild has a little basket of rolls at the bottom, at
the bottom of the Shoemakers' Guild there is a little
shoemaker at work, but it is a notable signature of the
times and the place that of all the sculptured pieces on
and in the cathedral, everywhere, over three thousand of
them, with hundreds of figures of the Old and New
Testaments, and long~ arrays of bishops, saints and martyrs,
not one bears a sculptor's signature, and the name of only
one man is known who could reasonably be assumed to
have worked there; he signed his name and his townChartres-in another cathedral. Even the name of the
greatest of the builders, called the Master of Chartres, is
not known. The sculptures, the figures of the saints and
others in the unequalled stained glass-there are 3,889 of
them-and every magnificent achievement or new discovery of this Gothic period-the flying buttresses that
permitted the great size and number of the windows, the
masterly placing of the glass to let light in-all was a
splendid offering to the Queen of the Cathedral in which
everything was for her.
I'm going to cap this little piece about Notre Dame de
Chartres by citing one sentence from a modern writer,
author of a book called The Gothic Cathedral, published
in the Bollingen Series established by our alumnus Paul
Mellon. This is an extraordinary sentence, eloquent,
oracular and covering a truly large field; but I think he is
probably right.
In our own time, no work of art, religious or
otherwise, has an importance that is even remotely comparable to that which compelled an
entire generation to pour its energies and resources into the construction of the cosmos of
stone that, between 1194 and 1220, rose gradually
and breathtakingly above the town of Chartres.
iii
In the West Facade or Portail Royale of the Cathedral,
with some of the most beautiful statuary in the world,
beneath the large figure of the Virgin is a little group of
characters that I believe you will like. I quote about them
from the Chartraine Chamber of Commerce, or Syndicate
of Initiative, Guide if you prefer.
"The sciences are symbolized by figures of women and
under each of them the man who has most honored the
science in question."
�July 1973
Science ... in a cathedral devoted to the Virgin Mary?
Quite so, and the men who stood for the sciences are
mostly well known to you. It just happens that there are
seven of them.
The figures are:
Dialectic and Aristotle
Rhetoric and Cicero
Geometry and Euclid
Arithmetic and Boethius
Astronomy and Ptolemy
Grammar and Priscian (or Donatus; these little figures are not named and there is some argument about
them)
Music and Pythagoras
These seven sciences furthermore are placed just next
to the throne of the Virgin, their position there, we are
told by Henry Adams, testifying to her intellectual superiority, indicating that she had a perfect mastery of what
we still call the seven Liberal Arts.
At this time it is clear that the modern canonical division of the seven Liberal Arts appears little useful as the
four sciences known as the quadrivium become in every
way all in all. Here a difference in science and art fades
as this whole undertaking rests upon a single brief basic
concept: Architecture is geometry.
To save time I am obliged to call on Professor Von
Simson again:
I. The beauty of the edifice consists of the crystalline
clarity of the structural anatomy.
2. The perfection of this great architectural system is
the perfection of the proportions, proportions that the
master developed not according to his personal intuition
but by exact geometrical calculations.
3. And it is that certainty of procedure that enables one
to speak (I quote again) of "the aesthetic and structural
relevance of proportion."
Again, architecture is geometry.
I turn from this with two laconic sentences ... feeling
that they don't need to be anything else:
I. Nobody, no group, no institution, no country has
ever since the 13th century built a more beautiful building.
2. The Cathedral School of Chartres, as a school, taught
nothing but the seven Hsciences."
believed the word "peculiar" meant peculiar, if not actually mad. We had an odd indication of that some years
ago when a very new member of the College Board pointed
out to them, in a rather eloquent way, that the cause of
our getting too few students was that we were "rowing
against the tide." All other undergraduate liberal arts colleges-and universities-it is true had a few required
courses but offered, in many disciplines, some of them
hardly believable, the (to our mind) pedagogical horror
called the Elective System.
I don't remember how it was gently explained to this
new member that we were actually bending every effort
and sinew to an exactly opposite course. Since then two
things seem obvious; first that since those early days we
have made a very considerable progress, and second that
we still are a peculiar people and we ought to keep in
mind that there are various shades of meaning in "peculiar," one of them being "peculiar,-all too peculiar." I
present a couple of drastic examples out of the Middle
Ages.
The first is a Saint Jean, called the Taciturn, who (I
quote) "never took a bath, that he might not shock his
modest eyes," and the second a rather likely colleague
San Luis de Gonzagua, who (I quote) "had such a terror
of women that he dared not look at his mother for fear
of evil thoughts."
I must say that those saintly gentlemen forcibly reminded me of our own Plotinus, not a saint I believe but
a mere philosopher, who hated his body, we're told by his
official biographer, so greatly that he would never mention
the day of his birth or the names of his father and
mother. I confess to a feeling of some satisfaction when I
found out from an old MS. that Plotinus's body eventually came to hate him. That is what is known nowadays
at least in western movies as a Mexican standoff, the signature line for it being, "He don't hate me no mor'n I
hate him." It appears in the adult westerns too ... the
ones called adult because they use the older horses.
It seems doubtful that we have any real right to claim
that the guarantee of the Almighty (Deut. 14.2) to his
peculiar people has descended on us, though occasionally
you do hear such talk that you might for an instant think
so. But a hosanna is a loud cry of joy and worship, and
it is much more becoming when it is not addressed to
ourselves.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Class of 1973-
iv
Far back in the early Old Testament days some of the
Jewish nation began to call themselves " a peculiar people." This was very sensible of them, as they had received
a direct mandate, Deuteronomy 14.2, "You are a peculiar
people." Of course that meant simply, You are different
from other people-I have declared you my people and
all other people I have not and I'm not going to.
When St. John's College in 1937 began its pure liberal
arts program and its wholly required course of study,
there Was no lack of people, including educators, who
I have overstepped my time alotted, and I would like
to leave you one kind of circumstance that seems to have
some comforting aspects. Forty or fifty years ago the
archeologists found what they believed might be the
oldest piece of writing in the world. It was a fragment of a
letter from an Egyptian father to his son at school; and
this oldest piece of writing said,
"The world is going to the dogs."
Hail and farewell ... Have a good life ... We celebrate
Homecomings in October. II
19
�PROFILE: LOUIS L. SNYDER, '28
For Louis L. Snyder, author of more
than 40 books and a professor of history for 40 years, almost all of his intellectual life finds its roots in his
years as a student at St. John's. Both
his fellow students of the class of 1928
and the faculty were "first-cl?ss/' remembers Dr. Snyder today. Their influence has not diminished with the
passage of the intervening years.
'~My
the smartest boys we ever had/' according to a pal who knew him well.
But to enter St. John's meant digging
up the $150 annual tuition, which
neither Lou nor his parents could
afford. A scholarship was offered by a
interest in history was aroused
by a great teacher, Clarence Stryker,
and my interest in writing by two additional magnificent teachers, Ford
Brown and Thomas Brockway," Snyder said recently. Furthermore, his specific interest in modern German history was also derived from a St. John's
professor, Richard Kuehnemund, who
arranged 'l fellowship for Snyder in
1928 to the University of Frankfurt
am Main.
It is fair to say that Louis Snyder,
in return for what St. John's did for
him, has spread the name of his alma
mater more widely than any other
person. Because he is general editor of
Anvil Books, a Van Nostrand paperback history series, the name of St.
John's College appears as part of his
biography on the back cover of each
tributions in prose instead of poetry."
This
away
In
from
20
advice, Snyder says, turned him
from poetry forever.
1924, Lou Snyder was graduated
Annapolis High School, "one of
non-academic activities ranged from
observing the rising horror of Adolf
Hitler to arranging engagements for
the St. John's Collegians, a jazz band
from back in Annapolis in which Snyder had played alto saxophone.
Upon returning to the United States
he found no jobs, for the Depression
had hit during his stay abroad. So he
returned to studying, at Columbia University, where he met the noted historian Carleton J. H. Hayes. Professor
Hayes gave to Louis his second great
scholarly interest, the study of uationalism.
Hitler and the menace he represented remai-ned in Snyder's mind, so
in the summer of 1931 he wrote a book
prophesying Hitler's rise to power.
This book, Hitlerism: the Iron Fist in
Germany, was published under the
pseudonym "Nordicns" -but not without a prior dismissal by Walter Lippmann, who observed, "Youth is inclined to exaggeration." Snyder today
considers it "a bad book-full of prophecies." He smiles, however7 and admits
of the two million copies in circulation.
It was in Frankfurt that Snyder's
scholarly career first took shape in book
form, with a doctoral dissertation on
Bismarck's personal and political relations with Americans. But his writing
career had begun at the age of ten,
when he submitted a poem to the editor of his home-town newspaper, the
Annapolis Evening Capital. The editor
printed the poem and wrote: "We are
publishing this poem at the request of
the author. We do hope, however, that
in the future he will make such con-
Snyder's studies in Germany from
1928 to 19 31 fixed his in teres! in German history. While in Frankfurt, his
Louis L. Snyder
local bank, and four great years commenced for the future historian.
While he was a student, he wrote for
The Collegian, edited the "Rat-Tat"
(the college annual), and was a stringer
for the Baltimore Sun. He studied history, English, and the German language, and was graduated at the top
of his class. At the 1928 commencement, he was awarded a $15 prize for
writing the best essay on the subject of
World Peace and was off to Weimar
Germany at age 21.
that most of the prophecies were
proved correct by events.
The year 1933 brought Snyder a
teaching position in the history department of the City College of New York.
111at appointment has lasted until
now. His teaching has been the foundation for all of his subsequent writing
efforts. His special fields have been
modern Cermany7 nationalism, the en-
lightenment, intellectual history, and
the two world wars.
"[ consciously write on one of three
levels," Snyder says. "All three give
me special pleasure, and I do not try
to mix them." The levels are: scholarly,
exemplified by The Meaning of Nationalism; general, such as The Bloodand-Iron Chancellor; and children's
books, such as The First Book of
�July 1973
World War I. Some of the children's
books have been written in collaboration with his wife, Ida Mae Brown of
Baltimore, herself a Phi Beta Kappa
from Columbia.
Of all his books, which is the best?
Snyder answers this question in two
ways: "I am most proud of The Meaning of Nationalism, but my most successful book has been The War: A
Concise History, 1939-1945." The latter has been translated into a dozen
languages.
At age 66, Louis Snyder is not slowing down. One of his largest projects
has come off the Rutgers University
Press in May of this year. This is The
Dreyfus Case: A Documentary History
-448 pages of documents and commentary, with 92 photographs. Soon
to be published is A Comparative History of Nationalism.
It is no surprise to hear Dr. Snyder
say that "writing is a compulsion" a-nd
"there is no end to it." He and his
wife, who doubles as his editor and
"unofficial collaborator" on all his
books, are spending this summer in
London where, at the British Museum,
he is working on "a massive project"
on the Tbird Reich for McGraw-Hill.
Snyder spent the past academic year's
sabbatical from CCNY working on this
book at his home in Princeton, N.J.,
and at the Princeton University Library. He left for London with 2000
pages of manuscript in first draft and
with hopes of completing the work in
1974.
Louis Snyder preceded the New Program at St. John's by a decade, but he
has continued to pay close attention to
the College. In I 969 he received the
Alumni Award of Merit. His judge-
ment today on the New Program is
characteristically direct: "plainly and
simply magnificent." He says this time
he agrees with Walter Lippmann, that
the program has made St. John's the
Athens of America.
Snyder, as one would expect of a
professional historian 1 finds one "obstacle" to the program. "This program
is emphatically not for every student,"
he says. "It is for the student who has
a good basic preparatory school education. It is useless to involve the student
with the concept of the Platonic Idea
or Kant's categorical imperative unless
he has some basic training in the ways
of civilization." It would involve only
a slight amount of editorial license for
this writer to suggest that many of the
ways of civilization can be discovered
in the books of Louis L. Snyder himself.
THE PUBLICATIONS OF LOUIS L. SNYDER
1932 Die persoenlichen und politischen Beziehungen Bismarcks zu
1932
1935
Amerikaneru, Inaugural Dissertation, Darmstadt e.V.
Hitlerism: The Iron Fist in Germany, Mohawk Press
From Bismarck to Hitler: The Background of German Nation-
alism, Bayard Press
1936 Mastery Units in Modern History, Colonial
1939 Race: A History at Modern Ethnic Theories, Longmans, Green
1941
1942
1942
1949
1949
1950
1952
1952
1954
1955
n.d.
1955
1955
1957
1958
1958
1959
1959
1961
1961
1962
&Co.
A Survey of European Civilization, Vol, 1: To the End of
the Middle Ages, Stackpole
A Survey of European Civilization, Vol. 2: From 1500 to the
Present, Stackpole
A Handbook of Civilian Protection, ed. with Richard B. Morris
and Joseph E. Wisan, Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill
A Treasury of Great Reporting (with Richard B. Morris),
Simon and Schuster
Vitalized Modern History (with J. Alexis Fenton), College
Entrance
A Treasury of Intimate Biographies, Greenberg
They Saw It Happen (with Richard B. Morris), Stackpole
German Nationalism: The Tragedy of a People, Stackpole
The Meaning of Nationalism, Rutgers Univ. Press
The Age of Reason, Van Nostrand
The \Xlorld in the 20th Century, Van Nostrand
Fifty Major Documents ot the 20th Century, Van Nostrand
Fifty Major Documents of the 19th Century, Van Nostrand
A Basic History of Modern Germany, Van Nostrand
Documents of Germany History, Rutgers Univ. Press
TI1e First Book of World War I, Franklin Watts
The First Book ot World War II, Franklin Watts
The First Book of the Soviet Union, Franklin Watts
Hitler and Nazism, Franklin Watts
The War: A Concise History, 1939-1945, Julian Messner
The Imperialism Reader: Documents and Readings in Modern
Expansionism, Van Nostrand
The Idea of Racialism, Van Nostrand
Masterpieces of \Var Reporting, Julian Messner
The First Book of the Long Armistice, Franklin Watts
Tile Dynamics of Nationalism: Readings in its Meaning and
Development, Van Nostrand
1965 The Military History of the Lusitauia, Franklin Watts
1966 Pauorama of the Past, Vol. 1: Ancient Times to 1815, {with
M. Perry and B. Mazen), Houghton Miffiin
1966 Panorama of the Past, VoL 2: 1815 to The Present, (with
M. Perry and B. Mazcn), Houghton, Miffiin
1966 The Weimar Republic, Van Nostrand
1966 Bismarck and German Unification (with Ida Mae Brown), in
The Immortals of History Series, Franklin Watts
1966 Western Europe: A Scholastic Multi-Text on World Affairs,
Scholastic Enterprises
1967 The Making of Modern Man: Western Civilization Since 1500,
Van Nostrand
1967 The Blood-and-Iron Cbanceiior: A Documentary Biography,
Van Nostrand
1968 The New Nationalism, Cornell Univ. Press
1968 Frederick The Great (with Ida Mae Brown), in the Immortals
of History Series, Franklin Watts
1970 Frederick the Great, in the Great Lives Observed Series, Prentice-Hall
1971 The Dreyfus Affair, a Focus Book, Franklin Watts
1971 Great Turning Points in History, Van Nostrand-Reinhold
1973 The Dreyfus Case: A Documentary History, Rutgers Univ. Press
(In Press) A Comparative History of Nationalism, in the Comparative
Dimensions in History Series, edited by Leonard W. Levy and Eugene
C. Black, Holt, Rinehart and Winston
(In Press) A Survey of Global Civilization (in collaboration with Mark
\V. Hirsch), Van Nostrand
(In Preparation) Reflections ou German History, a collection of essays,
articles, and reviews.
1962
1964
1964
1964
21
�Graduation 1973
ANNAPOLIS GRADUATES
LARGEST CLASS IN HISTORY
The largest class in the history of the
College was graduated at commencement exercises at Annapolis on May 27.
Sixty-two seniors were presented their
B.A. degrees by President Richard D.
Weigle and Provost Paul D. Newland.
Ford K. Brown, Tutor Emeritus, gave
the commencement address. (His remarks appear elsewhere in this issue.)
David K. Allison of Charlotte, N.C.,
dence E. Davis, Ronald J. Deal, Lee
H. Elkins, Peter M. Fairbanks, Jon T.
Ferrier, John H. Fitch, Jean K. FitzSimon, David F. Gilmore, Roger D.
Greene, Jan L. Huttner, Robin Kowalchuk, Maura M. Landry, Russell C.
Lipton, Sarah C. Lusk, Robert I. Main,
was awarded his degree summa cum·
laude. Mr. Allison won the silver medal
for the senior with the highest standing
and also received honorable mention
for his senior essay.
Summa Cum Laude: David K. Allison.
Magna Cum Laude: Peter van Tuyl
Davis, Matthew Albritton Frame.
Cum Laude, Deborah Achtenberg,
Jennifer Blaisdell, Robin Chalek, Richard D. Gasparotti, Debora J. Gilliland,
Nicholas A. Petrone, Joanne A. Rowbottom, Steven P. Sedlis, Elizabeth E.
Unger, Jessica R. Weissman.
Rite, Edward W. Allen, Peter J.
Aronson, Mary L. Batteen, Martha J.
Bauer, Jerrold R. Caplan, Mary L.
Coughlin, Bryant G. Cruse, Patrick J.
D'Addario, Ronald J. Davidoff, Pru22
David K. Allison
Matthew T. Mallory, Melissa J. Matthews, Frederick N. Mattis, Craig V.
Mooring, Jeanne H. Mooring, Jan
Munroe, Katherine O'Callaghan, Daniel S. Pearl, Lee D. Perlman, Deborah
E. Schifter, Michael J. Schneider,
Kathy Sciacchitano, C. Brian -Scott,
Carol D. Shuh, Jeffrey A. Sinks, Daniel
Sohn, Jane E. Spear, James E. Tourtelott, Vanessa L. van Manen, Dana
K. Warren, Doris E. Warren, Bruce
C. Wheeler, Irving H. Williams, Mary
Jane Young, David C. Chute.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
Silver medal from the Board of Visitors and Governors-David K. Allison. The Sen. Millard E. Tydings
award for excellence in speaking-Craig
Mooring. The Duane L. Peterson
scholarship of $1,250 to a JuniorNelson Lund.
Best Senior essay-Sarah C. Lusk.
Best Junior essay-Antonio L. Marino.
Best Sophomore essay-George M. D.
Anastaplo and Frank R. Hunt. Best
Freshman essay-Juliet E. Goslee.
Freshman-Sophomore mathematics
prize-Shiu-Chun Wong. Best Greek
translation-Nelson Lund. Best French
translaticm-Timothy W. Born. (This
translation appears elsewhere in this
issue.) Best musical comment-James
Nelson Jarvis.
Scholarship awards of $1,000 each by
the C. Markland Kelly, Jr. Memorial
Foundation-Janet L. Christhilf, Ted
A. Blanton, David E. Clement.
�July 1973
Mark D. Jordan
Former Senator Eugene ]. McCarthy is shown here awaiting the start of the baccalaureate service
during commencement at Santa Fe. Graduating seniors shown arc Michael E. Mongeau, Steven
L. Goldman, and Eric 0. Spriugstcd. l\.fr. McCarthy delivered the commencement address.
SANTA FE AWARDS
34 DEGREES;
HEARS EUGENE McCARTHY
Former U.S. Senator Eugene J. McCarthy addressed the May 20th Grad-
Edith Kathleen Callender, Mary Rose
Gauler, Leslie Harold Gould, Marcia
Ellen Greenbaum, Robert Morgan
Hampton, Barbara Ann Harry, Jeffrey
Alan Hockersmith, Catherine Tobin
Ingraham, Paul Dale Knudson,
Thomas Alex Lawson, Jan Malcheski,
Constance Dolores McClellan, Michael
Edward Mongeau, Nancy Kathryn
Plese, Kenneth Winston Richman, Jr.,
Barbara Ann Rogan, Lowell Thomas
Rundle, Christian Skinner Smith, Eric
Osmon Springsted, James Ross
Thompson, Jr., David Michael Wea-
uation Ceremonies at Santa Fe7 where
B.A. degrees were awarded to 33 senmrs.
The first Master of Arts conferred
on a teaching intern at Santa Fe went
to Paul D. Mannick. Mark D. Jordan
received the first summa cum laude
degree at Santa Fe. He also won the
Board of Visitors and Governors Silver Medal, he tied with Benjamin
Bergery for the prize for best senior
essay, and he received a $6,000 travel
and study fellowship from the Thomas
J. Watson Foundation.
Summa Cum Laude: Mark Durham
Jordan.
Magna Cum Laude: Benjamin Bergcry, Galen Nately Breningstall, Peter
Joseph Meadow.
Cum Laude: Karl Edward Bohl-
ver, India Williams.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
The traditional awarding of prizes
and scholarships at the Santa Fe campus included a new category: The
Bromwell Ault Memorial Scholarships
"to members of the sophomore and
junior classes for leadership ability, potential for service to society, broad intellectual interests, and academic abilmann7 Steven Lawrence Goldman 7 ity." Amounts depend on need, but a
Gary Worth Moody, Joan Marie Paine. prize of $50 accompanies each scholarRite: Michael Bruce Aaron, Michel ship.
Rene Barnes, Rebecca Ann Brinkley,
They were presented by Vice-Presi-
dent J. Burchenal Ault in memory of
his father, who died last December.
Bromwell Ault was a former member
and Chairman of the Board of Visitors
and Governors.
Winners of Awards and Prizes: Silver Medal from the Board of Visitors
and Governors-Mark Durham Jordan.
Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellowship-Mark Durham Jordan. The
Duane L. Peterson Scholarship of
$1,000 to a Junior-Alejandro Medina.
The Bromwell Ault Memorial Scholarships-Class of 1974: David Fayon
Gross, Maria Kwong, Paul Andrew McEncroe, Anne C. Ray, Stephen Arnold
Slusher. Class of 1975: Margaret Jean
Donsbach, Mark Paul Habrel, Boyd
Cooke Pratt, Richard Martin Skaug.
Best Senior Class Essay-Benjamin
Bergery and Mark Durham Jordan.
Best Junior Class Essay-Steven Dahl
'Il1omas. Best Freshman Class EssayRobyn Lu Granquist. Best English
Poems-Russell Wayne Mayfield. Second Prize-Christian Burks and Gary
Worth Moody. Best Musical Composition-Russell Wayne Mayfield. Second Prize-Mark Paul Habrel.
23
�NEWS ON THE CAMPUSES
CURTIS WILSON IS
NEW ANNAPOLIS DEAN
Curtis A. Wilson, presently on the
faculty of the University of California,
San Diego, has been appointed Dean
of St. John's in Annapolis. Mr. Wil·
son's appointment was confirmed by
the Board of Visitors and Governors
of the College at its meeting in Santa
Fe on May 19th.
Mr. Wilson is a former member of
the faculty, having served as Tutor in
Annapolis from 1948 to 1958, as Dean
for a four·year period, and then as
Tutor on the College's Santa Fe cam·
pus until 1966.
Mr. Wilson did his undergraduate
work at the University of California,
Los Angeles, and earned his M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees in the history of science
at Columbia University. During 196263 he was a Visiting Research Fellow
at Birkbeck College, University of London. Since 1966 he has been on the
faculty at the University of California,
San Diego. A corresponding Member
of the Academic internationale d'histoire des sciences since 1971, Mr. Wilson is also a former Fulbright Fellow
and author of William Heytesbury:
Medieval Logic and the Rise of Mathematical Physics, for which he did research at the University of Padua in
Italy.
Mr. Wilson will assume his duties as
Dean on July I.
JONES NAMED DIRECTOR OF
GRADUATE INSTITUTE
David C. Jones has been appointed
Director of the summer Graduate Institute in Liberal Education at Santa
Fe.
Mr. Jones has been a Tutor at St.
John's since 1964 and at Santa Fe since
1965.
24
Curtis Wilson
�July 1973
He graduated from the College in
1959 and received his M.A. at the
University of Melbourne. He succeeds
Robert A. Neidorf, who has been
named Dean of the College at Santa
Fe.
The summer program, leading to the
M.A. degree in the liberal arts, is de·
beth Mitchell, Irvin Swartzberg, and
Emmanuel Schifani.
SANTA FE APPOINTS
TWO NEW TUTORS
The Board of Visitors and Governors
has appointed two more tutors for the
Santa Fe campus for 1973-74. They are
Lorna Green and Bruce Venable.
Miss Green, 34, is a biologist holding
a Ph.D. from Rockefeller University.
She is now studying for a second Ph.D.,
in philosophy, at the University of
Toronto.
Mr. Venable, 26, has been teaching
classics at the University of Washing·
ton. He is a summa cum laude grad·
uatc of the Integrated Program of St.
Mary's College in California.
Mrs. Rinder has served as Adminis·
trative Assistant to the Dean at An·
napolis since 1969. Previously she
served as Executive Secretary to Lowe
Associates in Bedford, New York, from
1963 to 1969. She is a graduate of
Packard Commercial School in New
York City.
FORMER VICE PRESIDENT
RECEIVES LAW DEGREE
.··~
David Jones
signed for graduates of colleges other
than St. John's. It is divided into four
subject areas: Politics and Society, Lit·
erature, Philosophy and Theology, and
Mathematics and Natural Science.
BURDGE AND DONNELLEY
ARE NEW MEMBERS
Richard M. Burdge and James R.
Donnclley have been newly elected to
the Board of Visitors and Governors.
Mr. Burdge, of New York City, is
the President of the American Stock
Exchange. Mr. Donnelley is associated
with R. R. Donnelley and Sons Com·
pany in Chicago.
In other action at its May meeting
in Santa Fe, the Board elected the
following officers: Chairman, Dr.
Thomas B. Turner; Vice-chairmen,
Mrs. Clementine Peterson and Jack M.
Campbell; Secretary, W. Bernard
Fleischman; Executive Committee,
Mrs. Eleanor Ditzen, Mrs. Margaret
W. Driscoll, Walter Evers, and John
Gaw Meem.
Re-elected to the Board were Miss
Ruth M. Adams, Mrs. Margaret Bow·
die, Mrs. Eleanor Ditzcn, Mrs. Eliza-
Dr. James P. Shannon was named
"the student best representative of the
ideals of the University of New Mex·
ico Law School" and he was chosen to
give the commencement address for
his own graduating class May 20 in
Albuquerque.
Dr. Shannon, a former Roman Cath·
olic bishop, served as Vice President
of the College and Director of the
Graduate Institute at St. John's in
Santa Fe in 1969-70. He plans to join
the Santa Fe firm of Sutin, Thayer &
Browne and he is interested in law
relating to the poor and the conserva·
tion of natural resources.
He has a Ph.D. in American History
from Yale University. He served as
President of the College of St. Thomas
as well as auxiliary bishop of Min·
neapolis-St. Paul before coming to St.
John's.
ANNAPOLIS APPOINTS
NEW REGISTRAR
Paul D. Newland, Provost in An·
napolis, has announced the appointment of Mrs. Leanore B. Rinder as
Registrar, effective July 1, 1973. Mrs.
Rinder will replace Mrs. Christiana D.
\Vhite who is relinquishing her posi·
tion in order to enroll as a student at
the College. Mrs. White will continue
to work part time in the Registrar's
office.
Anne Ray
CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS
AND JEWS HONORS
ST. JOHN'S STUDENT
The National Conference of Chris·
tians and Jews in New Mexico has
presented an award to St. John's stu·
dent Anne Ray on May 2nd for her
work with a Santa Fe drug program.
Miss Ray, who is the granddaughter
of a Baptist missionary and the great·
granddaughter of a Rabbi, directs Out·
reach, Inc., which is concerned pri-
marily with teenage drug abusers. It
is a three-part program offering crisis
intervention, therapy and alternative
service. She enrolled as a freshman at
the Annapolis campus and then trans·
£erred to Santa Fe. She will be a senior
this coming year.
Miss Ray was introduced at the
awards dinner in Albuquerque by for·
mer New Mexico Governor Jack M.
Campbell, who is a vice chairman of
the St. John's Board of Visitors and
Governors.
Her work with Outreach is one of
several community programs sponsored
by Federal Title I funds at St. John's.
25
�ALUMNI ACTIVITIES
ROSENBERG, STERN ELECTED
Julius Rosenberg '38 and Thomas E.
Stern (SF) '68 this spring were elected
to three-year terms on the Board of
Visitors and Governors of the College.
Mr. Rosenberg succeeds himself, since
he has served this past year the unexpired term of J. S. Baker Middelton.
Mr. Stern will replace Myron L. Wolbarsht, who has completed the allowed
maximum of two consecutive threeyear terms. The thanks of all alumni
go to Mr. Wolbarsht, and best wishes
to Messrs. Stern and Rosenberg.
Mr. Rosenberg is a past president oC
the Alumni Association, of which he
also served as treasurer. He was Direc-
tor of Development on the Annapolis
campus from September, 1968, to December, 1971. He is currently on the
staff of the Associated Jewish Charities
and Welfare Fund of Baltimore.
Thomas Stern is a graduate of College in the first class on the western
campus, and the first Santa Fe alumnus to be elected to the Board of the
College. Following graduation he
studied film work and economics at
Stanford University, receiving an M.A.
degree in 197!. He is president of
Kinesis, Inc., a firm he organized in
1971 to produce motion pictures. Mrs.
Stern, the former Nora Gallagher of the
Santa Fe class of 1970, is employed
by the Dow Jones Company, on the
staff of the Wall Street Journal. The
26
Sterns make their home in Palo Alto,
Cal.
COUNSELLING SERVICE
The somewhat on-and-off-again program of alumni assistance to students
in matters concerning graduate school
selection and admission, career counselling, and job opportunity has taken
on new life in recent months.
Building on the groundwork of
Nancy (Eagle) Lindley's efforts several
years ago, and prodded constantly by
Jan Lisa Huttner '73, the then-student representative to the Board of the
Association, the directors have established an Alumni-Student Counselling
Service office. Costs are being borne by
the College, while operations are the
responsibility of the Association. T11e
office is on the second floor of the
Carroll Barrister House.
Under the general supervision of
V. Stephen Mainella '54, chairman of
the Alumni-College Relations Committee, a student assistant, Tina Saddy
'75, opens the office three days a week.
Miss Saddy maintains a file of interested alumni, a list of the interest areas
of juniors and seniors especially, and
schedules meetings of students with
alumni to discuss those interests. In
addition, information about governmental and other job opportunities is
kept on file. Four alumni-student meetings were held during the last few
months of the second semester, and are
scheduled to resume in the fall.
How can alumni help with this most
important project? First, if you can
talk with students on campus, by
'phone, by mail, or in their hometowns,
make sure your name and area of specialization are on file in the Coun-
selling Office. (If in doubt, send it in
again.) Second, if you know of job opportunities for which a St. John's graduate might qualify, let the Office know.
And if you think your company personnel man should consider St. John's
as a source of able young people, tell
him so.
The problems faced by new alumni
are seldom unique, but St. John's alumni may have special problems. Despite
his lack of academic specialization, and
in some cases because of it, the St.
Johnnie can fit into many situations.
We ask all alumni to help our young
alumni find those situations.
ELECTION PROCEDURES
REVIEWED
The May meeting of the directors of
the Alumni Association was devoted in
large part to a review of the procedures
for electing alumni to the Board of
Visitors and Governors.
There was general sentiment favoring earlier announcement of the election, and the desirability of finding an
alternative to the present system of
�July 1973
selecting nominees. Better ways of acquainting alumni with the nominees
was also explored.
Specific proposals, in the form of
recommended amendments to the Association By-Laws, will be mailed later
in the summer, to be acted upon at the
Annual Meeting on September 29
(Homecoming). Probable recommendations are: (I) that a call for nominees by petition go out in the fall,
possibly by way of the October issue
of The College; ( 2) that all nominees
by petition, together with those nominated by the Board of Directors, be
listed in the January issue of the
magazine, complete with biographies
and pictures; and ( 3) that a ballot be
included in the January issue to eliminate costly first class mailings.
Also to be considered is the provision requiring two votes for ballot validation when there are two places to
be filled. This provision was included
in the 1969 revision of the By-Laws to
prevent "single-shooting", whereby a
very few alumni could assure election
of a candidate by voting only for him.
When so few ballots are cast-278 in
the recent election-the results can be
rather easily controlled. Whether this
system should be continued is still subject to discussion. Opinions are welcome; send them to the Alumni Office
in Annapolis.
The last election also brought to
the attention of some alumni two
rather essential qualifications for service
on the Board of the College: Board
members must have the time to attend four two-day meetings a year, and
the money to travel to and from meetings held alternately in Annapolis and
Santa Fe. These two factors, rather
than any policy of the Association or
the College, have influenced past nominating committees to select older
alumni.
letic Director Bryce D. Jacobsen '42,
a trophy was presented to sophomore
Stephen Weber by Association President Bernard F. Gessner '27.
Unfortunately, the women's winner
was not determined until the following
week, so freshman Jacqueline Blue
could not receive her trophy at the
luncheon.
New York
The New Yark group wound up the
year with a series of three monthly
seminars, led by tutors from the Annapolis campus. In March Acting Dean
Elliott Zuckerman and John White '64
led a discussion of a chapter from
Edgar Wind's Art and Anarchy. Assistant Dean Geoffrey Comber was
present in April to help explore Melville's Bart/eby the Scrivener, and the
final session in May, discussion of
Martin Luther King's Letter from a
Birmingham Jail and the Crito, was
conducted by Robert L. Spaeth, editor
of The College.
HOMECOMING 1973
First, our apologies for the confusion
caused by an erroneous entry in the
April issue; Homecoming 1973 will
take place on Friday and Saturday, September 28 and 29, in case any of you
wondered about our calendar. And
again, the early dates were necessitated
by other activities in town the following three week-ends, activities which
fill hotels and crowd restaurants and
which ought to be avoided by Homecoming planners.
Next, the Homecoming Committee
The traditional cocktail party and
dinner are being combined this year in
an effort to trim the cost of activities.
A cocktail party cum light buffet will
be served in the gymnasium in the late
afternoon and early evening. Alumni
will then be free to make their own
dinner plans, perhaps dining with tutors or seniors. Members of the faculty
and the Senior Class will again be invited, and the Alumni Award of Merit
will probably be presented during this
activity.
A detailed program and reservation
information will be sent to all alumni
mid-summer. If you plan to join in the
fun, and want a hotel or motel reservation, let the Alumni Office know
soon. And do plan to be here: we believe that most alumni come back to
see other alumni and their friends
among the Tutors, so you do not need
full schedule details in order to make
the important decision to come to Annapolis in September.
Make a note of the dates: Friday and
Saturday, September 28 and 29. See
you at HOMECOMING.
CLASS NOTES
1927
During the 1973 session of the Maryland
General Assembly, newspaperman Elmer M.
Jackson, Jr. was singularly honored by the House
of Delegates. The legislators passed a resolution
commending Jackson for his 50 years in journnlism, saying he is " ... a fine newspaperman
who has always sought to present the news in
an honest and responsible fashion, unembellished by any malicious or self-serving distor-
tions." Jackson, a fanner president of the Alum-
ni Association, has served on 19 State commissions, and currently serves on the Capital City
event into the schedule. Last year it Commission with St. John's president Richard
was the late-Friday bash at Buzzy's; D. \Veigle. Jack claims that his business keeps
this year it will be a twilight cruise of him more active than ever, but we know that
the Severn River Friday evening, with __ 911 certain sunny days, golf has been blown to
lure him away from his desk.
is trying to introduce an occasional new
beer and sandwiches to accompany the
scenery of a still-beautiful river. For
1929
those alumni wanting more intellectual
WITH THE CHAPTERS
Annapolis
The May luncheon of the Annapolis
Alumni chapter was the occasion for
the presentation of awards to the high
point winners in the College's intramural competition. Sponsored by the
Association at the suggestion of Ath-
John \V. Boucher, who has been taking edu·
fare, there will be a lecture or concert
at the College. Buzzy's could again be
a lateonight rendezvous if we want.
On Saturday the usual events will be
cation courses at the University of Alabama in
Bim1ingham since last June, is now doing grad·
uate work toward secondary school certification. He is also teaching part-time in a preparatory school and coaching the golf team,
and " . . . thoroughly enjoying it."
held: alumni seminars, luncheon, An-
nual Meeting, graduate school counselling, and a soccer game in which the
young and/or agile may participate at
their own risk.
1936
Sharon Warfield Hebb, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Parish Hebb, was married on
March 30 in Baltimore.
27
�The College
1937
Dr. Norval A. Kemp this past winter was
appointed associate director of the Perth Amboy (N.J.) General Hospital, heading the new
division of medical affairs. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Kemp was medical administrator of
St. Francis Community Health Center, Jersey
City. A diplomate of the American Board of
Internal Medicine, Dr. Kemp is an associate
clinical professor of medicine at the College
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
1952
A long letter from Alvin Aronson to Provost
Paul Newland arrived in ear1y May, Alvin is
enrolled in a school for English teachers in
Netanya, Israel, and has a job teaching in a
high school there. Since reaching Jsrael last
fall, AI has met Jerry Cantor '49 and Raphael
Ben Josef '48. Jerry suggests they start a St.
John's in Israel; AI suggests the slogan "Read
The Bible Where It Really Happened." AI has
started a new play, about which he expresses
cautious optimism.
1956
KGO-TV in San Francisco recently received
an Emmy from the local chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and ScienCes for it~ program "Ne\\rs Scene." The award
\vas accepted by the station's news director,
Pat Polillo.
Everett H. Wilson for the past two years
has been coordinator of the Maryland Drug
Abuse Program.
1959
David Jones, a Tutor in Santa Fe since 1965,
has been named Director of the Graduate Institute in Liberal Education. David holds an
M.A. degree from the University of Melbourne,
and studied at the University of Texas before
joining the St. John's faculty.
1960
Jolm E. Gorecki is teaching English at the
University of South Carolina and is working on
his Ph.D. dissertation on Milton. His graduate work has been concentrated on Old English and Renaissance literature.
Miss Miriam Strange passed along a long
letter from Katherine (Hsu) Haas, describing
the latest enterprise in which she and husband
Ray '58 are engaged. Together with her brother,
they operate a cattle ranch near Solen, North
Dakota. That is near the Standing Rock Sioux
Reservation, south of Bismark about 40 miles,
according to the Alumni Office atlas. This new
career comes after five years teaching at the
Key School in Annapolis, four years as head of
the mathematics department at Science Research Associates in Chicago, and three years
as managing editor of the mathematics department of Field Educational Publications in
Palo Alto, Cal. Now it's 1,500 acres, 90
head of cattle (soon to be increased by 60
births), with Ray mending fences, delivering
calves, and plowing and discing the land.
Katherine is teaching school and taking courses
under the Federal Teacher Corps Program
28
at the University of North Dakota. In about
another year she will have her B.S. degree.
Since her students are mostly Indians, she has
learned their dances, and is learning the Lakota
language. (The Haas-Hsu cattle brand looks
like "Two Lazy H", if your editor has not
forgotten how to read brands.)
1962
W'. James Klug III has been transferred by
IBM from Dayton, N.J., to Bethesda, Md. He
plans to move to Poolesville, Md., about the
first of July.
1964
Another IBMer, Jim's brother Robert W.
Kiug, has been transferred from Wilmington,
Del., to Franklin Lakes, N.J. (Did you know
that IBM employs more St. John's alumni
than any other corporation?)
1966
Lauric Fink writes from North Hollywood,
Cal., where she works for a 3-D motion picture
company called Stereovision International. She
is helping to make movies, and is also learning
to be a film editor; she says the work is both
interesting and totally demanding.
1967
Loren and Carole (Picardo) Kelley let us
know in March of the birth in June, 1971,
of son Owen, and also told us Ovven is expecting a brother or sister in April or May. Loren
is still employed in Italy, where he is developing some equipment for Honeywell Italia.
Just in case you missed the item in the
"News on the Campuses" section of the April
issue, three honors graduates of this class are
joining the St. John's faculty for the next
academic year. William H. Donahue, James
R. Mensch, and Howard Zciderman next September will become members of the Santa Fe
faculty. Bill has been studying at King's College, Cambridge; Jim has earned a M.S.L.
degree from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies in Toronto and Howard received an
M.A. degree from Princeton in 1972.
1968
Thomas G. Keens, M.D. (SF) tells us he
received his medical degree from the University of California (San Diego} School of Medicine in June, 1972. He is at present finishing
his internship in pediatrics at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, and will start his first year
of residency there in July. Tom married Susan
Elizabeth Keffala in May last year. Mrs. Keens
is a 1971 psychology graduate of the John Muir
College of the University of California (San
Diego.)
Thomas E. Stern (SF), successfully nominated as an alumni representative on the
Board of Visitors and Governors of the College,
was also successful in the election. (See artic1e
elsewhere in this issue.)
1969
Steven L. and Carol Ann (Lightner) Tucker
(SF) are living in Santa Fe, where Steve is
serving as Jaw clerk to Oliver Seth, Circuit
Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Carol is
working at
\Vhen his
completed,
practice in
the Sandra Wilson Art Gallery.
service with Judge Seth has been
Steve plans to enter private law
Santa Fe.
1970
Jeffrey D. Friedman, another of our men in
Israel, reports dissatisfaction with his studies
in philosophy at the Hebrew University. He
spent the first half of this year in the Pardes
School of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem (Lydia
Kleiner '74 is also a student there). He is now
at Hartman College, and lives at Rekov HaOr
2, behind the Jerusalem Central Bus Station,
telephone (Jerusalem area code 02) 525162,
in case you are in Israel.
John D. Smith reports he is teaching a course
in "hamburger stands" in the Department of
Architecture at the University of New Mexico.
His wife, Gabrielle (Eershen) '68 is working
with the computer as a device for making art.
1971
Emmie Louise Gage (SF) reports understandable happiness at no longer being a member of the White House staff: " ... a strange
Place and politics is such a heavy racket ..."
seems an apt description. Bonnie is now doing
real estate work on Cape Cod, Yarmouthport,
to be exact.
John Smith also reports that Travis Price
(SF) has founded an organization called Sun
Mountain, to plan solar heated communities.
Travis lives in Santa Fe.
V. Michael Victoroff recently sent greetings
from Houston, and says that medical school
(Baylor) is going just fine.
In Memoriam
1911-Edgar Stanley Bowlus, Jackson,
Miss., January 1973.
1913-W. Stewart Fitzgerald, Denton,
Md., April25, 1973.
1917-Fendall Marbury, Baltimore, Md.,
February 14, 1973.
1918-----.:.0wen Friend, Cambridge Springs,
Pa., August 22, 1972.
1923-James Nelson Day, St. Petersburg,
Fla., April IS, 1973.
1925-Prcston A. Pairo, Sr., Baltimore,
Md., March 25, 1973.
1931-Tiwmas G. Andrew, Baltimore,
Md., May 19, 1973.
1931-Dr. Antonio A. Susoni, Arecibo,
P.R., March, 1973.
1931-Charles M. West, Jr., Centreville,
Md., December 31, 1972.
1937-George R. Hoover, Boca Raton,
Fla., February 28, 1973.
1944-Dr. Robert Wilcox, Iowa City,
!a., May 16, 1973.
�"POESIE" BY PAUL VALERY
English Translation by Timothy Born
Par la surprise saisie,
Une bouche qui buvait
An sein de Ia PoCsie
En separe son duvet:
By surprise seized,
A mouth which had drunk
Removes its lips
From the breast of Poetry:
-0 rna mCrc Intelligence,
De qui la douceur coulait,
Quelle est cette negligence
Qui laisse tarir son lait!
0 :rvrother Intelligence!
From whom sweetness flows,
\r\lhat is this negligence
\Vhich lets your nipple close?
A peine sur ta poi trine,
AccablC de blancs liens,
Me berc;ait l'onde marine
De ton coeur charge de biens;
Hardly in your chest's enclave,
Subdued by white chains,
And I was rocked by the ocean wave
Of your heart charged with gains.
A peinc dans ton ciel sombre,
Abattu sur ta beautC,
Jc sentais, a boire l'ombre,
.l'VI'envahir une clarte!
Hardly in your sombre meadow,
Beaten on your beauty,
I felt, on drinking of the shadow,
Myself invaded by clarity.
Dieu perdu dans son essence,
Et dEdicieusement
Docile a la connaissance
Du supreme apaisemcnt,
God lost in the essence;
And deliciously docile
To a cognizance
Of supreme tranquility ...
.J e touchais a la nuit pure,
Je ne savais plus mourir,
Car un fieuve sans coupure
Me semblait me parcourir...
I was touching the pure night,
And knew death no longer,
As a stream without end
Through me seemed to run.
Dis, par quelle crainte vaine,
Par queUe ombre de dCpit,
Cette mcrveilleuse veine
Ames Ievres sc rompit?
Tell, by what vain fear,
By what shadow of pain
Is severed at my lips
This marvellous vein?
0 rigueur, tu m'cs un signe
Qu'a mon :lme je dCplus!
Le silence au vol de cygne
Entre nous ne regne plus1. ...
0 harshness, you are a sign
that I have displeased my soul.
The silence at the flight of the swan
Between us no longer reigns.
Immortelle, ta paupiCre
.Me refuse mes trCsors,
Et la chair s'est faitre pierre
Qui fut tendrc sous mon corps!
Immortal, your eyelid
Refuses me my treasures,
And flesh, once tender beneath my body,
Turns to stone.
Des cieux mCme tu me sevres,
Par quel injuste retour?
Que seras-tu sans mes lCvres?
Que serai-je sans amour?
You wean me of the very heavens
Ry what unjust reverse?
VVhat will you be without my lips,
''Vhat will I be without your love?
Mais la Source suspendue
Lui repond sans durete:
-Si fort vous m'avez mordue
Que mon coeur s'est arrete!
But the suspended source
Replies softly,
You have bitten me so hard
That my heart is stopped.
I
Timoti1y Born '76, a student on the Annapolis
campus, won a prize at the 197 3 Commeuccment proceedings for this translation.
�Photo Credits: Cover, Cecil Fox; page 6, James Grady '73; page 7, Ralph Hilt; page 23, George Rowhottom '71; page 24, Lynn Waugh '70;
back cover, Chris Sparrow.
The College
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
Second-class postage paid at
Annapolis, Maryland, and at
additional mailing offices.
�
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Thomas
Ham, Michael W.
Newland, Paul D.
Oosterhout, Barbara Brunner
Wyatt, E. Malcolm
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THE COLLEGE
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland
Santa Fe, New Mexico
\
April, 1973
�The Liberty Tree
THE COLLEGE
Editor: Robert L. Spaeth
Alumni Editor: Thomas Parran, Jr.
Design & Production: John Randolph Campbell
Editorial Advisory Board: Michael W. Ham, Paul D. New·
land, Barbara Brunner Oosterhout, '55, E. Malcolm Wyatt.
The College is published by the Development Office of St.
John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Richard D. Weigle,
President. Paul D. Newland, Provost.
Published four times a year, in January, April, July and
October. Second Class postage paid at Annapolis, Maryland,
and at other mailing places.
IN THE APRIL ISSUE:
What is the Ouest ion? by Elliott Zuckerman . . . . . . . . . .
In Memory of Mark Van Doren, by William A. Darkey . .
An Interview with Robert Bart, by Robert L. Spaeth . . .
A St. Johnnie in the Job Market, by Grace Dawson '65 ..
Black Mountain, by Michael W. Ham ................
Sculpture by Burton Blistein ......................
Conversations with Graduate Institute
Alumni, by Goeffrey Comber ...................
News on the Campuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . .
Alumni Activities ..............................
1
3
4
10
11
12
14
19
22
ON THE COVER: "Gallery Ill" is the title of the work of
sculpture shown on the cover. The sculptor is Burton
Blistein, a first-year Tutor and Artist-in-Residence on the
Annapolis campus. The College features other photographs of
Mr. Blistein's work on pages 12 and 13 of this issue.
VOL. XXV
April 1973
NO.1
Tina Saddy, 75, a sophomore on the Annapolis campus
The Tower Building, on the Santa Fe campus
�WHAT IS THE QUESTION?
Before I came to St. John's College, and well
before I came to the Graduate Institute, I used to
direct a summer camp. It was an international camp,
and there were young men from many different
countries. Each boy was required to do what was
called a Project - to make something that would be
of use to the campers of the future. One summer
there was a boy of sixteen from what was then East
Pakistan. His quiet and unaccountable behavior
displayed the characteristics of that part of the world
which, in those days of relative innocence, we still
thought of as the Mysterious East. For his project he
decided that we needed a place to put the various
objects that the other boys had carelessly left behind
or mislaid on the grounds of the camp. So he built a
Lost and Found Box. He got a large orange crate,
which was already divided into two compartments of
equal size. On one side he put a sign which read
"Lost." The other side he labelled "Found."
Since he placed the box outside the window of
my office, I was able to observe the campers who
made use of the completed Project. A boy would
come up to it holding a book, or a fountain pen, or a
shoe, and stand there trying to decide which half of
the box it belonged in. I enjoyed watching the signs
of their Hegelian deliberation. I liked the effect of
that built-in perplexity partly because I myself am
naturally of two minds about almost everything. At
the same time I am capable of the most categorical
pronouncements, of the sort that people are
prompted to call "opinionated" - a term that ought
to be reserved for the utterer and not for the remark
itself. When the division has been built in, one must,
after all, eventually place the pen or the shoe in one
or another section of the orange crate.
Less personal was the illustration of what happens
when correlative words are artificially isolated.
Consider, for example, what happens in any classroom. Who are the teachers and who the students?
When we give or take tests, I suppose the distinction
is the simplest: the teacher is the one who asks the
questions for which he presumably has the answer,
and the student is the one who hopes he can
remember which answer it is supposed to be. But
Elliott Zuckerman, a Tutor in Annapolis since 1961, waS
Director of The Graduate Institute from 1968 to 1970. He
is now Acting Dean at Annapolis. The above address was
delivered at the Institute's commencement in August, 1972.
I ELLIOTT ZUCKERMAN
apart from that technical situation, it's hard to tell
who's really doing what, for there is a constant
reversal of roles. A child asks questions for which we
have no idea of the answer. And the professor, when
he is not merely professing, can do the same thing.
Any good teacher and any good student can multiply
the examples. One wonders, of course, whether the
very distinction between Question and Answer isn't
rather like the distinction between Lost and Foundwhether they don't belong in the same undivided
orange crate. "What is the answer?" Gertrude Stein is
supposed to have chosen as, we are told, her splendidly characteristic dying Question. When no answer
came, she· laughed and supplied it herself. "Then,"
she said, "what is the question?"
At St. John's College we do everything possible to
erase the sharp distinction between Teachers and
Students. We tell everyone who asks about us, and
even those who don't ask, that the Tutors are students
and the students teach. The coffee shop usually displays the two sorts helping each other. In the
Graduate Institute the ambiguity is happily compounded: not only are the teachers students by
inclination, but most of the students are, by
profession, teachers. Better still, we try to bypass the
distinction by asserting that the books are the
teachers. But that places us before the divided box of
the next distinction. Are· the books asking or
answering? In the seminar, where we start out with a
.question, ought we to end up with an answer? And
when we do find ourselves with an answer, surely the
answer ought to pose a question.
Since this is a commencement speech, I have an
excuse for having fallen into one of the refrains of
our indigenous homily. But the paradoxes sound
bromidic enough to tempt me to the opinion that
they ought henceforth to be uttered sparingly.
Perhaps they ought to be reserved for that rarest of
occasions, a profitable discussion. It seems to have
become too easy, for example, to speak the truth
about the importance of finding a question in every
answer. It may even have become too easy, in a superficial way, to practice that discovery. The reader or
the listener who accepts everything he is told is, of
course, discouraging: one sees in him the readiness
finally to choose an authority and adopt a party line.
But I wonder whether we oughtn't to be equally
suspicious of those people who automatically
question everything. Surely they are annoying in
1
�seminar, those participants who can be predicted to
counter every assertion with a Why, and ask about
every word you use "What do you mean?" One
wonders whether in the course of their immediate
and invariable questioning they have learned anything
important about Questions - that there are, for
example, really very few of them, and that they are
rarely seen in anything like their full force.
Because they are few, they must recur at vertically aligned stages of what may be considered a kind
of expanding spiral. My fancy image is meant to refer
to an experience I'll try to describe. At the terminus
of a rare discussion one can find oneself asking a
question which one remembers having asked before.
But this time it seems to have greater force: this time
it is asked more deeply, or more elevatedly. You see
its import in Kodachrome, whereas it had once been
merely in black and white. Or you see it now in the
sharp contrasts of black and white, whereas before it
had had the imitation gloss of glorious technicolor.
You recognize that what had seemed to be a seeing
had been vague and fleeting, and this suggests
analogously that whatever clarity and permanence the
question now seems to have will seem shadowy in the
light of some future terminus of thoughtfulness.
"Why is there not nothing?" There is one of the
great terminal questions, a question that can provide
the impetus for a further turn of the spiral. If we
don't know that this is so, we are told so on good
authority. Yet I think the question sounded silly just
now - not just awkward, in its oddly necessary
negative phrasing, but feeble in the context of here
and now. Anyway I hope that was how it sounded.
For I had no business saying it, except to illustrate
the very point that I had no business saying it. The
question can mean something only at the end of a
series of difficult thoughts - an end which is, as I
have suggested, also a beginning. It should have no
place outside of a discussion, or apart from one's
most valuable deliberations. It certainly has no place
in a speech, when one can at best half-attend to what
one person half-professes. Furthermore, even if the
context had been one of suitable thoughtfulness, I
had maimed the question before I uttered it; for I had
written it down.
Our society - particularly that part of it which is
so disconcertingly called intellectual - has somehow
heard that questioning is a good thing, without
recognizing that what is valuable has to be rare and
difficult. As a consequence we constantly come upon
parodies of the thoughtful life. We are beset by interviewers who ask questions, and experts who answer
them. But we also question anyone at all about
anything at all, as though we had come to believe that
2
there is virtue not only in the quantified tabulation of
answers and indecis:ons, but in the very activity of
asking questions. In and for itself we like the variety
of the answers - so much so that for every assertion
we are required to seek out an "opposing view." Our
ideal of the reasonable life is the confrontation of
conflicting opinions - an endless panel discussion in
which people from all walks of life engage in the
empty activity of exchanging ideas without ever
having had any. It is an extended Symposium at
which nothing is offered to drink. If someone knows
how to do something, we don't simply ask him how
he does it; we ask him, as though his know-how
contained a nest of answered questions, for his
"methodology." Better still, we ask him for his
"philosophy" - his philosophy of film-making, or of
hair-dressing, or of camp directing. We even ask
people indiscriminately to tell us of that special grasp
of the world and their fellow men that ought to be
the exclusive province of the chap whom one finds
standing next to one at a bar: we ask them for their
Philosophy of Life. One wishes, indeed, that we could
learn to be openly trivial - for somewhere in the
etymology of triviality there is some suggestion of the
attention to the meanings of words.
Despite the superficial resemblances, our pieties
at St. John's are worthier than the ones I have just
described. Yet I suggest again (and in conclusion this
time) that the life of questioning, of curiosity, of
wonder, is not so easily to be entered into as even our
pieties would lead us to believe. I am even suggesting
that for most of us there is no such life - that
wonder occurs within a life, in moments that are
hardly won. And there can be hardness in what
follows those moments. The implications of one's
deepest questions may be repellant. For what passes
for an answer may require a commitment or a faith or
a series of hinged conclusions that could rock the
order of a hitherto hidden foundation of action. My
Bengali camper, incidentally, gave us one other
example of his handicraft. It was what at the time we
could only deduce to be an inflammable ashtray. He
had taken half the shell of a coconut, and covered it
with a kind of varnish. When one put one's cigarette
near it, the varnish gave off a sudden blue flame. This
was not a Project. He made it especially for me, and
presented it to me at the end of the summer, during
the closing ceremonies, as a kind of graduation gift.
For a long time I thought it was his hint to me that I
should give up smoking. But I know now that the
true excellence of his handicraft consisted in his
talent for illustrating the more questionable aspects
of what one would someday, to one's great surprise,
find oneself saying in speeches. 1111
�In Memory of Mark Van Doren
(1894-1972)
William A. Darkey
Every time someone dies the whole world
changes. We don't always know this and when we
don't it is because we do not, or cannot, remember
the one who has died. I have called this meeting
today because it is fitting that we interrupt the study
and the labor of the College for a time to remember
Mark Van Doren, who died last Sunday at the age of
seventy-eight. His life has in part made our world, and
his death has changed it.
In a formal way it is right that we should come
together to honor his memory, because he was a
member of the new St. John's from the times before
it began. During important years he was a member of
our Board of Visitors and Governors. For two
decades he was a regular lecturer in the College in
Annapolis and in this way a true teaching member of
this Faculty. He lectured to us on poetry and poets,
and through his teaching many of us learned how to
think about poetry and to love it. He was last on this
campus in Santa Fe io August, 1971, when he
delivered an address to us - to you -- In Praise of a
World That May Not Last. Your world. He praised it
to you and for you.
Not many of you knew him personally. And yet
you do know him through his poetry, I hope, and
also through his book, Liberal Education, which has
for three decades led students to St. John's by
showing them a vision of what this college tries to be.
Many of you are here now because of him.
All of this is formal. But it is not what I should
like to remember with you today. Rather, I should
like to remember with you some things you do not or
may not have thought about Mr. Van Doren. Institutions at their best must be personal because persons
make them up, and it seems to me we should be
personal about Mr. Van Doren.
I knew Mark Van Doren from the time I was a
very young student. The first time I heard him lecture
- I was a freshman - I thought to myself something
like, "This is a real puet." That was the judgment of a
very green and a very callow boy. But I was not
William A. Darkey is Dean of the College in Santa Fe. He
has been a Tutor since 1949. The above remarks were
delivered at a College meeting in Santa Fe on December 13,
1972.
wrong. The privilege of knowing and loving him for
the next thirty-five years, at St. John's, at Columbia
University, and afterwards has been an essential part
of my education, the happiest part, I think.
He was essentially a poet and a very fine one. I
tend to think of him as Vergilian, though Vergil was
not one of the poets he admired most greatly. His
own prime poets, I think, were Shakespeare, Homer,
Dante, and the poets of the Old Testament. But
Shakespeare's plays and the Bible were the poetry he
loved best.
While he was above all a poet, he was also a
scholar, a critic and a great teacher. And, it should bt
added, a sophisticated man of the world and a good
citizen of it.
In him these roles were not separate, as they need
not be. We should remember this and see itdemonstrated in him as a permanent possibility. They were
io fact functions of his role as poet.
As a scholar he was meticulous and learned,
because detail fascinated him - detail of the actual
surface of things the way they are. And he loved
words; their sound; their music together; their history
- I remember conversations interrupted at intervals
by his diving for the dictionary; all the richness of
words; their precision. These virtues of the poet are
the essential equipment of the scholar.
As a scholar he had read and remembered everything, but he hated footnotes and the rest of the
pompous apparatus. To the unwary or ignorant
reader it may appear that he wrote off the top of his
head. A more sober and responsible judgment reveals
how much learning he had digested and gracefully
returned on his page.
His view of the critic's function was again that of
the poet. His last book of criticism, whose prose style
is the equal of any written in this century, is entitled
The Happy Critic, and that says it all. He deeply felt
that the business of the critic, like that of the poet, is
to praise what is excel! en t, beautiful, and wonderful.
He hated the perpetual carping of critics who can find
nothing good, nothing worth their while to praise,
and so write destructively. When there were no new
books to praise, he reread the same old ones, and
praised them. The same old ones: Homer, Chaucer,
Cervantes, Shakespeare.
(~ontinued
on page 18)
3
�AN INTERVIEW WITH
ROBERT BART
By ROBERT L. SPAETH
ROBERT SPAETH: Mr. Bart, you have been teaching at St. John's for about twenty-five years. What
have you learned about teaching during those years?
ROBERT BART: I don't know whether I've really
learned anything about teaching - I've just been
teaching. I think each teacher has to teach his own
way. When I first came to the College I audited a
great many classes. I went to John Kieffer's Greek
tutorial, and Ernst Abramson's mathematics tutorial,
classes of Winfree Smith and Mr. Klein. I guess the
first thing I learned was that everybody teaches
differently and I couldn't imitate anybody else. But I
learned something from watching other people teach.
I think I don't quite know what it is you learn. You
learn how different they are, and you stretch yourself
in directions you wouldn't have tried, but it certainly
doesn't come out anything like the same way.
SPAETH: When you came to St. John's, did you
think that you were prepared to be a teacher?
BART: I think the thing about the College that's
different from elsewhere is really that we don't think
of teaching and learning as entirely separated. When I
was in college the teachers were experts and were
telling us what they knew, and we were listening to
them and taking notes, of course, on what they said;
but here, where the teaching and learning are pretty
much the same kind of thing, I'm not sure that I've
got them completely separate in my mind. I was
excited about what I was learning and when I found
something out, I was eager to share it with the
students and find out what they made of it. And of
course they were studying the same things and I was
very interested to find out what they had seen in the
things that I was reading. So it's just not clear to me
that teaching and learning are separate here. Maybe
that's why we have conversations rather than lectures.
SPAETH: Have teaching and learning continued to
be mixed for you over the years?
BART: Certainly, but with different consequences
than I realized. I remember some years ago I was in a
4
seminar with Sam Brown and he said that I was
talking way over the students' heads all the time. I
suppose that was because I always tried to talk with
them about the very things that I was learning. I
think that can be a fault all right. It's not merely a
question of expecting too much; rather, it's not
finding out what their questions are. Nonetheless I do
think it is pretty essential to the kind of teaching that
we're doing that the very discoveries you're making
can somehow be shared with the students. When
we're reading for our classes I think we're mostly not
reading in a narrow or specialized way; it seems to me
we're always looking for the fundamental questions
and problems which we all share, beginners included.
SPAETH: Do you think that there was some truth to
the statement that you were over the heads of the
students? If you do, do you recall consciously
correcting yourself in certain ways?
BART: Well, only in the directions I've tried to
suggest, because I do think if we are to have a genuine
conversation, everybody in it must have some kind of
equality. Now, I'm not their age and I've studied a lot
that they have never studied, but if I come into the
conversation as somebody on a totally different level,
it seems to me it's not going to make for a very good
RobertS. Bart has been a Tutor in Annapolis since 1946. He
was interviewed by the editor of THE COLLEGE in the spring
of 1972.
�discussion. Of course, when it's a technical matter,
say, if you're teaching mathematics or something
specific in a language, why it's obvious that you know
a lot that they don't know. But I think in all of our
classes we're always remembering that there are
questions that we all have completely in common and
that the technical things are in some sense for the
sake of that. I've noticed it in your classes, Mr.
Spaeth. You know a lot of lab and math, and yet I've
found when the class really gets into conversation in some way you're right there with them. You may
be making more out of the conversation than they
do. You may see more than what gets said, but I
don't think it's the case that you have the answers
and they don't. It seems to me it would destroy our
classes, if in the important things somebody thought
he'd got the answers.
SPAETH: Have you learned something new from
your students each year?
BART: I think so, and almost in each class. In fact I
have the feeling that it isn't a good class if I haven't
learned something. That's the joke about the College,
.it seems to me. The students pay, but it seems to me
that it's the faculty that learns the most in almost
every hour. That seems to me what keeps us going.
Otherwise, we couldn't go over the same material the
way we do. I think the classes would go dead. By the
way, that has happened to me sometimes, and then I
think it is time for me to teach another subject
matter. Sometimes I think maybe one just can't teach
in St. John's forever and ever. But I always get a kind
of renewed hope about it.
SPAETH: I would be interested in hearing you
compare the experience of leading a seminar for the
first time with leading one for the fifth or sixth time.
I believe you have taught at least one seminar that
many times.
BART: Yes, I guess I've taught the freshman seminar
at least that many times - probably more.
SPAETH: Can you compare the experiences?
BART: I think the difference for me has been that
the first time, the danger is that what I am just
discovering for myself is very much uppermost in my
mind. I'm very excited about some things which I
have seen, and I am much more inclined to force the
conversation in my Own direction. On the other hand,
I have a much fresher enthusiasm sometimes than
when I come back to it. I'm more ready to listen, I
think, when I come back to it a second and third
time, much more ready to see what the students are
making out of it. But it isn't quite that simple. It
seems to me most of the time when I am re·reading a
book for seminar, I discover that I haven't read the
book very well the time before. This time I think I
really see what it is saying. Then, of course, the .third
time and the fourth time I still have the same experi·
ence. Nevertheless, it does happen to me when I've
taught a class a number of times, I begin to get a
certain expectation of what the class can do. If
you've taught freshman seminar a good many years
there are a number of themes in Plato, Aristotle, the
tragedies, the histories, that you feel very strongly
ought to get discussed, not necessarily this evening or
that, but somewhere along the line.
SPAETH: Are you saying that, for example, a
Platonic dialogue itself is fresh enough to you each
time so that you don't feel as though you're merely
going over it again?
BART: I would want to subscribe to that assertion
not merely as an ideal, but as a. description of our
common experience. Sometimes, of course, I find
that under the amount of work that I have to do I
don't put much time (or attention and thought) into
re-reading a given seminar text. Nevertheless, it often
goes very well for the students. I just sit back and let
them help me discover things and I don't have any
definite direction in mind. But I guess the main thing
that I would want to stress is that it seems to me a
book that doesn't present discoveries and real
insights, no matter how often you read it, probably
doesn't belong on our list.
SPAETH: You spoke about listening. Do you think
that listening becomes easier as you get more experi·
ence as a tutor or does it go the other way?
BART: I can see how it would go the other way. I
think I probably would have to admit I get increasingly impatient with listening to conventional
opinions. I think the reason it sometimes is said I
drive the seminar too hard is that there are a lot of
obvious things that don't seem to me very well worth
saying, and I am probably impatient with these. But I
would insist for all that, that I just like to hear what
the students have to say of their own. If it weren't for
that I don't think I would want to teach here. I really
want to know what they are making out of the book.
Otherwise, I've only got myself and the book, and all
the books we read are too hard for me to understand
alone. I think I listen more when I have a certain
familiarity with the book. I find it is fairly easy for
me to just sit for an hour and watch the conversation
go on. I try to see how the different elements in the
conversation relate to the book. On the other hand,
when I've just read something for the first time, like
the Supreme Court cases we've been doing the last
two years - some of which I'd never read before I'm just bursting with things I want to say and it is
much harder for me to do the listening iob. But my
students seem to enjoy it when I just get right into
5
�the discussion like one of them and bring my own
confusion and false starts.
SPAETH: These conversations that you've had and
enjoyed in seminar have been, we must remember,
with persons mostly around 20. Do you think that
your students have been, in any sense, too young for
these conversations, or for these books?
BART: That's a very, very difficult question and I
think it is what was being suggested to me by Sam
Brown long ago, that I didn't remember how young
they were. But I think there is a good deal of truth in
what Plato has Socrates suggest in the dialogues, that
the conversation itself carries you along. I think it is
probably true that these young people find themselves saying things that they would perhaps never say
if the conversation wasn't gradually leading them
there. There may be an enormous gap between what
they are led to say by the conversation and they're
really acting on what they've been saying. A conversation often has a certain independence of the age of
the participant. On the other haiid, every now and
then it's just shocking how little re.af:<;xperience they
have. In moral questions they are us!l.ally extremely
narrow and have very, very hard and fast rules one
way or another about how one should behave. In our
seminars on works of literature I feel the greatest
difference between their age and mine.
SPAETH: Does it affect your teaching that the
students have a great length of life in front of them?
That is, do you have certain expectations for them or
do you just simply enter into the conversation for its
own sake and believe that that's quite adequate for
the day?
BART: I think the latter situation inevitably prevails
(for teachers and students - certainly) in a college
like this. We do simply enjoy what we're doing
enormously. I think that that experience of enjoying
study, of enjoying working together, making
discoveries together, is so valuable that I'm not
surprised that while we're engaged in it that's what
we think of. But of course insofar as the faculty is
responsible for making this curriculum and have a
certain intention about it, the other questions are
always present. But I do think we always have to
remember that whatever we plan in a curriculum we
are not going to get out of it any predetermined
results. We are wrong to be too easily disappointed if
a student hasn't gotten some ideas we feel every St.
John's student ought to get. I'm beginning to settle
for very, very simple things that seem to me to be of
the greatest importance - above all that they look
very closely at the terms of any conversation, of anything that they have read or heard spoken; that they
understand that it is built out of words, and all the
6
key words themselves are difficult and demanding so
that they won't let slipshod language go by them
without challenging it. I don't mean to make them
little sophists to challenge everything, but they
should be prepared to ask what it is that the speaker
is meaning by his major terms. And one other thingthat they believe fully in the worth of the conversation. I can't tell how much more I can really count on
that the curriculum will produce for them. Of course,
I have my secret desire - not very secret, it comes
out in my labs - that they would know a little more
about what science is and what it isn't. We are in a
marvelous time in the history of the world, it seems
to me, a time to see the tremendous edifice that
science has produced and yet to have all the most
interesting questions about what kind of thing that is.
SPAETH: Could I ask about your own relationship
with the laboratory program? I believe it is an area in
which you have become a good deal more active in
recent )fears. Have you become more interested in
science?
BART: That is a myth. People like to make myths
about people. No - it's perfectly true that during
most of the years that you've been here I haven't had
much chance to work in the lab. The first ten years I
was here, roughly, I did quite a lot of work with lab.
It was all entirely new to me. I had been in situations
in school and college where the curriculum required
science of the students, but I was always ingenious
enough to get myself exempted from it, so I never
studied any laboratory science of any sort whatsoever. I took the math and science all on faith when I
came here. I thought if Mr. Barr and Mr. Buchanan
talked so wonderfully about everything I did know, I
just had to take all the talk about science on their
word. And the first year I followed the freshman lab,
cut up my cat like everyone else, and weighed my
baros. I was not much older than most of the
students and I learned a lot of lab that way. By an
odd accident I think I never really taught the freshman lab. The curriculum has changed so much and so
many times it's hard to name in current terms what it
was that I taught years ago. Half of what we now do
in the freshman lab I did teach in a sophomore lab chemistry and optics, that is, at9._ms and geometrical
optics, with some wave theory \J;l:j_it. I taught that a
couple of times in my early years in the College. By
the way, with subject matters such as lab that I did
not grow up with, I have found that the limitations
on my own background have made it harder for me
to teach them when I have other pressures, such as
committee work. So there was, as you implied, a big
hiatus during which I wasn't teaching lab. (By the
way, over all these years I have kept on attending labs
�as the curriculum changed.) Of course, as you too
have experienced, my knowledge of certain other
things in the curriculum has kept me teaching them
more often than I might have chosen to do. It has led
to some of the things we were talking of earlier - my
growing stale in teaching a class four or five times in
sequence.
SPAETH: Since you have experience in the labora·
tory, the language tutorials, the mathematics
tutorials, and certainly the seminars, I'd like to get
down to the details of what sorts of things go on in
the classroom. Is what happens in a tutorial quite
different from a seminar or a laboratory?
BART: Yes, although I think perhaps in the language
tutorial the distinction from the seminar is not as
clear. I think it's easiest to start talking of a math
class and then try to arrange the others in a scale or
some kind of grouping around it. In a math class it's
perfectly cleaT just what we have studied and pre·
pared and what the main business of the hour must
be. We go over that material and see that we have
understood it on a fairly straightforward level so that
we can demonstrate it. Ideally the student does all
that, but if no one can I don't see how the teacher
can avoid simply instructing the students in that
subject matter. On a given day one might just push
the thing aside because people weren't prepared; but
if the material is presenting too much difficulty, then
it seems to me that there is no alternative. Of course,
we usually try to avoid that by giving the students
materials that they can present. But we are not
uniformly successful in bringing that about. Now,
when it comes to the seminar, perhaps at the other
end of a scale, it is clear that we don't presume to
instruct, because the questions we are asking of the
books are usually not questions about which instruction is possible. With the language tutonal the biggest
single difficulty is the question of its function. Is it a
baby seminar? Is it instruction in language? Or is it
some kind of closer and more reflective working over
of material? I have had all kinds of language classes
and I think I don't know myself what kind we should
say is the paradigm. I think in the math tutorial the
paradigm should remain the demonstration that the
· student performs, prepares and performs, even
though different texts may bring the teacher into it
more and more heavily, to press points far beyond
what was actually given in the demonstration. By
contract, in the tutorial - for example in the Junior
year - I think it is wonderful that we read Phedre.
There's so much demonstration in the laboratory, so
much demonstration in the mathematics, so much
strict argumentation in the seminar, it seems to me
highly desirable that the language tutorial should be
as far away from that kind of thing as possible.
SPAETH: I would like to ask a question about just
part of that. You referred to the mathematics tutorial
as having phases where the material can be quite
difficult and where a student or the group of students
in the tutorial as a whole would not be able simply to
demonstrate the theorems or whatever might be in
the books - that in those very different areas the
tUtor then must be more of an active instructor. Now
I've found in my teaching of mathematics here that
one of the most difficult books in the program is
Newton's Principia. I know that you have often
taught that book. A certain time after you came to
St. John's you must have run into the reading of
Newton's Principia for the first time in your life. I did
too and I'd like to ask, how did you attempt to
master that book when perhaps you knew already
that it would be extremely difficult for the students?
BART: Oh, I found that out right away, because I've
attended most of the classes of the College in one
form or another over the years I've been here, and I
thought-of course that the best way to prepare myself
to teach Newton was to attend a class in Newton.
And I did attend a class in Newton, but the Tutor fell
seriously ill and there we were, the students and
myself, none of us who had ever seen the book
before, trying to talk about Newton's first Lemma. I
should like to say for the College, "Well, it was
marvelous what we made out of it," but to tell you
the honest truth, we made nothing whatsoever out of
it and we talked and we talked and we talked. None
of us knew any calculus - none of us really knew any
physics - and none of it made any sense to us. That,
I guess, is about the bottom level of what can happen
when you start out. I was struck right away by the
fact that the solution to that problem that was then
offered was for the Tutor really to tell the students
for a very long while exactly what to make out of
these Lemmas. That is always unsatisfactory, because
you can't say exactly what's to be made out of them.
In my experience, you have to present a point of view
about them and then try to get the students to talk
about it. There would be a sentence of text to
prepare and the class would last for an hour on that
sentence. I followed several Junior tutorials and
gradually came to the conviction that we should put
more of these little lectures of the faculty down on
paper. The manual I put together is mostly composed
of that sort of thing - so the student could prepare
more on his own. I think the greatest thing we have
to fear in the College - that any teacher has to fear is passivity on the student's part.
SPAETH: Was there a certain knowledge of
Newton's text present on the faculty from which you
7
�could learn or was it necessary for you simply to dig
into that book yourself, on your own, to understand
what's there? It is a very difficult book ...
BART: It is an enormously difficult book and I
don't pretend to understand very many of the pages
that I have worked over. There are lots of them I
haven't looked at at all. Yes, I think we had the good
fortune to have a few people on the faculty who had
studied it and understood something about it and had
worked together on it. I wasn't here in the earliest
years, but I know in those years, certainly around
Ptolemy and, I imagine, around Newton, several of
the really competent members of the faculty like
yourself who knew some math and physics, maybe
some history of science, were just struggling to read
that book, and began to put together some very clear
understandings with the help of a very few materials
that existed then in the form of commentary. And, of
course, we floundered quite a lot. I think maybe even
lots of things that we tried to instruct our students in
were false, or at least unnecessary and irrelevant. But
I am· afraid in a venture like the one we are engaged in
:: it's probably very hard to avoid actually saying in
:·:class, "This text means so and so," and then finding
., out five years later that it really doesn't mean so and
·so at all.
·SPAETH: Are there experts on Newton's P,-incipia
that you have turned to outside of the faculty commentaries and so forth?
BART: At the time that I was doing most of my
work on Newton I was not aware of many. There has
been an enormous amount of activity in the study of
Newton in the last 10 or 15 years - or at least I have
become· aware of that activity in the last 1 0 or 15
years. There is a good deal more to be studied now. I
still notice among most authors in these matters a
great reluctance to give a running commentary that
will address itself - in the manner, say, of a
commentary on Shakespeare - to every difficulty
that turns up for the ordinary reader. Such a
commentary was prepared in the eighteenth century
using pretty dubious mathematical techniques. We
have all gotten a lot of help from it nevertheless.
SPAETH: Have the students made a success of
reading Newton here?
BART: I think many tutorials as tutorials have been
successful. But I think it is safe to say that there are
many students who don't get vary far with Newton's
argument precisely because the individual propositions can be very, very difficult, particularly the ones
that conclude the argument. I think, without meaning
to praise the manual (which I'd love to d'o without),
that it has helped many students to grapple with the
text fairly successfully.
8
SPAETH: I've heard comments from students and
some Tutors that there is something wrong with the
use of a manual accompanying a text. I think I've
heard that more in Santa Fe than in Annapolis. Do
you think there's something to that opinion?
BART: Yes, I think it is a very sound opinion in
principle and I am completely in sympathy with it.
Those of us who have taken to writing or using
manuals should think very seriously about our
reading texts which seem to require them. But I
wonder if one really does make very much out of
Newton without something like that. The first thing
that has to be said is that Newton's book was not
written for people who know almost no mathematics,
and our students know almost no mathematics.
Second of all, as far as I can make out from the
reading of it, either he was careless or he maliciously
hid a good deal of what he was doing, or both. It is an
extraordinarily difficult book. I regret the apparent
need of a manual, but the actual alternative here was
for a teacher to lecture, informally, but still to
lecture, often for weeks on end. I think that's worse.
SPAETH: Well, do you think that this has a lesson
here - that we must be careful about choosing texts
and that perhaps we should learn to avoid those that
were not written to be read by people of our capabili·
ties and our students' capabilities? I'm thinking not
only of Newton, but in the senior mathematics we
regularly read Einstein's 1905 paper on special
relativity. Certainly that was not written for undergraduates, but yet it is attractive because it is so
fundamental and concise. Some years ago we didn't
read that paper; now we're trying to. Another
example - in the senior laboratory we try to read a
paper on wave mechanics by Schroedinger. That
paper, I believe, is even more difficult to understand
on its o~n terms than Einstein's. Do you think we
might be getting off the right road here?
BART: I just don't know what the answer is. Let me
name one or two things that I would exclude from
that approach, A lot of people say that the later
dialogues of Plato are too difficult. But we all seem to
stretch very, very much when we are given things to
read that are beyond what we are prepared for. When
it comes to certain kinds of mathematical works I feel
somewhat different. There is a specific preparation
for them. Often, our Juniors and Seniors do not have 1
and are unable to get it. I have not had the experience
either of doing the Schroedinger or the Einstein
papers with the students. I hear a great deal of
complaint about our doing them, despair even. I
would guess, to tell you the truth, that we may be in
a situation we were in with respect to the Newtongroping, trying to find out how to use them. I would
�be very reluctant to give up papers that have the
character you're describing, that is to say, that are
fundamental and sweeping, as is the Newton. On the
other hand, I don't enjoy conducting classes where
gradually I am the only person to understand, or
where perhaps there are even three other people, or
four, but the vast majority of the students cannot
follow the discussion at all. I think that's simply
wrong and I believe we do do a certain amount of
that in the laboratory. I think it accounts for the
irritation of some students, and the frustration, in the
laboratory.
SPAETH: I believe you and I agree that there are
papers, books, documents that simply are not
appropriate at all pedagogically. You and I were in a
study group a few years ago on the origins of the
calculus and we read an article by Leibnitz in which a
great deal of the calculus we know was contained
somehow, but I think we all, at least you and I for
sure, had the feeling that if a person came to that text
without a fairly extensive knowledge of the calculus,
he would never get anything from it.
BART: Well, Mr. Stephenson put those materials
together and I haven't had a chance yet to study what
he has done. In general I had the reaction that you
describe and was confident that it would be entirely
up to the teacher to bring out of those materials their
importance - it's in no way accessible to the reader
who doesn't possess the calculus. So as a way to teach
the calculus it seems to me certainly not very
economical. But I think a valid criticism of manuals ,
and of textbooks (of which we use quite a few) is
that the student is not invited to make the same kind
of demand on himself as in reading tough original
texts; he expects to be led by the hand and loses the
opportunity to make discoveries for himself. Ill
The McKeldin Planetarium, on the Annapolis campus
9
�GRACE DAWSON, '65
A St. Johnnie
Grace Dawson,
1n the
ne9 Logerfo, came to St. John's in Annapolis
in 1961 from Long Island. The Urban Institute recently
published 0 The Fiscal Impact of Residential and Commercial
Development, nco-authored by Mrs. Dawson and Thomas
Muller.
Nearly eight years after leaving St. John's with a
degree in one hand, and in the other, a stack of slightly
used Great Books, I am happy to report that I am
pursuing a career which enables me to draw liberally
upon both - and make a reasonable living too. This
fortuitous situation occurred after spending the first
three or four years after graduation discovering for
myself that I, as many St. John's graduates, was ill-
10
Job Market
suited to most traditionally-defined occupations.
Between 1965 and 1969 I held a variety of jobs,
ranging from technical writer and editorial assistant
to "glorified" secretary. Having entered the job
market in the midst of the Great Society boom years
in Washington, D. C. (where I have made my home
since leaving third-floor Campbell), I gradually came
to realize that although there was a plethora of jobs
a)lailable, it was also true that challenging op~or
tunities for female liberal artists without an advanced
degree were few and far between. I found it
extremely difficult to convince a prospective
employer that my Great Books education would be
a greater asset to him than my ability to construct
a simple sentence or type 60 words per minute.
Once or twice each year, usually when I was contemplating a job change, I considered the idea of
returning to school to obtain a graduate degree
cum "work permit" which would make me eligible
for a more stimulating job. However, because of a
mixture of personal laziness and a reluctance to
conform to the working world's demand for yet more
and more credentials, I resisted -after all, I had
learned how to think at St. John's, what more did I
need? (During this time I married a statisticiannovelist who was about to embark upon a career as
a lawyer.)
Moving on to the catharsis of this tale - in the
summer of 1969 I found myself once again searching
for a new job, this time obtaining a position as an
administrative and research assistant at the Urban
Institute, a Washington think tank which was launched
at the end of the Johnson Administration to try to
find solutions to the nation's domestic problems.
Because of a combination of circumsta'nces, most
notably finding myself in a young and flexible
organization and having the willingness to work hard
and the initiative to carve out an interesting job for
myself, I have, over the last several years, been involved
in creative and stimulating work.
At present I am cast in two separate roles at the
Institute. Part of my time is spent as a member of
�BOOK REVIEW
BLACK MOUNTAIN: AN EXPLORATION
IN COMMUNITY
by Martin Duberman
(E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1972)
the research staff of the Institute's Public Interest
Research Project, a group attempting to provide
empirical research to back up public interest
litigation, in areas including racial and economic
discrimination, consumer affairs and land-use
controversies. Here, my generalist education is
particularly useful, since I have worked on studies
of such diverse subjects as the measurement of
differences in the level and quality of public
services provided to different neighborhoods within
a political jurisdiction, and the estimation of the
fiscal impact on a county government of a proposed "Levitt-type" housing development.
The remainder of my time is devoted to helping
develop exploratory research projects which might
be on the Institute's research agenda in the future.
This aspect of my work involves everything from
preparing brief background papers and proposals on
specific subjects to estimating budgets and investigating potential sources of funding. Again, this
aspect of my work allows me to be in touch with
a variety of subject areas including the economic
impact of the patent system and issues related to
airport noise measurement systems.
In all of my work I am given the opportunity to
play an active role in problem definition and analysis,
working alongside economists, lawyers, and political
scientists. In line with this, the ability to ask the
right questions and to exhibit a certain skepticism
toward simple solutions to complex problems (two
St. John's-acquired traits) both play an important
part in my daily work.
I think that there is a place for individuals with
liberal educations in fields which have traditionally
been considered off-limits to nonspecialists. I
would urge other St. John's alumni to pursue such
opportunities (creating their own opportunities where
necessary). After almost eight years doing battle
with the professional biases of the job market I
would be the first to admit that it's not an easy fight,
but the rewards, in terms of personal satisfaction,
have been worthwhile for me. 111
Martin Duberman, Distinguished Service Professor
of History at Lehman College, CUNY, has attempted
three tasks in this book: to tell the history of Black
Mountain College, to write an essay on education,
and to take the first steps in a reform of the writing
of history.
.
He succeeds in his first task. Black Mountam
College, in its 23 years of existence, generated much
history and more myth. Duberman has worked hard
at assembling the facts and documenting them. The
eighty pages of notes refer to his interviews with
almost all of the major figures in his history (two of
whom- John Andrew Rice and Charles Olson- have
since died) and to sources of documents from The
State Archives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Yet
Duberman has not buried the story of Black
Mountain College under a mass of documentation and
fact, but has let the reader witness the life of the
College and the continual struggle of the students and
faculty to define the goals and means of the College,
and to see also the strife generated by this struggle,
which finally destroyed the College.
Black Mountain College was founded in Black
Mountain, North Carolina, (just east of Asheville) in
1933 by John Andrew Rice, who had just been fired
from Rollins College in Florida (essentially because
he was a gadfly) and who led a small group of faculty
and students away with him. Black Mountain College
was deliberately set up as an experimenting college,
to test and to develop ideas of what an educatiOn
should be.
The College was always small; the maximum
enrollment mentioned by Duberman was 90 students.
The College was structured as a community. Rice did
say in the early years that Black Mountain was a
college first, and then a community, but in 1943 by which time Rice, still a gadfly, had been fued by
his own college - the Rector of the College stated
that Black Mountain was "first a community, then a
College." In such a small community there was little
room for sharply divergent points of view, and
faculty fights usually ended with the exodus of the
losing side. Each such departure weakened the
College; Ted Drier, one of the original founders, said
(continued on page 18)
11
�SOME NOTES
ON THE LOST WAX TECHNIQUE
BY BURTON BLISTEIN
Polymorph
Nearly all of the sculpture shown on
these pages was produced by the lost-wax
or eire-perdue process. A model or pattern
is first made in wax. It can be fashioned
directly in wax, the procedure I most often
follow. Alternatively, a negative model can
be made of the sculpture in another medi-
um,
such as plaster, and a wax positive
made from the mold.
Tubes or rods of wax are next attach·
ed to the model. When melted out these
provide channels for conducting molten me-
tal to many parts of the casting simultaneously. Other rods ·are attached to provide
outlets for the escape of air.
The wax pattern with its system of
ducts is then "invested" or surrounded by
a refractory which can contain the flow of
molten metal without deforming. This material is liquid when applied but soon hardens to form a rigid encasement. The invested model is next heated to approximately
1000 degrees Fahrenheit ,sufficient to entirely vaporize the wax.
The void left by the wax is filled with
molten metal. When this cools, the investment is removed, revealing a bronze replica
of the original wax pattern with its network of ducts. The ducts are cut away and
the defaced areas refinished by grinding and
hammering until they blend with the surrounding su rtaces.
A new casting, rid of its investment, is
generally dark brown or grey in color.
Some sculptors prefer to leave it at that.
However, as a rule I clean the casting using
wire brushes, chisels, and dilute acids until
the metal returns to its characteristic light
golden color. I then apply chemical solutions of different types to the surface to
produce the final color or patina. Such solutions may be applied in varying concentrations, for varying lengths of time, with or
without the simultaneous application of
heat. The possibilities are nearly infinite,
and in fact nearly an infinite range of
shades may be obtained.
Some patinas are rather delicate and
need to be protected from handling or
from the atmosphere if they are to survive.
Various lacquers and waxes are used for
this purpose, but they themselves inevitably
change the patina and this effect must be
anticipated.
!
'J1
l·
_)
~~
�Untitled
Sibyl
Five Finger Exercise I
Sailing to Byzantium II
Self-Portrait II
�Conversations With
Graduate Institute Alumni
BY GEOFFREY COMBER
Geoffrey Comber has been a Tutor in Annapolis since 1965, an Assistant
Dean since 1970. He is the Assistant Director of the Graduate Institute.
The following sketches are based on interviews and other personal contacts over several years.
JUANITA WILKINSON, like
several other graduates of the
Graduate Institute, is a Junior
High School teacher in Washington, D. C. Though she lives in
Hyattsville, Maryland, she teaches
at an inner-city school - Lincoln
Junior High School. The school is
only six years old, but is obviously
a test of a teacher's skill and fortitude. "During the first three years
of the school," said Juanita, "we
had four different principals, and,
well, the first one had a heart
14
WALTER DUDLEY would
probably not respond to anyone
addressing him as "Walter" and
maybe not even as "Mr. Dudley."
I don't think I have ever heard
him called anything but
"Dudley." But Dudley is quickly
known to any group he associates
himself with, in spite of his very
quiet voice and soft manners. He
has the ability to make people
aware of his presence in a gentle
,way, and to make them pleased
they are in his company.
MARY PAT JUSTICE was
also a Hoffberger Fell ow who
graduated from the Institute in
19 71. Like Dudley, she was a fulltime classroom teacher, but who
now has had to sacrifice some of
that classroom time for adminis~
trative tasks. While Dudley is now
chairman of his department, Mary
Pat has been associated with Project K.A.P.S. at Dunbar High
School in Baltimore for the past
few years. K.A.P.S. is the acronym
for Keeping All Pupils in School,
�Wilkinson-
Dudley-
]ustz'ce-
attack, and that was due to the
tough job he had." In reply to one
of my questions about violence in
school, she answered in a tone of
commonplace, "There's not very
much, now; but there was a time
when it was almost impossible to
He has been teaching for ten
years at Lombard Street Junior
High School, an inner-city school
in · downtown Baltimore. Most
students are black and from low·
income families, and the school
would probably be regarded by
most of us as a difficult, tough
place to work. But over the years
Dudley has established a rapport
between himself and the students
and so his good working relation·
ship has led to his reputation as a
very fine teacher. This last evalua·
tion is not, of course, his own; he
is too modest. But I have heard it
confirmed from several sources.
Undoubtedly, Dudley would
have been a good teacher had he
never heard of the Graduate Insti·
tute, but he is firm in attributing
much of what he now is as a
person - both in the classroom
and out - to his experience with
the Institute at Santa Fe. He first
heard of the Institute from a small
notice on the bulletin board of his
school, inviting teachers to apply
for a Hoffberger Fellowship. When
he arrived in Santa Fe, these were
his initial reactions:
and it is exactly the kind of pro·
gram Mary Pat would be
interested in and successful aL
Enthusiasm is one of her long
suits.
And so I found her enthusias·
tic in her endorsement of what the
Graduate Institute had done for
her. Her favorite summer contained the Philosophy and
Theology discussions. She is
Roman Catholic, and had been
exclusively to religious schools.
teach in the classrooms, what with
the gangs roaming through the
halls, yelling in doors, and
throwing things into rooms."
But in spite of and perhaps
because of these serious problems,
Juanita continues to teach there.
She, her husband and four
daughters will shortly be moving
even further away from Washing·
ton - to Bowie, Maryland - yet
she still intends to teach at
Lincoln Junior High.
Juanita's first summer at the
Graduate Institute was the
summer of 1968. At first, her·
reason for applying for a Cafritz
the
Fellowship was simple
practical, measurable goal of
getting an M.A. degree during
three summers. But her first
summer in Santa Fe broadened
her horizons and to a great extent
increased her understanding and
expectations of what an education
involves.
It took me a good two weeks
to get adjusted - going from the
atmosphere and pace of the city
into a place where everything is
calmed down, and at a level where
you ca.'l concentrate. That is, conR
centrate on the one thing that you
set out to do, and that was to read
and discuss. In every other college
First of all I was confused
when I got there . I didn't know
what to expect, but at least I
didn't expect what I got. Most of
the courses I've been in have
involved instructors who have
lectured at me, but that place
drew upon your own resource~ to
try to develop answers to
questions that many of us had
never thought about much before.
The Tutors made you develop
your own judgement about things,
and you were forced to use your
own mind rather than repeat what
an instructor had to say. It wasn't
conventional at all ...
I really think my confusion
began to stop when I took the
preceptorial under Bob Goldwin.
There I seemed to gain more
So I had a somewhat slanted
view toward philosophy. Much of
the time we were reading secondary sources. Even with the Bible;
quite a bit of it was second hand
by the time it got to us in the
classroom. But there we were at
the Institute reading all these
books in the original, or at least,
good translations; instead of what
someone said the authors meant.
At first, I was a bit fright·
ened, being a good Catholic, you
know, what it would do to my
religion - make me doubt it. But,
although I changed a lot of my
views, it strengthened my faith it really did. All the books, but
the Bible particularly, came alive
for me that summer, in a way it
never had before.
I use many of these books in
my teaching now. And using the
Bible is particularly a beautiful
way of teaching. So many of these
inner-city kids are familiar with
the Bible, and I find the black
children are very religious, so it's
something they can relate to.
Again, I asked what kinds of
impact the Institute had had on
her personally - that is, apart
from an immediate application of
the work on her classroom tech·
niques. She replied that there were
two effects she was very aware of.
First, for the first time in her
life, she learned how to listen to
other people. Since there was no
15
�Wilkinson-
Dudley-
justice-
I know that doesn't make sense.
You have to run here, and go to
the library to read for au hour,
and be lectured at, and then run
back home to cook dinner.
But to be in a place where you
can concentrate primarily on
ideas, reading and discussing; I
thought that was just ideal.
insight into what the program was
trying to do ...
I've found that, recently, in
the social sciences at least a
similar approach to problem; is
used. No longer do teachers stand
up and get students to repeat
facts. Now you try to get students
to form an analysis of their own
solution - at any rate, in the
social sciences.
note-taking to distract her, and
since she noticed how she was
attended to - particularly, she
said, by the tutors - she slowly
but surely learned how valuable
and important it is to listen to
other people.
Secondly, since the examina~
tions were really conversations
about the books they had read, it
Then again, the classes were
not a tall what she expected. They
were "different from the classes at
other places." In a very special
way, Mrs. Wilkinson likened the
classes at the Institute to an
important aspect of living, viz.,
sharing an experience. All the
other students with their varied
backgrounds being not only
allowed but encouraged to offer
to share their views - this was a
new educational experience. "I
remember a tutorial on a Shakespearean sonnet. We took just four
lines and discussed these lines
back and forth for two and a half
. hours. It was just beautiful."
As someone closely connected
with the Graduate Institute for a
few years, I have often been con~
cerned with how the Institute
affects its students. In what terms
do they try to anticipate the
impact of its program on their
·personal lives, in contrast with any
professional advancement? The
latter is relatively easy to measure;
the former is one of our invisible
products. In reply to a question
along these lines, Juanita said:
Coming back after the first
summer there it took a while to
get used to ordinary school again,
because it seemed as though something was just not right. It's hard
to anticipate what it is, but my
personal feeling was that I was
operating at a different level from
the one that I was at before. I
can't say exactly what the
difference was - it seemed that I
16
The seminar encounter ses~
sions, as Dudley called them, had
a great impact on him.
Usually, when most people
finish with encounter sessions,
they are ready for a psychiatrist
even if they didn't need one
before. But with St. John's
seminars it's different. Seeing the
Tutors operate at St. John's
helped to give me more tolerance
of any students. Because, what
you often see is the two tutors at
each end of the seminar table not
agreeing with one another. This
helps you realize that your
students don't have to agree with
you all the time - and that you
have to be ready to talk with them
to discuss things with them.
Several times during our con~
versation, Dudley made a point of
playing down the "content" of
the Institute program - that is, he
believed it could be any number
of other possible book choices.
And instead of the actual books
read, he stressed the "method"
which, he says, develops your
ability
was not necessary to try to
"cram" and "memorize the books
and notes" as she had been accus~
tomed to. Instead, she learned
better how to understand an
author - to discover for herself
what is important, and how to
.discuss what is problematic.
Like the others I spoke with in
these interviews, Mary Pat was at
first fearful of taking the Mathematics and Science part of the
program. But, like them, she was
appreciative of the fact that she
had been made to study books on
a condition for graduation.
to know how to think, allowing
you to think fast on your feet,
without leaning on an expert, so
you are able to deal with all kinds
of situations that arise, and to
understand them better. I think
the courses at the Institute give
you a better understanding of
human nature and of people.
I thought I spent a lot of
,time reading the philosophy
books, but the math I spent hours
and hours. Mr. Neidorf made me
work like I'd never worked before.
But I found it to be one of the
most exciting things I have ever
put my mind to.
He was very enthusiastic about
Miss
Justice
was
asked
�Wilk£nson-
Dudley-
was able to understand people
better, if that's possible after
spending a summer somewhere
reading some books and discussing. I think what really matters
was that I was maybe more
tolerant of other people's ideas.
Not just tolerant in the sense that
you can have yours and I can have
mine, but tolerant in the sense
that I was more concerned about.
the other person's ideas, and why
he thought that way, and what
formed his opinion. Being from
the South and having experienced
prejudice quite a bit upset me a
lot at one time, but now I can
understand these things much
better. The experience at the
Graduate Institute hasn't made me
like prejudice, or accept it even,
but has helped me to understand
how ideas - get formulated and
molded.
the all-required nature of the
program, again emphasizing that
in a limited sense of being a
history teacher, it is not necessary
for him to know anything of
Euclid and Lobachevski, yet he
found that such a study gave him
a fresh understanding of the process of thought. But in addition to
this valuable result, Dudley
offered the view that for most
who attend the Institute, there is a
spiritual growth of themselves as
persons. He said he had known it
to happen to several students,
including himself. But it did not
necessarily occur in the classroom,
though the classroom experience
was necessary.
Upon further questioning, I
found out that the Institute has
had a lasting effect upon her reading habits. Before going to the
Institute, Juanita "would never
have sat down and read Plato,"
but now she will read Plato or
Plutarch of an evening - before
going to bed - and the experience
is so personal for her that she
expresses it by saying she "sits
quietly with Plato." After hearing
this from Juanita, I was quite
satisfied that the work down in
Santa Fe dtning the summers was
valuable and incalculably
rewarding~ even if it couldn't be
measured on any precise scale. lill
Justice-
I know one student there her spiritual growth didn't actually happen at the school itself she went up into the mountains
one day, and when she came back
she was altogether a different
person - an individual. I just can't
say more - I can feel it and I feel
it now - the difference in myself
- but to put it in to specific terms
is very difficult. Ill
While I certainly would not want the existence of
the Graduate Institute to rest solely on this kind of
support, nevertheless, such testimonials of the benefits it has brought to older people who have participated fully in the graduate program should be taken
seriously. These interviews have struck me as showing
that the impact of the Institute on at least these three
graduates has noticeably, even dramatically, changed
whether, and in what way, the
graduate program could be called
practical. Her reply was an enthusiastic agreement as to its practicality in several senses. At first she
repeated the way in which the
methods and some books were of
direct applicability to the high
school classroom. But then she
added that it helped her use her
imagination to play out many
alternatives to problems - to
follow consequences of opinions
and actions in your mind - to
compare options, in a way she had
never been able to before. She
thought she had, in that respect,
acquired a new freedom which
probably would not have come
about without the experience of
the Institute.
As we know, while there are
many differences between the
undergraduate and the graduate
programs of St. John's, there are
also important similarities. And,
concentrating on the similarities,
Mary Pat offered the valuable
opinion that the Graduate Institute has this most important role
-to play: that she believes she
would not have been able to put
the undergraduate program to the
best use for herself - she does not
think she was ready for it at age
17 or 18. But after completing her
undergraduate work elsewhere,
and working for a few years, she
was able to appreciate and put to
maximum use what the Graduate
Institute bad to offer her. IIi
them, in their opinion, for the better. None of them
would likely have been ready for, or financially able
to, attend the St. John's undergraduate program.
Tnerefore, if the sort of personal profit each interviewee speaks of is available through our graduate
program, then this evidence speaks strongly in
support of the view that we are doing something right
in our summer program at Santa Fe.l!i.l
17
�Mark Van Doren (continued)
Black Mountain (continued)
He was one of the great teachers of our time.
Generations of Columbia students thought no one
had really been through the University who had not
been in at least one of his courses. His admiring
students are numberless, and most of us at St.John's
count ourselves among them.
It is hard to say what makes a great teacher, but
with Mr. Van Doren it was his live and easy learning,
his quality of being a marvelous listener, his intelligent sympathy and enormous courtesy. While talking
to him you always had the sense that he was really
interested, however incredibly, on what you were
saymg.
There is one other thing I should like to say about
Mark Van Doren that seems to me of tremendous
importance to all of us now, and perhaps especially to
you. He was American to the core of his being. He
could not have happened in another country. His
virtues were the best of what is American. He was
hom in Illinois, and one of his heroes was Abraham
Lincoln. He had read, I suppose, every word of
Lincoln's and everything written about him. In
homage to that memory he wrote a very good play,
The Last Days of Lincoln.
I think this is important to say now because we
are no longer sure what it is to be an American, no
longer sure how to hold up our heads in the world as
Americans. To remember Mark Van Doren is to
remember who we are, or ought to be -what we can
be.
It is a great temptation to read many of Mark Van
Doren's words, for he was a man of wonderful words,
and in the end I suppose we shall mostly remember
his wonderful voice. At least I shall. But for now I
think we should read only the farewell he wrote for
himself. It says much, maybe everything, in brief.
looking back at the second large exodus, "You might
say an attempt to recover our nerve after the 1944
split never quite worked."
Dreier himself, with the last of the old guard from
the early years of Black Mountain, left in 1949, and
Black Mountain in the fifties was, under Charles
Olson, more an art colony than a college. The Black
Mountain School of poets and writers, some of whom
were at the College only briefly, dates from this
period. In 1956 the last two faculty members decided
to "knoc~ it off, close the place."
Duberman's interests in ''anarchism, unstructured
education, 'group process', the possibilities (and
history) of communal living" were what led him to
write this history, for Black Mountain combined
these interests. But Duberman also thinks that a
historian has the duty to put himself into the history
- by taking part in the story to expose his biases,
personal reactions, problems with the material,
judgm.tnts, and so forth. In his reactions to the
arguments and experiments at Black Mountain
College, Duberman discusses his own ideas of education. For example, he includes a long section from a
journal he kept on a seminar he taught. It does
explore the difficulties in teaching via an unstructured "group process," but one wonders how much
help it offers in understanding Black Mountain.
Sometimes Duberman is downright obtrusive, as
when he inserts his comments into the transcript of a
1936 Black Mountain College faculty meeting as if he
were actually present and taking part in the
discussion.
The most valuable parts of Duberman's participation are not his comments and ideas nn education,
but his notes on the difficulty of writing the history.
In seeing his involvement, his problems, one can
appreciate what Black Mountain was: an in tensely
personal, intensely experimenting college/
community, building itself around men like Josef
Albers and their ideas, sacrificing the safety of
structure for the risks of continuing growth and
change.
Farewell and Thanksgiving
Whatever I have left unsaid
When I am dead,
0 Muse, forgive me. You were always there
Like light, like air,
Those great good things
Of which the least bird sings,
So why not I? Yet thank you even then,
Sweet Muse. Amen.
18
Michael W. Ham
�I NEWS
ON THE CAMPUSES
NEIDORF APPOINTED
DEAN IN SANTA FE
President Richard D. Weigle has
announced that the Board of
Visitors
and
February
Governors
meeting
at
its
appointed
Mr. Neidorf is married to the
former Mary Frances Morris of
Lima, Ohio. They met at the University of Chicago, where she
received her M.A. from the Divinity
School. They have two children,
David, 15, and Julie, 12.
DEAN GOLDWIN GOES TO NATO
Robert Neidorf
Robert A. Neidorf as Dean at Santa
Fe, effective July 1. Mr. Neidorf
will succeed William A. Darkey,
whose five-year term as Dean will
end June 30. Mr. Darkey will take a
sabbatical leave before returning to
teach in the fall of 19 7 4.
Mr. Neidorf taught at St.John's
in Annapolis from 1962 to 1964
and he has been at Santa Fe since
19 6 7. He also has directed the
summer
Graduate
Institute
Robert A. Goldwin, Dean of
the College in Annapolis since
1969·; has accepted appointment as
Special Assistant to the U.S.
Ambassador to The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, the Honorable
Donald Rumsfeld. The Goldwin
family left for Brussels on April 1.
Mr. Goldwin, a graduate of the
class of 1950, had taught politicial
science at the University of Chicago
and Kenyon College before joining
St. John's faculty as Dean. He
received the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees
from the University of Chicago.
ACTING DEAN
Elliott Zuckerman, a Tutor
since 19 61, has been named Acting
Dean in Annapolis, replacing
Robert Goldwin. Mr. Zuckerman
holds A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees
from Columbia University and B.A.
and M.A. degrees from Cambridge
University.
Mr. Zuckerman was Director of
the Graduate Institute in Santa Fe
Elliott Zuckerman
m 1968 and 1969. He is the author
of The First Hundred Years of
Wagner's Trz"stan.
SANTA FE HAS FIRST JANUARY
FRESHMAN CLASS
in
Liberal Education since 1970. He
has taught philosophy at Bucknell
University and the State University
of New York at Binghamton.
Mr. Neidorf received his B.A.
and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in
philosophy from Yale University.
llis textbook on logic, Deductive
Farms, was published by Harper &
Row in 196 7. Shorter articles have
appeared in Bucknell Review,
Philosophy of Science and The
College.
ELLIOTT ZUCKERMAN NEW
Robert Goldwin
Among Mr. Goldwin's publications are Readings in World Politics,
Readings in American Foreign
Policy, Beyond the Cold War,
America Armed and Why Foreign
Aid.
The first January freshman class
at Santa Fe was enrolled this year
with 15 students. Six of the 15 had
attended other colleges. The new
students were older on the average
than most freshmen and had more
varied backgrounds, Admissions
Director Gerald Zollars reported.
One had just completed Army
service; another worked on a fishing
boat off Alaska; one lived in a
kibbutz in Israel and worked in
Greece, and another gave up a
National Merit Scholarship last year
so he could travel in Europe.
19
�The freshmen represented nine
states. Four were
Mexico, three from
from New
Texas, two
from California, and one each from
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana,
Oklahoma, New Jersey, and
Minnesota.
At the same time Annapolis
began its sixth January Freshman
class. Michael Ham, Director of
Admissions, reported that the 21
new freshmen came from 13 states
including Maryland, Virginia, New
Jersey, New York, Rhode Island,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa,
Louisiana, Alabama, Oregon, and
California.
Cornell, Inc., of Clovis, N. M., at a
cost of about $400,000.
The St.John's College Board of
Visitors and Governors plans to join
the College community in the
dedication of this most attractive
and useful center at the Board's
May 19th meeting in Santa Fe.
BOARD APPOINTS FIVE
NEW TUTORS
Five' new Tutors, four for Santa
Fe and one for Annapolis, were
appointed by the Board of Visitors
and Governors at its February
meeting. Three of the Santa Fe
appointees are honors graduates of
the class of 1967: William H.
MUSEUM AND FINE ARTS
Donahue, who has been studying at
BUILDING RISES ON
King's College, Cambridge; James
R. Mensch, who received an M.S.L.
SANTA FE CAMPUS
degree in 1970 from the Pontifical
Although workmen were
Institute of Mediaeval Studies in
hampered by one of the most
Toronto; and Howard Zeiderman,
severe winters in Santa Fe history,
the newest addition to the western who received an M.A. in philosophy
campus is scheduled for completion from Princeton University in 1972.
Also appointed to the Santa Fe
before the end of the academic
faculty was Richard L. Michaud,
year.
The Sternberger-Weiss Music who holds an A.B. degree from St.
Michael's College in Vermont and a
and Fine Arts Building is, for the
most part, the gift of an alumnus Ph.D. from the University of
Vermont, College of Medicine. Mr.
and Board member, Mr. Jac
Michaud is currently an Assistant
Holzman '52, of New York. It will
be dedicated to his grandparents. Professor in the Science DepartThe furnishings will be donated by · ment of Webster College in St.
his mother, Mrs. Jacob E. Holzman. Louis.
The Board appointed Mr. Leo
The 10,428-square-foot strucFerraro Raditsa to the Annapolis
ture will house the music library
with reading areas and listening faculty. Mr. Raditsa is an historian
holding the B.A. degree from
carrels, two music seminar rooms,
Harvard College, and M.A. and
eight practice rooms, a large listening lounge, a painting studio, a Ph.D. degrees from Columbia
University. He has been a Fulbright
ceramics room, and an office for an
scholar and a professor of history at
artist-in-residence. It will include
New York University.
the most modem sound recording,
projection and listening equipment
SENIORS RECEIVE
available.
WATSON FELLOWSHIPS
The exteriors will reflect the
modified Territorial style of the
Three St. John's seniors have
other buildings on campus and the been appointed Thomas J. Watson
historic character of its South- Fellows for 1973. They are
western setting. The new building is Prudence E. Davis and Jan L.
being constructed by John C. Huttner, Annapolis, and Mark D.
20
Jordan, Santa Fe.
Miss Davis, whose home is in
Whiting, Indiana, will study
European needlework, embroidery
and tapestry in the United
Kingdom, France and Russia. Miss
Huttner, of Livingston, New Jersey,
will study Israeli educational
administration in Israel. Mr. Jordan,
Dallas, Texas, plans a "liturgical
year" in monasteries of France and
Spain.
The Watson Fellows were
chosen by The Thomas J. Watson
Foundation of Providence, Rhode
Island, from 140 nominees from 35
colleges.
CHARLES BELL CONDUCTS
GRADUATE PRECEPTORIAL
This year for the first time St.
John's in Santa Fe is offering a
program of graduate study during
the regular academic year. The
preceptorial, "Dimensions in
History," is under the direction of
Charles G. Bell, a longtime St.
John's Tutor with many years of
study in philosophy and the fine
arts. In addition to five outside
graduate students, Santa Fe Tutors
Sam Brown, Frank Flinn, Roger
Peterson and Ralph Swentzell are
participating in the preceptorial as a
study group. The program is being
funded in part by a Ford Foundation Venture Grant.
The first semester dealt with
the
transformation
in
Western
Civilization which took place from
the Middle Ages to the Renaissance,
while the second semester has
focused on the Revolutionary and
Romantic upheave! around 1800.
Studies are particularly directed
towards the role played in each of
the transformations by the several
arts.
A public by-product of the
course was a series of Sunday
evening programs on "Studies in
Cultural History" with slides,
music, and readings, presented by
Mr. Bell and other tutors.
�Eugene]. McCarthy
LIBRARY ASSOCIATES
DONATE VOLUMES
The Library Associates of St.
John's College in Santa Fe have
given seven sets of literary, religious
and scientific reference works to
the College.
Funds for the purchase of the
volumes, selected by the library
staff and faculty, came from the
proceeds of the four Book and
Author Luncheons sponsored by
the Associates in Santa Fe during
1972. Another series is planned for
1973 with the first noontime pro·
gram scheduled on April 13 with
the following speakers: Cartoonist
Bill Mauldin; Bertha Dutton, expert
on Southwestern Indian culture;
and Dr. Marcus J. Smith, author of
Dachau.
The new additions to the
College Library are: The Oxford
Illustrated Jane Austen (6
volumes); La Bible de Jerusalem
( 4 3 fascicles with notes and
commentary); The Encyclopedia
Judaica (16 volumes); The
Cambridge Bible Commentary on
the New English Bible (27 val·
umes); The Selected Correspondence of Michael Faraday (2 val·
umes); Miscellaneous Works of
Edward Gibbon (5 volumes); and
The "New York Edition" of the
Works of Henry James (26
volumes).
EUGENE MCCARTHY LECTURES
AT ANNAPOLIS
Former Senator Eugene J.
McCarthy delivered the formal
lecture on the Annapolis campus on
February 2. His topic was "Poetry
and Politics"; the lecture consisted
principally of readings of poetry
written by Mr. McCarthy and
others.
The former presidential candidate has published one volume of
poetry, Other Things and The
Aardvark (Doubleday, 1970). Since
retiring from the Senate in 1971,
Mr. McCarthy has been writing,
lecturing, and teaching. He is
currently a senior editor at Simon
& Schuster, Inc., in New York and
a lecturer and seminar leader at The
New School for Social Research.
FACULTY NOTES FROM
ANNAPOLIS
Louis N. Kurs, Tutor in Anna·
polis, has been appointed Visiting
Lecturer in The Civil Decisions
Quantification Program in the
College of Earth Sciences of the
University of Arizona for the
academic year 1973-74. Mr. Kurs'
wife Alice will be studying com-
puter technology for application to
her teaching at Annapolis High
School.
Elliott Zuckerman, the Acting
Dean in Annapolis, has written a
paper, "Nietzsche and Music: The
Birth of Tragedy and Nietzsche
Contra Wagner" which will appear
in a special issue of Symposium
magazine.
Annapolis Tutor Robert S.
Ze.lenka had two translations
published in the Fall 1972 issue of
Proteus: "Deathfuge" by Paul
Cclon, translated from German; and
"The Ruin," anonymous, translated
from Anglo-Saxon.
Ray Williamson and Howard
Fisher, Tutors in Annapolis, are coauthors (with Mr. Williamson's wife
Abby) of "The Astronomical
Record in Chaco Canyon, New
Mexico," a paper to be read by Mr.
Williamson in Mexico City at the
June Meeting of The American
Association for The Advancement
of Science. Mr. Williamson is also
the co-author of "The Velocity
Structure of The Triffid Nebula"
soon to be published in Astronomical Journal.
Simon Kaplan, Tutor Emeritus,
has published a translation of
Hermann Cohen's The Religion of
Reason out of the Sources of
Judasim. The book has an in traduction by Mr. Kaplan and an introductionary essay by Leo Strauss,
Scholar-in-Residence on the Annapolis campus.
The February 1973 issue of The
American Mathematical Monthly
included an article entitled "The
Lecture Method in Mathematics: A
Student's View," by Michael W.
Ham, Director of Admissions and
Tutor in Annapolis. Soon after
publication, Mr. Ham received a
complimentary letter from R. H.
Bing, the well-known topologist
from the University of Wisconsin,
who noted that he had distributed
copies of the article to his staff and
teaching assistants.
21
�ALUMNI ACTIVITIES
DONOHUE COLLECTS HONORS
John C. Donohue '35 received
two well-deserved honors during
the past several months. For his
professional accomplishments he
received the George S. Robertson
Award for 197 3, and for his athletic prowess he was inducted into
the Maryland Athletic Hall of
Fame.
The Robertson Award is given
annually by the Baltimore Life
Underwriters' Association for
accomplishments and sustained
activity in the interests of the insti-
was referee for the Duke-Oklahoma
Orange Bowl game.
John's selection for the Hall of
Fame brings to six the number of
St. John's men who have been so
honored. In order of their selection
they are: Edmund P. (Ned) Duvall
'05; Valentine (Dutch) Lentz '18;
Robert (Bobby) Pool '3l;John N.
Qohnny) Wilson '13; and Richard
T. (Dick) Porter '22. Plaques commemorating the exploits of these
athletic greats are on display in the
lower lobby of the Civic Center in
Baltimore.
HOMECOMING DATES SET
IN ANNAPOLIS
Homecoming. The awards are made
to alumni for "distinguished and
meritorious service to the United
States or to his native state or to St.
John's College, or for outstanding
achievement in his chosen field."
Nominations, accompanied by
sufficient biographical data to substantiate the recommendation,
should be forwarded to the Alumni
Office, addressed to President
Gessner. Deadline for submissions is
August 1st.
CHAPTER ACTIVITIES
The Annapolis chapter has had
several interesting speakers over the
This year we have paid particular attention to boat shows, Navy
John C. Donohue
tution of life insurance as viewed in
retrospect and in conformation
with the highest standards of professional conduct.
Donohue's athletic interests
and ability were recognized early,
when in 1931 as a senior at Mt. St.
Joseph High School he was voted
Baltimore's outstanding athlete. In
the next four years at St.John's he
earned nine letters in football, basketball, and lacrosse. He was an
All-America selection in lacrosse his
last two years.
After graduation John
coached at St. John's, Mt. St.
Joseph, and at the Naval Academy.
He was for many years a highly
respected official in football,
lacrosse, and basketball. In 1965 he
22
home football games, and other
annoying but unavoidable considerations, and have concluded that
Homecoming 197 3 must take place
on Friday and Saturday, September
29th and 3Oth.
This is the year for reunions
for 1913, 1923, 1933, etc. DO
NOT wait for the Alumni Office to·
prod your class into organizing.
One or two in each class should
start work now, writing, calling,
planning. That's the only way anything worthwhile is going to
happen.
From this end we hope to
have general plans worked out and
published early in the summer. For
now, just mark your calendars and
start writing letters.
AWARD OF MERIT
Association President Bernard
F. (Bunny) Gessner urges all alumni
to think about the possible nominations for the 19 7 3 Alumni A ward
of Merit.
At present up to three awards
are authorized each year, with
presentations normally made at
Robert L. Spaeth
past several months. Most recently
Lt. Gen. Ridgely Gaither '24 talked
about his job as Police Commissioner of Annapolis; earlier speakers
were John C. Donohue '35 reporting on his service as head of the
Baltimore Board of Election Supervisors, and editor and Tutor Robert
Spaeth reminiscing about his term
as an Annapolis councilman.
The weekly Baltimore luncheon group now meets at Humperdinkers, 20 East Fayette Street,
second floor, at 12:30 p.m. on
Tuesdays.
March 20th was the date of
the first New York Group seminar,
led by Annapolis Tutors John F.
White '64, and Acting Dean Elliott
Zuckerman. The second and third
seminars are scheduled for April
24th and May 22nd.
�Reflections on a Homecoming
The following letter was written
for at least two reasons: to answer
one from Thomas Parran, Jr.,
Alumni Director at Annapolis, and
to respond to a request from Dean
Robert Goldwin to write about the
author's reactions to the College.
The author, a graduate in the Class
of 1947, is professor and head of
the philosophy department at Mary
Washington College, Fredericksburg, Va. He worked at the College
a while after graduation, leaving in
1950 to go to Korea with the
Marines. Except to attend the
dedication of the Key Memorial
and Mellon Hall in 1959, he did not
return until Homecoming 1972.-Ed.
November 24, 1972
Dear Tom:
... I suppose an alumnus of any college
has very poignant feelings when he
returns from a long absence. There is so
much about the -atmosphere at St. John's
which is unchanged from 30 years ago .• it
is almost overwhelming. I took the
trouble to walk about a bit on my own
and set foot in almost every building of
the college. I also attended the seminar
on graduate schools and job opportunities. The one thing that impressed me
most of all was the students. Almost
without exception they were polite, very
open, friendly, and interested in seeing a
middle-aged alumnus. It was almost as if
they had received a battalion order to 'be
nice to the old coots or else.' (I say that
because I am sure no such directive was
issued.) I can only conclude that you
have recruited an outstanding student
body, and, as an educator, I envy you.
I was a bit disappointed that there
were not more of my old friends back for
the reunion, and this produced a feeling
of guilt in me for I know how one asks
why it is that we 'old New Program
alumni' don't support alunmi doings
more faithfully? For surely we who date
from the Barr and Buchanan days have
St. John's stamped on our very souls.
This is a very troublesome question and
I'm sure more talented 'old New Programmers' than I have wrestled with it. For
what they are worth, I share with youth(
following highly subjective observations
and suggestions.
The physical environment of the
College is very, very moving to an
alumnus. You are doing a remarkable job
in keeping the corpus in a high state of
preservation. One can quibble over the
King William Roqm and a few other nitpicks but by and large the atmosphere is
spookily the same (catch that adverb!) as
it was almost 30 years ago. And yet the
very sophistication induced by the program tends to immunize us from being
seduced by that kind of nostalgia. I am
sure the alumnus of any college in
America has deep, important, and. tender
feelings when he returns to his college,
but his college experience has not
immunize<;! him from wanting to return in
a sentimental orgy to his dear old alma
mater. I think that the St.John's Program
isolates its students in a very close,
intense and soul-remaking experience.
The College vomits its students forth and
they keep on going, never looking back.
Who is to say whether or not such an
apron-string cutting is bad?
All of us who have graduated from
the College return to our alma mater
every time we look at our libraries. Those
sly old master artificers who concocted
the Program were not just mouthing
platitudes when they said that the books
were, in the end, the teachers at St.
John's. When McDowell Hall, the
wonderful tutors, the games on back
campus, the jug-a-lug in Chase-Stone have
all faded into nothingness, the Great
Books will remain. We, who have been
privileged to attend St. John's, commune
with her every time we step into our
studies and open up and read one of the
books.
Boiled down to their essentials, the
two points I have made above mean that
you, as alumni director, have a very
difficult task. The College will always
tend to produce alumni who have been
profoundly affected by it but [who] will
never look back, and [who] will manifest
their loyalty ... by continuing to reflect
and read rather than reach for the old
check book. I am sure this is nothing new
but these thoughts have struck me as I
ponder my recent delightful visit ....
Sincerely,
George M. Van Sant
CLASS NOTES
1922
just before going to press we received a
fine letter from S. Den mead Kolb, reporting
on his recent visit with Dr. Rafael
Rodriguez-Molina at the latter's home in
Santurce, Puerto Rico. Kolb, his wife, Kitty,
and their youngest son, Charles, were in
Puerto Rico in January, and had dinner with
Roddy, as he was known here, his wife
Marian, and their daughter Anna and son
Manuel. Two older offspring are married.
Roddy has had a most successful medical
practice, and retired a few years ago from
the U. S. Army Medical Corps with the rank
of colonel,
1928
Lout's L. Snyder was recently nam_ed to
the Editorial Advisory Board of the
Canadt'an Revt"ew of Studt"es ~·n Natt"onaUsm.
Lou continues to make his mark as an
author; his The Imperialism Reader:
Documents and Readings on European
Expanst"onism -has just been reprinted by the
Kennikot Press, Port Washington, N. Y .,
while The Dreyfus Case was released by the
Rutgers University Press in january.
Charles S. Smith is the new director of
the property management division of
Donald E. Grempler Realty, Inc.; a Baltimore area firm. Smith has been active in real
estate work since the mid-1940's. He makes
his home in the Roland Park area of Baltimore.
1954
Merle and Priscilla ('55) Shore have
opened a second location for their shop,
The Village Frame. They had their opening
in the new Ruth Shaffer Gallery in Santa
Barbara on january 6th.
1955
Donald A. Phillips is now Alcoholism
Program Manager for the Civil Service
Commission in Washington.
January was a good month for letters;
Evajane (Duvall) McKenney writes that she
will graduate this J unc with an associate
degree in nursing from Northern Essex
Community College in Haverhill, Mass. She
hopes to go on to earn her B.S. degree in
nursing with a minor in natural science.
23
�Evajane is married to a disabled veteran, has
two married stepsons, three grandchildren,
and two teenage daughters.
1957
As noted in the February Alumni
Association newsletter, the name of Navy
Cdr. H. Allen Stafford was on the prisoner
lists pubtished by the North Vietnamese in
January, He was released in mid-March and,
according to press reports, was met by his
wife when he arrived at Clark AFB in the
Philippines. Al, a Navy carrier-based pilot,
was shot down over Haiphong on August
31, 1967, while on his 31st combat mission,
1962
John Franklin Miller in January became
the director of Hampton House, a National
Historical Site located near Towson, just
north of Baltimore. After graduation from
St. John's, John earned a B.D. degree from
Yale, and then taught elementary school in
Anne Arundel and Washington Counties in
M~land. Since 19 69 he has been doing
graduate work in art and architectural
history at the University of Maryland, as
well as teaching 'at Maryland and at Mont·
gomery Junior College.
1963
Daniel T. Devereux writes that he is
teaching philosophy at the University of
Vrrginia, and is especially pleased to have
Evan Dudik '72 and Dennis Berg '71 in his
seminar.
Robert K. Thomas is currently enrolled
in full-time. French language training at the
Foreign Service Institute in Washington, in
preparation for his new assignment as the
deputy public affairs advisor to the U.S.
delegation to the United Nations. Bob says
that the U.S, mission is right across the
street from the United Nations headquarters
in New York, and that all St. Johnnies
would be welcome. He also teJls us that Dr.
Oliver M. Korshin is studying Russian at the
Foreign Service Institute. Ollie is slated to
head the Russian-D. S. health exchange, Bob
reports.
1964
Patricia {Carney) Ceccarelli is a· housewife and stUdent, attending the University
of Nottingham, England.
Miss Barbara Leonard recently passed to
us a long, news-filled letter from Barbara
{Kulacki} Vona. We knew that Barbara has
been giving her time to the New York
Alumni Group as editor of the Group News·
letter, but we didn't realize what a busy girl
she- has been since she and Dan ('67) left
Annapolis. In 1967 she began independent
research in the History of Science, special·
izing in Martin Delrio, a 16th Century
Spanish theologian, lawyer, and man of
24
letters. She has been preparing the first
English translation from the Latin of his
Disquisitionum Magicarum. In 1970 at
Oxford she became a Bodleian Reader; last
summer she participated in the first
symposium on the History of Modern
Science at the International School, Enrico
Fermi, Lake Como, Varenna, Italy. She is
currently negotiating with the University of
Texas Press for publication of her transla·
tion. In her spare time she has helped with a
New York Assembly campaign as Environmental Chairman for a candidate. She now
hopes to enter law school, where she would
like to concentrate in the areas of Taxation
and Land Use. After her schooling she wants
to work on planning and writing tax legisla·
tion, and on sound planning for new urban
areas and renewal of the old.
1966
A brief note from Barbara Hockman's
mother advises that Barbara, after teaching
in Japan until May 1972, has been traveling
in Asia, and is presently in India.
William N. McKeachie, after two years
as assistant chaplain, St. John's College,
Oxford, returned last year to Canada, where
he is special assistant to the Bishop of
Toronto.
1967
Meredith Burke informs us that Fred
Fedderson and his wife are expecti~g -a
baby. They live at 33 Marlowe's Road,
London W. 8, England.
1970
Miss Miriam Strange has sent along a
letter from Katharine Beckman, bringing us
up to date on her life since she left St.
John's. A year was spent in Stockholm,
where she was a page in the Australian
Embassy. After a year at American
University in Washington she received her
B.A. degree in English. Since September
1970 she has been in Gambridge, Mass., first
as a secretary to a neuroanatomist at M.I.T.,
more recently working for the Massachu·
setts Drug Commission.
Word reaches us through his father that
Stephen ]. Forman, now a junior at the
University of Southern California Medical
School, has completed a year-long research
project, has had the paper thereon published
in the official publication of The American
Federation of Clinical Research, and read
the paper in January at a meeting of the
Western Society for Clinical Research in
Carmel, California. The paper was entitled
Red Cell Me_mbrane Deformity in Uremic
Hemodt'alyzed Patients.
1971
James R. Hal now lives in Felton, Pa.,
and is District Manager for the York Daily
Record,
Jeffrey Cole Kitchen is reported by his
parents to be quite successfully involved in
the Ph.D. degree program in applied mathematics at Johns Hopkins University.
1972
Cynthia {Stratton) Dourmashkin
reports that she and Tom ('69} have a son,
Jordan Thomas, born on December 17th.
Tom is enrolled in pre-medical courses at
Columbia University and hopes to enter
medical school in the fall of 1974. Cindy
says she is enjoying motherhood and is very
happy.
Ellen Hearne (SF) writes that she has
now graduated from the University of North
Carolina at Asheville with distinction in art,
Her senior showing in pottery in December
received excellent coverage in the press. She
was commended not only for her pottery
but also for the fact that she constructed
her own kiln, with which she could fire
stoneware up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Since leaving St. John's, she studied at
Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina,
rmder Cynthia Bringle, and Jater at the
University of North Carolina under Gene
Bunker.
Probably: the most recent alumnus to
enter the field of journalism is Thomas R.
Ascik, now a copy boy with the Washing·
ton, D. C. Star·News. In what woUld seem
to be a most unusual opportunity for a
young journalist, Tom recently. interviewed
Dr. Andre Helleger, director of the Kennedy
Institute for the Study of Human
Reproduction and Rio-Ethics. The inter·
view, concerning the recent Supreme Court
decision on abortions, was. published in the
Sunday, March 4th, edition of the newspaper. On the evidence thuS far, Tom has a
very bright journalistic futtire~
In Memoriam
19 08
Harold Hardinge, Jr.,
Ventnor, N.J., December 16, 1972.
1922 -The Rev. William R. Horney,
Centreville, Md., November 27, 1972.
1924 - James B. Robertson, Jr;,
Baltimore, Md., December 31, 1972.
1926 - The Rev. Robert L. Bull,
Columbus,Ohio,January 15,1973.
1931 - Emanuel Klawans, Annapolis, Md., February 8, 197 3.
1931 -James D. Morris, Baltimore,
Md., March 5, 1973.
1934
Charles P. Clark, Jr.,
Summit, N.J., February 21,1973.
1935 - Harry Ferguson, Belmont,
Cal., February 7, 1973.
�RESOLUTIONS
The College mourns the death of two of its closest friends and
supporters. Mark Van Doren, former member of the Board and
Honorary Fellow, died on December 10, 1972. Bromwell Ault, a
former chairman, and most recently an honorary Board member,
died in New York City December 29, 1972. The following
resolutions were adopted at the February 24 meeting of the Board
of Visitors and Governors.
MARK VAN DOREN
RESOLVED, that this Board of Visitors and Governors has
learned with great sadness of the death of Mark Van Doren, a
member of the Board from 1943 to 1953 and an Honorary Fellow
of the College since 1959. In him the gifts of the poet, scholar,
critic and teacher were greatly one. He was one of those few men
who helped to conceive the St. John's Program in its beginning.
Through his writings and his regular lectures on poetry and poets,
he taught generations of St. John's students and faculty. He was a
strong contributor to the work of St. John's College in America.
The College was privileged to claim his warm and steady
friendship.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary be instructed to
convey to Mrs. Dorothy Van Doren, his wzfe, and to Charles Van
Doren and John Van Doren, her sons, copies of this Resolution
together with expressions of the Board's deepest sympathy.
BROMWELLAULT
RESOLVED, that this Board of Visitors and Governors has
learned with profound sorrow of the death of Bromwell Ault, a
member of this Board for some twenty-five years. Bromwell Ault
was the finest exemplar of a man in the world of business who also
devoted himself to his family, to his church, to his community,
and to education. Though his primary loyalties were to Andover
and Yale, the institutions from which he graduated, he was
fascinated by the challenge of St. John's educational program and
adopted this College when he joined its Board in the late 1940's.
He served for a period as its chairman and in more recent years he
has been an honorary member. His was an active and imaginative
mind, evolving ideas and projects which might be beneficial to St.
John's College.
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary be instructed to
convey to Allie Burchenal Ault, his wife, and to Burchenal Ault
and Browell Ault, his sons, copies of this Resolution together with
expressions of the Board's gratitude and admiration for his life and
its deepest sympathy for his family.
25
�A familiar figure on the Annapolis campus,
Campus Guard Melvin N. Wilkerson, Jr.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Front cover, Sheldon C. Heitner, '75. Inside Front cover,
Malcolm Handte, '75, Eugene lorgov, '75. Page 3, Robert
Nugent. Page 4, Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting. Page
9, Eugene lorgov, '75. Pages 12 and 13, Michaer Johnson,
Burton Blistein. Page 19, Sheldon C. Heitner, Maryland Center
for Public Broadcasting. Page 21, Bill Grady. Page 22, Valley
Studios, Tom Parran, Jr.
The College
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
Second-class postage paid at
Annapolis, Maryland, and at
additional mailing offices.
�
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St. John's College's Office of the Dean published <em>The College</em> from 1969 to 1981. The publication superseded <em><a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/collections/show/37" title="The Bulletin of St. John's College">The Bulletin of St. John's College</a></em>. <em>The College</em> was in turn continued by <a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/collections/show/13" title="The St. John's Review"><em>The St. John's Review</em></a> in 1981. <br /><br />A separate magazine for St. John's alumni titled <em>The College </em>began publication in 2001, continuing <em>The St. John's Reporter</em>. <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=12">Items in the The College Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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Spaeth, Robert Louis
Parran, Jr.
Thomas
Campbell, John Randolph
Ham, Michael W.
Newland, Paul D.
Oosterhout, Barbara Brunner
Wyatt, E. Malcolm
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lf' h-~
THE COLLEGE
C.Of:'(
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland
Santa Fe, New Mexico
January 1973
�THE COLLEGE
Editor: Robert L. Spaeth
Alumni Editor: Thomas Parran, Jr. '42
Design: John Randolph Campbell '72
Production: Jeffrey Sinks '7 3
The College is published by the Development Office
of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Richard
D. Weigle, President. Paul D. Newland, Provost.
Published four times a year in January, April, July,
and October. Second class postage paid at Annapolis,
Maryland, and at other mailing offices.
In the January Issue
Aristotle's Ethics, by J. Winfree Smith
1
Three Piano Preludes, by Douglas Allanbrook
7
Alumni Profile
. 21
Homecoming 1972
. 22
Alumni Chapter in New York
. 23
Alumni Activities . . . . . . .
. 24
ON THE COVER: The replica of the Liberty Bell
standing on the front campus in Annapolis is one of
forty-eight cast in 1950 by the U.S. Department of
the Treasury as part of a nation-wide drive to
promote the sale of defense bonds. The state of
Maryland temporarily deposited its bell with the
Annapolis Chamber of Commerce, which in tum had
it placed on the campus in 1952. In a speech prepared
for the dedication of the monument: on May 13,
1953, John M. Whitmore said, "St. John's College,
just as this bell, is symbolic of liberty and of man's
constant battle to become and to remain free."
Vol. XXIV
January, 1973
No.4
�A.ristotle ends the Nicomachean Ethics with the
words: "Let us then begin our discussion." Although
Aristotle is sometimes playful, he is not playful here.
The passage that precedes shows that the book called
the Nicomachean Ethics is only part of a larger
whole. The larger whole includes the Politics, and it is
the discussion contained in the Politics that is to
begin where the Ethics ends. To the larger whole
Aristotle gives the name "the philosophy concerning
human things." At the very beginning of the Ethics,
the philosophy concerning human things, as having to
do with "the human good," is called political science
(e11"WT~/1'1 ). This term might be misleading both for
those who know only a little about Aristotle and for
those who know a great deal. For those who know
only a little, since political science as he, and the
ancients generally, understood it is not identical with
political science as it is usually taught in our
universities and colleges today. While Aristotle's
political science is descriptive of institutions of
government, the things they are concerned with, and
the ways they work, it has to do with much more
than the institutions. of government. If Ethics raises
the question of what is good or bad for this or that
man to be or do, that question is not to be separated
from such questions as what is good or bad for him to
do in the place he occupies and in relation to others
within the complete human community, the nOAts, in
what way that goodness or badness may be
determined by the goodness or badness of the mil\ts
itself and its laws, and hence what may be the best
1T61\ts. The term "political science" may be misleading
to those who know a great deal about Aristotle
because, according to what he says in the Posterior
Analytics and in Book VI of the Ethics itself, science
( €71'W7~JJ.f/) is about universal, necessary, and
unchangeable things and proceeds demonstratively
from premisses to conclusions. The model for science
is mathematical synthesis of the kind we find in
Euclid's geometry. But at the beginning of the Ethics
he makes it clear that Ethics is not like geometry. It
lacks the precision of geometry. This lack of precision
is to be found not only in the application of universal
principles to particular matters, but in the universal
principles themselves. Although there is a great deal
that can be said about what is generally good for men
to do, this may not hold in all cases and all
circumstances. The things Ethics is about arc
changeable. Ethics or political soence IS not
Aristotle as conceived by Raphael
in his "School of Athens" fresco in
the Vatican.
ARISTOTLE'S
ETHICS
by
]. Winfree Smith
''science."
Let us come back to the least misleading title of
the enterprise, "the philosophy concerning human
things." That suggests that there may be some other
1
�The College
philosophy that does not concern human things.
There may be things that are what they are independently of man, and to say they are what they are is to
imply there is a way in which things are. The things
that are independent of what man thinks or does or
makes might be called "nature." That name, however,
deriving from the Latin nascor (to be born, to come
into being), as well as the Greek it translates, ¢vatS
(from ¢Vw, to generate, to cause to come into being),
points to a distinction between the way things are as
determining the way they come into being and the
way they are simply. Aristotle accordingly envisages
two sciences (in addition, of course, to Mathematics)
that aim at the vision of truth, at knowledge for its
own sake: Physics, which is about nature as a
principle of change or coming-into-being, and First
Philosphy (which has come to be called Metaphysics,
although Aristotle never called it that), which is
about being as being. Unlike Ethics these are conceived as sciences in the strict sense, as demonstrative
sciences. It is perhaps worthy of note that Aristotle
never produces these sciences. The books that we call
the Physics and the Metaphysics contain observations, the posing and refining of difficulties, and
reasoning leading to principles rather than demonstrations from principles (Jrra'YW"f~ rather than
dn68H~ts). This, I believe, is not accidental. For
Aristotle, like his teacher Plato, was aware that when
man undertakes to philosophize, no matter about
what, he is not, to begin with, in possession of
principles; and whether he actually comes to possess
them should perhaps be left an open question.
One might wonder whether one can enter upon
the philosophy about human things without having
been first engaged in First Philosophy and Second
Philosophy (which name, Second Philosophy, Aristotle gives to Physics or Natural Philosophy). Or, to
put it another way, does his Ethics depend upon his
First Philosophy or his Physics? Can we keep his
Ethics and reject his Physics, and substitute some
other Physics, Descartes' or Newton's, or Einstein's?
Or, can we keep his Ethics and reject his Metaphysics? If we presented these questions to Aristotle,
I think he would say that in Ethics we must begin
with the most obvious perennial facts about human
life; for instance, that men have certain desires for
food and drink and sexual pleasure, for money and
recognition, that for the most part they live in
communities under customs and laws, that they fight
wars at the same time that they fear death, that they,
with some exceptions, worship gods or a god, and
that they have opinions about good and evil which
they take seriously. So we don't need to presuppose
Physics and Metaphysics to begin to philosophize
about ourselves and our fellows and our common life.
I would submit that if one were to read the Ethics
without having read or heard much about Aristotelian
Physics ·Of Metaphysics, he would find it understandable.
2
But one might wonder not whether one can
start, but whether one can finish the philosophy
about human things without entering upon First
Philosophy and Second Philosophy. After all, even if
human things are to be differentiated from those
divine things on which the being of the cosmos
depends or from natural things, it might be argued
that man's being and his doings depend upon his
nature which is part of the whole that includes all
natures. It might make a great difference for Ethics
whether human life is a tiny and transitory happening
in an immense universe which may be friendly or
hostile to human life, or which may be intelligible or
unintelligible, or which may be governed by a
particular providence or not so governed. Is not
Ethics, in order to complete itself, or perhaps even
correct itself, compelled to take into account the
questions with which First Philosophy and Physics
deal? If Aristotle were faced with this query, I think
he would by no means dismiss it. But he would
remind us that just as the weaver may have a good
opinion about what a good piece of cloth is without
knowing the good itself, i.e., without knowing or
even seeking to know what Plato argues was the first
principle of everything, so fathers of families and
soldiers and citizens and rulers may have a good
opinion about what is good or bad for them to do
without embarking upon First Philosophy and
Physics. Moreover, just as the weaver has every day to
attend to his loom, so men have every day to attend
to their tasks in the several relationships of life. One
studies Ethics in order to know how to act, and
action allows not the leisure to wait upon the
solution of speculative questions.
The inference to be drawn is not that one can
only act blindly or thoughtlessly. Otherwise, Aristotle
would not have written his Ethics. It is useful to
consider how he proceeds in the book. He is guided
by what people think to be good or bad, by what
they praise or blame. A few years ago a student in a
St. John's seminar remarked that morals are just
mores. That student perhaps knew some Latin and
knew that the word "morals" comes from a Latin
word which in the plural is nothing other than our
word "mores" and means customs, usages, habits.
Indeed so. The word "ethics" is exactly parallel to
"morals" and comes from a Greek word HeTJ that has
those same meanings: customs, usages, habits. Indeed
so. But the question is whether the customary, usual,
habitual ways of thinking, · the commonly held
opinions, do not embody truth. This seems to be
Aristotle's view. He is, of course, well aware that not
all opinions, even widely held opinions, are equally
worthy of consideration, and that among those that
are, not all are compatible with one another. When
they seem not to be compatible, he tries to see
whether they can be reconciled, and, if not, why one
opinion is to be preferred to another, and how some
kind of consensus within the realm of opinion might
�January 1973
be reached. He himself says of his procedure in the
context of his account of continence and incontinence (or self-restraint and unrestraint):
We must set before us what seems (presumably
what seems to others) to be the case, and, after
first going through the difficulties, exhibit, if
possible, the truth of the common opinions
about these affections (continence and inconti-
nence) and if this is not possible, the truth of
the greatest number and the most ruling ones;
for if both the hard points are resolved and
common opinions remain, the truth will have
been sufficiently exhibited.
Therefore, I have not really entered into Aristotle's ethical or moral teaching, and the reader may
well wonder why he is reading this if not to learn how
to be good and why. Aristotle's general answer to
that question is simple: You should behave in
accordance with reason, and you should do so in
order to be happy. I hope that the rest of what I shall
say will to some degree specify the content that
Aristotle gives to that proposition.
In the first place, Aristotle observes that men
generally will agree that they want happiness and that
happiness, whatever it is, is not something they want
as a means to something else but for its own sake.
They do indeed disagree as to where their happiness is
to be found. Some think it is to be found in pleasure.
But there are some pleasures that man shares with the
other animals, such as the pleasures of eating and
drinking and sexual enjoyment. If human happiness is
a specifically human thing, it would seem that
whatever those pleasures contribute to happiness, it
cannot be found in its completeness in them, though
it might still be identified with some specifically
human pleasure or pleasures. Those who think that it
is to be found in wealth will, upon a little reflection,
see that wealth is good only in its use and so for the
sake of something else. So and so many coins in a
purse or digits in a bank account are not happiness. If
there are men like Hotspur, who think that happiness
consists in honor, they will, if they reflect, see that
they would not want to be honored by just anyone or
for just anything, and so that honor is meaningful
only in relation to whatever excellence a man may
have and for which he should be honored. Hence,
what defines a man's happiness is the excellence
rather than the honor he receives because of it. If he
possesses some excellence, that means that he is
excellent in something or at something such as
swimming or horseback riding or armed combat or
oratory or diplomacy. That is, there is always some
activity in which he excels. Hence the really good
thing is the activity. Just as the parts of the body
have their activities and the activity of the eye is
seeing and of the lungs is breathing, so man has an
activity as man, which must be an activity of the soul
rather than the body, and of that part of the soul
which differentiates him from other animals. His
excellence will consist in his being able to perform
well that ac<ivity, and the activity itself will be his
happiness. But there a]:e many specifically human
activities some of whiGh seem to be for some further
end ·and others to be ends in themselves. Is there
some one activity which is the end of all? Aristotle
"'does not answer this question at the first stage of his
-Philosophizing concerning human things (i.e., in
Book I of the Ethics). He has, however, come to some
,tlhderstanding of the kind of thing that happiness
must be: Happiness must be an activity of the human
·"soul in accordance with some human excellence or
virtue. And that virtue must be complete. The main
~reason that Aristotle cannot at this stage give a better
answer to this question to which at a later he returns
,-is that in order to answer it he has to investigate the
question of what human virtue is. There may be
,many virtues and one among them supreme with the
others relating to it in various ways. Or there may be
,.many, and they may all reduce to one virtue, for
example, wisdom. They may all be kinds of wisdom.
<.Or there may be one supreme virtue for men of one
kind and another for men of another kind.
~
Aristotle, therefore, in Book II begins to inves~
tigate the question of virtue. Having noted that men
,£peak of both intellectual virtue (ap er~ 8 <aV01/TLKTI)
and moral virtue (ciptT-h ~{)~"h), he confines his
,attention all the way through Book V to moral virtue,
returning to intellectual virtue in Book VI and to the
question of how intellectual virtue may relate to
····moral virtue. As Book I was a search for a definition
... of happiness, so Book II is a search for a definition of
·moral virtue. Whether such a definition completes the
... definition of happiness will be still open. For we shall
have to ask whether in tellcctual virtue is in any way
.-necessary for moral virtue. And if there are intellectual virtues not necessary for moral virtue, we shall
... have to ask whether happiness is an activity in
accordance with these or whether it is an activity in
__,._accordance with moral virtue under the governance of
some intellectual virtue or a combination of both
activities. To put it another way, is the philosophic
life the good and happy life, or is the political life, or
. is some combination of them?
But what is a moral virtue? One way to begin to
answer this question is to consider how men in their
earliest years learn to behave. How do parents teach
• their children to behave? Usually they employ
rewards and punishments to make them do certain
.. things and not do other things. By repeatedly doing
certain things and refraining from others, habits are
formed which become second nature so that the
children without being told don't fill themselves with
candy before dinner, are not cry-babies in the face of
some real or imagined pain, and share their toys with
. other children. These good children have become on
some level temperate, courageous, and generous or
.liberal. They have come to possess these virtues of
temperance and courage and liberality. It would seem
�The College
to make sense then to say that a moral virtue is a
habit (e~ts) which the soul comes to possess because
of the repetition of a certain kind of action. The
habit, in turn, in the circumstances that call for it, is
realized in that same kind of action, but it is not
always being realized in action. We don't say of
someone that he has stopped being courageous
because he is asleep and not actually performing
courageous deeds. Indeed, that is why we distinguish
between the habit and the action. Furthermore, a
habit of virtue, like a habit of vice, is a relatively
permanent thing. It is not easily changed.
This, however, would not seem to be an
adequate account of moral virtue as a human quality.
For dogs and other animals besides men can be
trained to behave habitually in certain ways. What do
we have to add? We should say, should we not, that if
a man is to do something virtuous, he must know
what he is doing. Certain acts done in ignorance we
neither praise nor blame. We even pardon or pity the
doer of an action which we would find blameworthy
if it were done wittingly and which upon discovery to
the doer brings sorrow to him. Aristotle mentions a
certain case of striking one's father as such a mistake
done in ignorance. One is naturally led to think of
Oedipus and to conclude that the tragic mistake that
Aristotle speaks of in the Poetics is not a flaw of
character in the sense of a vice, but a mistake done in
ignorance and so involuntarily, and therefore one for
which Oedipus is to be pitied. The virtuous man and
his opposite, the vicious man, are such only if they
act knowingly.
The virtuous man must not only know what he
is doing, he must choose to do that rather than
something else. We often use the word "choose"
somewhat loosely. For instance, we say that the
American people choose their President. They don't
choose him just because they pull levers on voting
machines. Choice requires deliberation. Deliberation
is some kind of reasoning which starts with the
perception of an end to be achieved and weighs the
possible means to achieve it. The virtuous man in
choosing the virtuous action does so after deliberation. The virtuous action that is chosen is in the case
of the moral virtues usually a mean between two
extremes of pleasure and pain or pleasurable and
painful things. For example, the man who is temperate in food will choose the mean between too much
food and too little food. There is, of course, no fixed
rule for making this choice. What is just right for me
might be too little for a heavyweight boxing champion, but too much for an aged clerk who leads a
more sedentary life. Obviously, deciding upon the
mean also requires reasoning.
Finally, we would not say that a person
possesses a moral virtue unless he chooses the
virtuous action for its own sake. Although children
learn how to behave through being rewarded and
punished, we would not say that they have really
4
become virtuous until they do good things and avoid
doing bad things without expecting candy or fearing
the stick.
In some such way, then, Aristotle comes to a
definition of moral virtue. It is a habit of choosing a
mean, a mean relative to the person possessing it and
determined by reason. There are three conditions for
moral virtue: (1) knowing what one is doing,
(2) choosing the action for its own sake and (3) doing
that habitually, i.e., from a certain stability of
character. The first two involve reason, but at this
stage of exploring the question of virtue, the third is
stressed more than they.
At the end of Book II of the Ethics we find a list
of the moral virtues set forth in such a way as to
show how each one has to do with a mean. The
following books through Book V contain a detailed
account of all these moral virtues taken (with one
exception) in the order in which they are listed. Let
me give the list in order, putting with the virtues the
opposite vices which have to do with an excess or
deficiency of whatever pleasure, pain, desire, or
passion is the medium for their exercise. I shall give
first the virtue, then the vice of excess, and then that
of deficiency.
( 1) Courage between rashness and cowardice
(2) Temperance between self-indulgence and insensibility
(3) Liberality between prodigality and meanness
(4) Magnificence between vulgarity and niggardliness
( 5) Greatness of soul between vainglory and smallness of soul
(6) Moderate ambition between immoderate ambition and unambitiousness
(7) Gentleness between irascibleness and unirascibleness
(8) Truthfulness between boastfulness and irony (or
self-irony)
(9) Friendliness between flattery and quarrelsomeness
(10) Wit between buffoonery and boorishness
Notice that justice is not in the list, and
Aristotle says very tersely,
With regard to justice, since it has not one
simple meaning, we shall, after describing the
other habits, distinguish its kinds and say how it
is a mean.
There seems to be something special about justice.
Is there some order in this list? For instance, is
there a steady progression from inferior virtues to
superior virtues? Or is it that there are certain peaks
and that once we reach a peak, we return to a valley
again and climb a lower or a higher peak? Perhaps we
might consult one of Aristotle's best students, a man
who has understandably been canonized and is
known to some as St. Thomas Aquinas. For he wrote
what is probably the most serious and thorough of
commentaries on the Ethics. I shall present a simpli-
�January 1973
fied account of the order that he sees in this list.
First, there is the distinction into two parts between
the virtues that have to do with man:s passions and
desires and those that have to do with his actions. As
to the first part, there are passions and desires that
have to do with man's life itself. Thus courage is a
virtue that has to do with the fear that he feels in the
face of what is destructive of his life, and temperance
with the desire he has for what is preservative of his
life and the life of the species. Then there are passions
and desires that have to do with certain external
goods, namely wealth and honor. The virtues that
establish a rule for the way a man should bear himself
toward wealth are liberality and magnificence, and
for the way he should bear himself toward honor
they are greatness of soul and moderate ambition.
As to the second part, the virtues that have to
do with man's actions are, to begin with, the virtues
which are concerned with the less serious though still
important actions of men in relation to other men.
They might be called social virtues: the virtue of
being friendly or generally affable as distinguished
from the vice of flattery or that of quarrelsomeness;
the virtue of wit as distinguished from buffoonery, a
virtue eminently displayed by Falstaff who was
somewhat lacking in other moral virtues; and the
virtue of truthfulness about oneself by which one
avoids both boastfulness on the one hand, and irony
or self-depreciation of the other. Aristotle accuses
Socrates of this vice of irony, of claiming for himself
less than his due, less than the truth. There are some
who try to save Socrates from this allegation, but I
shall leave him to shift for himself. These lesser social
virtues lead logically to justice which is the social
virtue most of all, that is, the virtue by which men act
rightly toward each other in society.
All of this that Thomas says makes eminent
sense. But there are some things that are strange
about it. In the first place, Thomas makes greatness
of soul not nearly so great as Aristotle makes it. For
him, it is simply one of many moral virtues with
perhaps a certain place in the hierarchy of virtues,
whereas for Aristotle it implies the perfection of all
the other moral virtues and includes them all. In the
second place, Thomas' account of the moral virtues,
when he is speaking more on his own in the Summa
Theologica, is markedly different from the whole of
Aristotle's Ethics and from Thomas' commentary on
the Ethics. This is interesting because the impression
is often given that Thomas Aquinas just made a line
between supernatural revelation and natural reason,
and that as for the latter he slavishly followed the
master Aristotle. Not so. In the Summa Theologica
the account of moral virtues is preceded by the
treatise on law including natural law and divine law,
the latter containing both the revealed law of Moses
and the revealed grace of Christ. As far as virtue is
concerned, the revealed grace of Christ means the
theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity, which are
gifts of God and are discussed next after the natural
and divine law. Then there follows the treatise on the
four cardinal virtues, among which the intellectual
virtue of prudence or practical wisdom is supreme
and is treated first, followed by the discussion of the
moral virtues in the order of their excellence: justice,
then courage, then temperance. All of the other
moral virtues are subsidiary parts of these cardinal
virtues. Thomas makes liberality, truthfulness, and
friendliness parts of justice, greatness of soul and
magnificence parts of courage, and gentleness a part
of temperance. Although he does not subtract from
Aristotle's list, he adds to it: religion, filial piety,
penitence, and gratitude as parts of justice, patience
and perseverance as parts of courage and humility as
part of temperance. Perhaps these remarks about
Thomas Aquinas' transformation of Aristotle's
teaching about morality may make us more alert to
the essential elements of that teaching.
In answer to the question raised above, I should
say that there are in the first five books of Aristotle's
Ethics two peaks, the second higher than the first.
The first peak is greatness of soul. The second is
justice. These are the peaks among the moral virtues.
The question remains whether the intellectual virtues
are not a higher peak.
What is true ot greatness of soul and justice and
is not true of other moral virtues is that each of them
includes all the others. How then do they differ?
They differ in that in the case of greatness of soul all
the moral virtues are regarded as constituting a man's
own intrinsic worth whereas in the case of justice
they are regarded as constituting his worth in relation
to others within political society. The thing that
characterizes the great-souled man is that he thinks
himself worthy of the greatest honor. So he must not
only possess the other moral virtues, but he must
possess them in a superlative degree. The remarkable
thing, and perhaps the offensive thing to persons of
Christian sentiment or democratic sentiment or both,
is that a man would be lacking in virtue if he
possessed the other moral virtues in a superlative
degree and did not think himself worthy of the
greatest honor. One might conclude that he will want
to be honored by others. Not so. He will utterly
despise the honors conferred upon him by nonvirtuous men, and he will not be especially pleased at
those conferred upon him by virtuous men whose
virtue falls far short of his own and who can scarcely
value his superlative virtue at its real worth. Shake·
speare's Coriolanus, who is like the great-souled man
in his supreme sense of his own worth, in his
contempt for the opinion of the Roman populace, in
his unwillingness to flatter them, nonetheless lacks
greatness of soul, for the great-souled man would
consider it vulgar to exhibit a lofty bearing in the
presence of lesser people.
Aristotle's greatness of soul might seem to be
the very definition of pride and the very opposite of
5
�The College
humility. Humility for Christians means a sense not
of one's own worth, but of the tremendous disparateness between whatever worth one may really have
and the infinite worth of God. Could it be that
Aristotle's view that greatness of soul is a virtue
implies a theology and a radically different theology
from that of Christianity, implies that man can be as
god or almost? He does indeed say that the honor
that tbe great-souled man claims is that which we
render to tbe gods, and he compares him to Zeus as
being pleased to be reminded of benefits he has
conferred but pained to be reminded of those he has
received.
Perhaps it might be interesting to see how
Thomas Aquinas manages to keep greatness of soul as
a virtue. We have already seen that he underplays it
by making it a part of courage rather than courage a
part of .it. In answer to the objection that he himself
poses, that greatness of soul is opposed to humility,
he says,
There is in man something great which he
possesses through the gift of God; and something defective which accrues to him through
the weakness of nature. Accordingly, greatness
of soul makes a man deem himself worthy of
great things in consideration of the gifts he holds
from God ... On the other hand humility makes
a man think little of himself in consideration of
his own deficiency; and greatness of soul makes
him despise others in so far as they fall away
from God's gifts .. , Yet humility makes us
honor others and esteem them better than
ourselves in so far as we see some of God's gifts
in them.
Does this not mean, however, that if one does
possess great virtue, one's greatness of soul consists in
seeing that great virtue, not so much as contributing
to one's own worth, but as a gift of God? The one
worthy of honor would then seem to be not so much
the recipient of the gift as the divine giver. That
would certainly destroy the meaning of greatness of
soul as Aristotle understands it.
Humility, it was said, is a sense of the tremendous disparateness between whatever worth we may
really have and the infinite worth of God. Sin was not
then mentioned. It may be that not only is the worth
man has infinitely less than God's worth, but that
man is positively unworthy. Is this not why Thomas
adds to Aristotle's list the curious virtue of penitence,
which consists in the constant recognition of one's
constant unworthiness or lack of virtue? Aristotle
indeed mentions something like penitence, namely
shame. He says that it is not a virtue, that it indeed is
a praiseworthy feeling in young people, for the shame
they feel for past or present failing restrains them in
the future. But it is not praiseworthy in an older
person for he should not and need not do anything
for which to be ashamed. In him it is shameful to feel
shame. What Aristotle says about shame is of a piece
with what he says about greatness of soul.
6
It was said that among the moral virtues the
other peak is justice, that like greatness of soul it
contains all the other moral virtues, and that it is a
higher peak than greatness of soul. Justice is ambiguous. For sometimes it means justice as a whole and
sometimes a part of justice. The reason for the
ambiguity is that justice as a whole is obedience to
law, and law prescribes actions such as courageous or
temperate actions that fall under other moral virtues
and also actions that do not fall under other moral
virtues, such as the distribution by the political
community of honors in proportion to merit or
restitution to be made to the injured party to a
contract. It is justice as a whole that is more excellent
than greatness of soul. The reason is that the common
good is superior to the moral worth of any single man
when that is considered simply as his own worth. To
quote Aristotle, "The best man is not he who
exercises his virtue toward himself, but he who
exercises it toward another." This is said in the
context of moral virtue, and might have to be
qualified in the context of intellectual virtue. It might
still be true. It would depend upon what we mean by
"man" when we speak of the best man. Or what we
mean by "himself," i.e., what a man's self is.
What Aristotle says about justice as a whole is in
many ways reminiscent of what Socrates says in
Plato's Republic, about the justice of the nOAts. By
that I mean that in the Republic justice is not a
particular virtue belonging in a paramount way to a
particular class, as wisdom, or courage, or less clearly,
temperance is, but is all of the virtues together. Of
course in the Republic, while justice is obedience to
the laws made by Socrates with the assent of Glaucon
and tbe others, one might wonder whether the civil
law, obedience to which is Aristotelian justice, would
meet the severe demands of Socrates' legislation in
Socrates' speech.
After discussing the moral virtues and the chief
moral virtue, justice, Aristotle in Book VI proceeds to
the question of whether there can be moral virtue
without intellectual virtue. Earlier in setting forth as
conditions for a morally virtuous action that it is to
be done witb knowledge, choice, and from a firm
character formed by habituation, he had placed the
greatest emphasis on the last, saying, "For the
possession of the virtues knowledge avails little or
nothing, whereas the other things are all-important,
inasmuch as virtue results from repeated performance
of just the temperate acts." It seems now that this
was not the whole story, and that while one can
indeed, and people do, speak of moral virtue in the
way previously described, moral virtue in the strictest
sense requires intellectual virtue, which consists of
knowledge. But what intellectual virtue and what
kind of knowledge? To answer that we must ask the
prior question: What kinds of intellectual virtue are
there? First of all we might speak of that kind of
intellectual virtue which cqnsists in knowledge about
things that cannot be otherwise, the · eternal and
(Continued on Page 19)
�THREE PRELUDES
FOR THE PIANO
DOUGLAS ALLANBROOK
Several years ago I wrote a set of piano pieces called
"12 Preludes for All Seasons.'' I wanted to write a
kind of album for lovers of the piano. Some of the
pieces are difficult, some are relatively easy. At the
request of The College, I have selected three of the
latter for publication. They can all be played in order
at a public concert, or they can any of them be
played separately either in concert or at home. They
are all dedicated to people I know. Whether they are
portraits or not is part of the game.
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�Douglas Allanbrook was born in Boston in 1921. He
began studying music at the age of eight and
composing music at the age of twelve. Subsequently,
his principal teachers in composition and theory have
been Nadia Boulanger and Walter Piston. Mr. Allanbrook's works include four symphonies, four string
quartets, two operas, piano and harpsicord music,
sacred music, songs, and assorted chamber music. Hi's
compositions are being published by Boosey and
Hawkes, Inc.
�January 1973
unchangeable things, and the eternal conditions and
principles of changeable things. It is identical with the
knowledge that is sought by First Philosophy and
Second Philosophy, or if you like, Metaphysics and
Physics. This is, I believe, the first point in the Ethics
~here one might think that the peculiarly Aristotelian teachmgs about being and nature are beginning to
enter the consideration of ethical or moral matters.
B_ut Ari~totl~ refers to such intellectual virtue only to
distmgmsh It from the intellectual virtue that is
concerned with things that change. That itself is
twofold. For on the one hand, there is the intellectual
virtue that is necessary if man is to make things well,
namely art; the sculptor by his art knows what a
beautiful statue is and the cobbler by his art what a
good shoe is and both by reasoning determine the
best means for producing the statue or the shoe. And
on the other hand, there is the intellectual virtue
necessary if man is to do things well. Here, clearly, is
the intellectual virtue required, if any is required, by
moral virtue. For moral virtue is the habit by which
man is disposed to act well in relation to his own
desires and passions and in relation to other men. The
intellectual virtue in question is practical wisdom or
prudence (</JpOV'Ia<s). As art is the virtue by which
one knows how to make things well, so practical
wisdom is the virtue by which one knows how to act
well.
Practical wisdom is, as it were, an eye of the soul
by which it sees the ends of human life, the various
actions that are determined by the moral virtues in
their intrinsic worth and in their order and connection with one another. As such it cannot exist
without the moral virtues and so presupposes a
c~rtain acquisi_tion . of those virtues through expenence and habituatiOn. One who has acquired habits
of_ self-indulgence or cowardice or stinginess is made
bhnd to temperance or courage or liberality and
incapable of practical wisdom. Hence, the primary
role of practical wisdom is to reason from the ends
set by the virtues to the means of acting temperately
~r courageously or liberally in the particular situa~10n. That inv'?lves deliberation, reasoning, and
msight mto particulars. Without those things there
can be no moral action and without moral actions the
moral virtues cannot be preserved. Therefore we must
say that moral virtue is necessary for practical
Wisdom, and that practical wisdom is necessary for
moral virtue in the true and strict sense.
There are special kinds and degrees of practical
wisdom. For the praiseworthy or blameworthy
actwn~ of men are not merely the actions of single
men smgly, but of political communities, and of
single men in their various roles within political
communties. Therefore, practical wisdom is in an
expecially important way political wisdom, and
political wisdom may be that of founders of regimes
such as the authors of the United States Constitution
or of those who have to deliberate in political
assemblies, such as the United States Congress, about
measures to be taken for the common good, or of
those who have to make decisions about the rightness
or wrongness under the law of deeds already done,
such as the justices of the Supreme Court, or of those
ordinary citizens such as you and I who by our nature
belong to society and are obligated to act in society.
It was noted earlier that Aristotle distinguished
practical wisdom, an intellectual virtue which has to
do with particular and changeable human affairs, not
only from art, but also from another intellectual
virtue. That other intellectual virtue is philosophic
wisdom (ao.pia ). Though Aristotle says that practical
wiseom is required for moral virtue, he does not say
that philosophic wisdom is required for practical
wisdom or for moral virtue even in the true and strict
sense. Here he seems to differ from Plato, who in the
Republic argues that the just political community
cannot exist unless kings become philosophers or
philosophers become kings; and philosophers are
those who in their quest for wisdom about the no)us
are compelled to go beyond the nOll<s to seek the
wisdom about the whole of what is~ It is significant in
this connection that Plato uses the words </JpOV1/0<S
and aoq,ia interchangeably.
Enough has been said, I tllink, to show that
what Aristotle says on some early page of the Et.hics
is not to be taken as indicative of his full account.
For example, he says in the second chapter of Book I
that political science seems to be the most authoritative and the architectonic science. Indeed he seems
to imply that is it authoritative and architectonic in
relation to all other sciences. For he says that it
ordains wlllch sciences are to be studied in the noll<s.
But even his calling political science arcllltectonic is
misleading unless we note carefully that the comprehensive end with which political science as described
at the beginning of the Ethics concerns itself is the
human good. By the end of the Ethics we have some
reason to think that, paradoxically, there is a good
for man that is higher than the human good. For near
the end of Book VI Aristotle says that it would seem
strange if political or practical wisdom generally,
which is inferior to pllllosophic wisdom, should be
more authoritative than it, and his final statement in
that book before going to an entirely new beginning
is that political wisdom is not in authority over
philosophic wisdom, that it does not give orders to it
but for its sake, and that "if anyone were to say
o~herwise, it would be like saying that political
Wisdom rules over the gods." Is philosophic wisdom
comparable to God or gods? Or is the wisdom that
the philosophic man seeks and may hope to obtain
comparable to the wisdom God has or gods have?
· Philosplllc wisdom as an intellectual virtue is a
combination of intellectual intuition and demonstrative reasoning resulting in scientific knowledge of
the things that are of most worth. It is then above all
else, First Philosophy, the knowledge of being as
19
�The College
being and of the first principle of the whole being,
the philosophy which in Metaphysics, Book VI, is the
philosophy of most worth, because it deals with the
kind of being that is of most worth and which is there
also called theology, because that kind of being
would be the divine cause of divine things. It is not
political wisdom or practical wisdom, because that is
the philosophy that deals with human things, and
even if men be divine, says Aristotle, there are things
that are more divine in nature than man. What are
these things? They are the heavenly bodies which,
together with the earth our home, consitute the
cosmos. And, of course, the unmoved first mover, on
which as a principle the heavens and nature depend
and whose activity is exclusively intellectual
intuition, would be more divine and the supreme
divine cause of all.
At the end of Book I, having argued that
whatever happiness is, it is activity in accordance with
complete virtue, we left the question of what
happiness is to investigate the question of virtue.
Virtue, we have seen, 1ncans a number of different
things, and we have by no means explored all the
differences that Aristotle, eminent in the esprit de
finesse, perceives. But we have explored the main
ones. The principal difference is the difference
between the virtues of a life devoted to philosophy
and those of a life devoted to action which, at its
best, is political life. As the philosophic virtues are
superior tO the moral virtues, so is the activity in
accordance with them superior to the activity in
accordance with the moral virtues, and accordingly
the happiness of the philosopher is greater than the
happiness of the man who possesses only the moral
virtues, although the second kind of happiness has an
autonomy since, though the intellectual virtue of
practical wisdom is necessary for the moral life,
philosophic wisdom is not. Because of this autonomy
we can speak of the virtue of the great-souled man as
complete virtue or of the virtue of the just man as
complete virtue. Either one is complete moral virtue,
and indeed it is likely that the great-souled man or
the noble statesman will possess certain moral virtues
in a degree that goes way beyond the degree to which
the philosopher possesses them. This raises the
question whether we are right, after all, in attributing
supreme happiness to the philosophic life. For is the
virtue of the philosopher complete virtue? He cannot
be altogether lacking in moral virtue. He has a body
like other men and appetites and passions like theirs.
He will be temperate and, if he has to face the danger
of death in battle he will be courageous. But for the
activity of philosophizing he will not need moral
virtue in a large and spendid sense, and simply
because he has fewer needs, his life and happiness will
be more self-sufficient and complete than the life and
happiness of the great-souled man or the just and
noble statesman.
20
We can now see these diverse types of men in a
new perspective. It was observed that the essential
thing about the great-souled man as such is that his
exercise of superlative moral virtue is always directed
toward himself, toward enhancing his own worth. It
was further said that the just man is better than he
because, while he may possess the same superlative
moral virtue, his exercise of it is always directed to a
higher good than himself, the common human good.
But now we have to revise that somewhat. For there
is a sense in which a man's self may transcend that of
the human community and indeed all human life. We
raised the question whether Aristotle in envisaging
the great-souled man was not envisaging a man who
could be as a god or almost. That might be true
except that for Aristotle God has no moral virtue. We
cannot say that he is temperate or brave. But neither
can we say that he is just or liberal; he neither makes
convenants nor bestows gifts. His virtue, if we may
speak of his virtue, is only intellectual virtue and,
specifically, intellectual intuition; for presumably he
has no need to demonstrate things. In answer to the
objection that the philosopher is grasping for a life
too high for man, Aristotle says,
We must not follow those who advise us, being
men, to think of human things, and being
mortal, of mortal things, but must, so far as we
can, make ourselves im1nortal, and strain--eVery
nerve to live in accordance with the best thing in
us; for even if it be small in bulk, much more
does it in power and worth surpass everything.
This would seem, too, to be each man himself.
There are wide differences among men and different
virtues of which different men are capable. But a
man's true self in the highest sense, a sense perhaps
not relevant to most men, is the divine intellect
whose activity, the contemplation of being, the
philosopher seeks to share.
Aristotle throughout the Ethics has much to say
about the various virtues and how men may come by
them and therefore how men may become happy. In
the first book he raises the question whether
happiness comes as a divine gift and says, "If there is
any gift of the gods to men, it is reasonable that
happiness should be god-given ... ;" "but," he adds,
"This question would perhaps be more appropriate to
another inquiry." We look in vain for that inquiry. He
is entirely silent after that about the question of
whether happiness is a divine gift; but as we have
seen, he is not silent about the question whether
there are any divine gifts.
Mr. f. Winfree Smith, a Tutor at St. John's College
since 1941, delivered this lecture on the Annapolis
campus on May 26, 1972. Mr. Smith received his
B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of
Virginia and his M. Diu. from the Virginia Theological
Seminary.
�January 1973
When John Poundstone was a
St. Johnnie in the early 1960's, he
neither planned to go to medical
school nor anticipated joining the
Navy. Yet only ten years after his
graduation John is both Dr. Poundstone and Lt. Cmdr. Poundstone,
with the resounding title, "Head of
the Tuberculosis and Venereal
Disease Control Section of the
Community Health Branch of the
Preventive Medicine Division of the
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of
the Department of The Navy."
Dr. Poundstone works in
Washington, D.C. His chief task is
the development of VD and TB
control programs for 800,000 military personnel and a million
civilians.
The trail that led there began
in John Poundstone's senior year,
when he decided to return home
after graduation to Lexington, Kentucky, in order to attend the
University of Kentucky medical
school. He had been admitted on
only one condition, that he fill out
his St. John's education with a
summer's worth of organic chemistry. After that ordeal, John found
med school to be quite manageable,
and he received the M.D. degree in
1966.
By then there was a Mrs.
Poundstone, the former Ann von
Isakovics, who admits to having
"followed John" to Kentucky,
where she received a bachelor's
degree from the University of Kentucky. By 1966, Ann had added an
M.A. in secondary education with
emphasis in the teaching of high
school mathematics. The couple
was married in 1963.
The Poundstones' life changed
significantly with a move to Boston
in '66. John spent a year as an
intern in the Newton-Wellesley
Hospital, then entered Harvard University's School of Public Health. In
the course of three years, he
acquired a Master of Public Health
degree and did a considerable
amount of research on congenital
he art disease. Meanwhile Ann
changed her field to business administration and, in '69, received a
master's degree from Boston University. She subsequently became
active in the computer business,
becoming the first woman ever to
sell a computer.
Another big change occurred
in 1970, when John went into the
Navy. Washington became home,
and John plunged into demanding
work in the Navy's TB and VD
programs. Ann continued her fearless career, now as a law student at
Georgetown University and as a law
clerk to Judge Samuel W. H. Meloy
of Maryland. She expects her Juris
Doctor degree in June.
Both Dr. and Mrs. Poundstone
have vivid memories of their years
in Annapolis. Ann spent only two
years at the College; after much
more academic experience elsewhere, she finds that St.John's had
a "diversity of student population"
hard to match. But the question of
whether her years at St. John's
were "beneficial" still is a troublesome one. Yet she is convinced that
St. John's helped "all of [her]
subsequent relationships."
John Poundstone finds the St.
John's influence following him
wherever he goes. His education at
Annapolis continues to help him
"to bring order to the subject
matter" he works with. And he
believes St. John's has helped him
"to see underlying motives and
basic tenets" in the work and writings of others.
Homecoming 1972 found the
Poundstones cheerful and relaxed
as they visited their old campus and
found time to grant an interview to
The College.
21
�The College
HOMECOMING 1972
It may really be, as one
-alumnus. wrote in. commenting on
33 Homecoming,. that the .very sophistication of the program tends to
~;,,immunize. us, .so. that. we· are .not
seduced by the sort of nostalgia
necessary to lure alumni back to
their college. Or perhaps alumni
just have too many things to do.
For whatever reasons, fewer than
:S"i 200 alumni and their guests showed
3~1 up for. the annual gathering of the
classes in October.
Those classes celebrating some
sort of reunion did help attract
people, with the 60-year class being
represented by Philip L. Alger and
George L. Winslow. The oldest class
present was 1909, represented by
Col. Robert E. Jones from Palo
Alto, Calif. Col. Jones would have
had the. distinction of having come
the longest way, except for David
Cicia '70, who was on leave from
his duty station in Germany.
One of the Homecoming highlights was the dedication of the
Harrison Health Center. Present for
the event was Mrs. John T. Harrison, whose gift in memory of her
late • husband, a graduate in the
,p)
President Weigle and Mrs. John T.
Harrison at the Dedication of the
Harrison Health Center during
Homecoming.
22
Mr. Myron L. Wolbarsht receives
the Alumni Award of Merit from
William R. Tilles.
for 41 years, received a thunderous
standing ovation from alumni,
faculty, and guests. The citation on
her Award of Merit reads as
follows: "As Registrar and counselor for five presidents, ten deans,
and legions of students, she has
served the College with a distinc-~·
tion the more remarkable for her
to greet each by name." / 1
91'-'m>m has an award been more 1
deserved or more humbly i i
1
re<:ei•ve<l.
i
In other act1v1tJes during the
Class of 1907, made the building day, the following slate of officers
possible. Other members of the and directors was elected by the
Harrison family also attended the Association: President, Bernard F.
ceremony.
Gessner '27; Executive Vice PresiPerhaps the most significant dent, William W. Simmons '48; Secevent of the day for most alumni retary, Franklin R. Atwell '53;
took place during the Homecoming Treasurer, Samuel S. Kutler '54;
Dinner. In a very simple ceremony, and directors, Richard F. Blaul '32.
Association President Bernard F. Stephen Main ella '54, E.-- Paul
Gessner and immediate past Pre- Mason, Jr. '37. George R. Selby
sident William R. Tilles teamed up '32, and Carol P. Tilles '59. Still
to present the Alumni Award of with one year to serve are Jerome
Merit. Recipients this year were Gilden '54, Charlotte King '59,
Miss Miriam Strange and Messrs. Barbara B. Oosterhout '55, and
Paul L. Banfield and Myron L. Faye C. Polillo '56.
Wolbarsht. Edward F. Lathrop
accepted the award for Mr. Banfield
in the latter's unavoidable absence. Miss Miriam Strange acknowledges
Miss Strange, a full-time the warm tribute paid to her for her
member of the St. John's com- continuing service to St. John's
munity since 1930, and Registrar College since 1930.
I
I
�January 1973
The Harrison Health Center was
finished in time for the opening of
the fall semester.
NEW YEAR GREETINGS
Mrs. Weigle and I have appreciated the many messages from
alumni and friends, both at the
time of our daughter's accident
and over the holiday season. We
take this opportunity to express
our thanks and to wish each of
you a Happy New Year.
Richard D. Weigle
N.Y.C. ALUMNI
CHAPTER FORMED
IN THE NEW YORK AREA
Recently a number of alumni
in the New York City area decided
to establish a formal alumni ·chapter. After a number of organizational meetings, the following
interim officers were chosen:
Chairman
Francis Mason
Vice Chairman Lowell Shindler
Treasurer
Stewart Washburn
Registrars
Carolyn
Leeuwenburgh
Mary Wiseman
Secretary
Lovejoy Reeves
The following have volunteered to head and organize committees:
Newsletter
Barbara V ona
Seminars
Stephen Benedict
Special Events
Adam Pinsker
Student
Counseling
Michael Gold
Student Liaison Stewart Washburn
Also, the following Board of
Directors has been chosen:
Stephen Benedict '4 7
Tristram Campbell '47
Michael Gold '61
Alan Hoffman '49
Donald Kaplan '45
Carolyn Leeuwenburgh '55
Francis Mason '43
Adam Pinsker '52
Marvin Raeburn '51
Lovejoy Reeves '67
Lowell Shindler '64
Ronald' Silver '63
Steven Shore '68
Eugene Thaw '47
Gene Thornton '45
Barbara Kulaki Vona '64
Daniel Vona '67
Stewart Washburn '51
Mary Bittner Wiseman '58
A number of projects are
already underway. Carolyn Leeuwen burgh and Mary Wiseman are
putting together a registry of
alumni in the area that will not
only be useful to the Alumni Chapter but also to alumni moving in to
the area and to New Yorkers who
are students at the College.
Monthly seminars are planned,
beginning in February, at the New
York Studio School, located at
No. 8 West 8th Street.
In January, one of the teleVISion series, "Dialogue of the
Western World," will be shown to
alumni in the studio of Channel 13,
in New York City. The text for this
showing is Thucydides' "Melz"an
Conference." This is one of a series
of 15 one-hour television seminars
produced by the Maryland Center
for Public Broadcasting, now being
broadcast on Channels 6 7, 7 3 and
28 in Maryland.
Other cities where alumni have
expressed an interest in forming
alumni chapters are Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Information on the
·activities of these groups will be
published in future issues of The
College.
MARK VAN DOREN
(1894-1972)
St. John's College notes
with great sadness the death on
December 1Oth of its good
friend Mark Van Doren. Pulitizer
Prize-winning poet, critic, and
teacher at Columbia University
for 39 years, Mr. Van Doren was
a frequent lecturer at St. John's
during the early days of the New
Program. The College community extends deepest sympathy to Mrs. Van Doren and to
sons Charles '46 and John '47.
23
�The College
ALUMNI ACTIVITIES
1912
Among his many activities, Ph£lip L.
Alger this fall found time to direct a series
of lecture-discussions on "Ethics and the
Professions" at Union College.
1931
"Lou Rosenbush wins Maryland
Futurity," read a recent newspaper headline
in the Baltimore area. Certain that our
alumnus Louis Rosenbush, Jr., was not a
jockey, and doubtful that he had run in a
horse race, we thought perhaps he had
placed a lucky bet. But, no, Lou Rosenbush
did run, not the alumnus but his namesake,
a two-year-old owned by Rosenbush's friend
Nathan Cohen. How many alumni have
horses named after them?
1932
Richard F. Blaul, Annapolis insurance
man and a director of the Alumni Association, is the honorary chairman of the
Development Committee of Fairfield, the
first non-profit nursing home in Anne
Arundel County.
1936
WUliam N. Raz'righ, a native of Caroline
County (Md.}, since 1961 has been administrator of the Kent-Caroline Libraries.
1939
elected resident vice president, Baltimore
Service Office, Insurance Company of North
America. Ken has been with INA since the
mid-1930's.
Thomas L. MacNemar is head of the
Annapolis office of the Maryland State
Department of Employment Security.
1952
Adam Pinsker is currently the president of the Association of American Dance
Companies, and makes his home in New
York City.
Some sort of record was set this past
August, when Alvin Aronson graduated with
the summer senior class. Twenty years and
three months after his original class graduated, Al received his own degree. We know
that it was not easy for Al to become a
student again, and offer our most sincere
congratulations to him. After graduation;Al
left for Israel for an indefinite stay.
1960
1957
fohn Kinloch paid a brief visit to the
Alumni Office in late September; while here
he told us he received his Ph.D. degree in
mathematics last year frOm Vanderbilt University, and is now an associate professor of
mathematics at East Tennessee State College.
1959
Kenneth G. Bennett in November was
24
partner, Charlotte has formed the Annapolis
Counseling Service.
Hank Braun and his wife Mary Anne
(DeCamt'lUs) ;!58 live on Thompson Street in
Annapolis with Stephen, twelve, and Robin
nine.
Wz'llz'am R. and Carol (Pht'lUps) Tilles
were in from near-by Bowie, where they Jive
with their children David, Jenny, and Paul.
Bill has been with IBM for eleven years; his
work concerns use of computers in the
medical industry.
Peter and Pat Schenck live in Annapolis with John, age nine, and Sarah, age
seven. Peter is the psychologist at Henryton
State Hospital for the adult mentally retarded, and was recently made a member of
the newly~formed Annapolis Environmental
Commission. Pat, who received her master's
degree in elementary education from the
University of Chicago in 1970, teaches at
the Key School.
Homecoming brought together several
members of the class of 1959, and Patricz'a
(Garretson) Schenck passed around a notebook and collected the following:
Harvey Goldstein and wife Dale came
in from Miami where he practices law. They
issue a most sincere invitation to anyone
from the College to visit them.
Mary (Bittner) Wz'seman and husband
Charles were down from New York, where
Mary teaches philosophy at Brooklyn College. Charles, Mary, and her nine-year-old
daughter Emily live in Manhattan.
Charlotte King is the student counselor
at the College, and she and her daughter,
Rachel, make their home on campus. Charlotte was recently appointed assistant
director of the Anne Arundel County
Department of Social Services, and is
working specifically to make public housing
into livable, acceptable communities. Together with Henry D. Braun and a third
Capt. fohn f. Lane writes to President
Weigle that he is Chid of the Resource
Management Division in headquarters of the
Air Force Communications Service at
Richards·Gebaur Air Force Base in Missouri.
He is responsible for staff direction of the
Commrmications Computer Programming
Center and of the 2199th Computer Service
Squadron.
Dorothy Luttrell is working for her
master's degree in Learning Disabilities at
San Jose State, and lives in Mormtain View,
Cal.
Kenneth H. Thompson, Jr., associate
professor of political science at the University of Southern California, had a
unique political experience this past
spring. Having filed for Democratic nomination to Congress in the primaries,
he withdrew on doctor's advice after
getting the flu; it was too late to remove his name from the ballot, and he
won in a landslide a month after he
withdrew. (We wish we could bring this
account to a happy ending, but according to our reading of the California election results in November, Ken was not
elected to the Congress.)
1961
Eyvind C. Ronquist is teaching at
Sir George Williams University in Mon·
treal.
�January 1973
The Federal Trade Commission has
promoted Harrison ]. Sheppard to
deputy assistant executive director for
legal coordination. Just settled into a
Dr. A. Stevens RuMn is now an
Army Medical Corps captain, stationed
at the Kimpo Dispensary in Korea for
13 months.
1967
We understand that Alice G. Chalmers is a graduate student in biology at
the University of Georgia.
1968
new job in the State of Washington
within the past year, Harrison will
apparently soon return to Washington,
D.C. His principal duties will be- the formulation of programs of consumer protection and competition, and when these
are approved, to supervise their execution.
Mary (Ryce) Ham is a member of
the neWly-formed Annapolis Environmental Commission.
Ellen M. Luff, legal aid attorney in
Annapolis, wife of one-time College
artist-in-residence Eric Dennard, and
aspirant to political office, won a legal
battle this past summer to vote under
her maiden name. Ms. Luff successfully
contended that she did not have to register under her married name, and that
to do so would damage her professionally, politically, and psychologically
since she had been known as Ellen Luff
throughout her professional life.
1962
fohn F. Miller, writing in November
to Miss Strange, apologized for missing
Homecoming since he was job hunting,
trying to finish his master's thesis, and
teaching at both the University of Maryland and Montgomery Junior College.
1964
Linda Rice is now married to Christopher B. Schaufele; her husband is with
the mathematics department, University
of Georgia.
1966
Maxine Ann Marshall-Shapiro, her
husband, and three children live on a
farm in Mendocino County, Calif. They
intend to start their own school in the
spring.
Alison Karslake (SF) is studying
French at the Graduate School of the
University of Maryland, where she holds an
assistantship and teaches one undergraduate
course.
The November mail brought the first
"annual George Partlow letter," with the
news that George has finished his Jamaican
Peace Corps service, and is presently living
in Michigan. During his period of transition,
George is taking some courses -at the University at Flint. George also reports that
Charles Watson, soon to become an M.D.,
goes to London in February for special
work in tropical medicine; that Gzlbert
Renaut is in law school, as is Lee (Ret"chelderfer) Tyner.
Sally Rutsky is studying law at the
University· of Michigan.
Mt"chael S. Ryan is pursuing Arabic
studies at American University in Cairo,
UAR.
Amy (Hummel) Rarick writes that she
has become "a professional student": in
August she received her M.L.S. degree from
the University of Maryland, and is now a
first-year M.A. student in Canadian studies
and international economics at the Johns
Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies. Amy received both a
fellowship and a research assistantship from · 'c'(
SAIS. Amy also reports that Sarah Bell '67
has a fellowship and is a doctoral candidate
in linguistics at M.I.T.
1969
Michael Hodgett (SF) has completed a
tour of duty in Vietnam, and has accepted a
position as Chief Teller in the Santa Fe
National Bank.
Catherine (Allen) Wagner received her
M.A. degree in anthropology last June from
the University of Illinois; her thesis was on
the iconography of Peruvian Indian pottery. ;
Cathy has applied for a Kent Fellowship
from the Danforth Foundation to continue
her Andean studies. She also tells us that 4· ,._.
Alec Himwich '68 and she are in their third
year as teaching assistants in a physical
science course for non-science majors.
Lee McKusick (SF} graduated from
California State University at Los Angeles
last June with a bachelor's degree in
American studies. Lee would welcome
letters or visits from former classmates; 377
Crane Blvd., Los Angeles, CA. 90065.
1970
Patricia Ann Carey and Matthew A.
Frame ('73} were married August 9th in the
Church of St. John and St. Philip, The
Hague, Netherlands. They are making their
home in Annapolis while Matt completes his
senior year at the ~ollege. He, by the way, is
the son of James H. Frame '50 and the
nephew of Rogers G. Albrltton '45.
Brent McAdam (SF) writes that fohn
F. Emerson; now Brother John Houghton,
O.P., made his first vows as a Dominican
friar in September, and is stationed at St.
Albert's Priory in Oakland, Calif.
A brief note from fohn Dean infonns
us that Arthur Luse is teaching at a prep
school in up-state New York, a whopping
load of five courses! John himself anticipates publication of his first article, "The
Two Arguments of John Donne's 'Air and
Angels'," in the Fall '72 issue of Massachusett-s Studies in English.
]ames F. Scott (SF) writes that he is
now living, and working with retarded
children, in Syltholinsgade, a small town "at
the bottom of Denmark, where the ferry
leaves for Germany."
1971
Sheila Babbs (SF) is a Peace Corps
Volunteer teaching English to Senagalese in
Thies, West Africa.
Word has reached us that Alan Plutzz·ck
and Anna Lz"via Thorpe '73 are married,
although our informant did not know where
or when the event took place.
V. Mt"chael Vt"ctoroff is now a freshman
at Baylor College of Medicine at the Texas
Medical Center in Houston. Last year Mike
worked on the Citizens Task Force for
Mental Health in Ohio, apparently a most
rewarding experience.
1972
Dana E. Netherton is a Naval officer
candidate at Newport, R.I., and anticipates
being commissioned in February.
Jean K. Carr is a graduate fellow in
biology at Mount Holyoke College.
Candace G. Lindo is working as an
executive secretary and living in Alexandria,
Va.
It appears that Martha E. Belt and
Donald E. Massell '70 are now man and wife
and arc living in Chico, Calif.
1
1903- Edgar C. Wrede, Brooklyn,
N.Y., October 19, 1972.
.9 1909 - Harold S. Cutler, Weston,
Mass., August 29, 1972.
'"---1914 - S. Maurice Phillips, Drexel
Hill, Pa.,_ ~.eptember 10, 1972.
i ").9'22 The Rev. William R.
Hofuey, Centreville, Md., November 22,
1972.
1,.~_,22·"'- C. Edwin Cockey, Queenstown\ Md~ctober 22, 1972.
t.l-~- Capt. Henry B. MacMannis,
Peter~~~""'Va., August 14, 1972.
J)PZ4 - Jesse E. Smith, Augusta,
Me.
~Dr. James K. Insley, Baltimore, Md., October 6, 1972.
19~- John K. Lucas, Kill Devil
Hills, N.C., September 20, 1972.
~'~
�Photo Credlts: Front and back cover;,, Eugene Jorgov.
Page 1, Encyclopedia of World Art, Vol. 3 (McGraw-Hill,
1959). Page 18, Charles Post. Page 21, Sheldon C.
Heitner. Page 22, Sheldon C. Heitner, Thomas Parran, Jr.
Page 23, Charles Post. Page 24, Cal and Don Young.
The College
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
Second-class postage paid at
Annapolis, Maryland, and at
additional mailing offices.
�
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St. John's College's Office of the Dean published <em>The College</em> from 1969 to 1981. The publication superseded <em><a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/collections/show/37" title="The Bulletin of St. John's College">The Bulletin of St. John's College</a></em>. <em>The College</em> was in turn continued by <a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/collections/show/13" title="The St. John's Review"><em>The St. John's Review</em></a> in 1981. <br /><br />A separate magazine for St. John's alumni titled <em>The College </em>began publication in 2001, continuing <em>The St. John's Reporter</em>. <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=12">Items in the The College Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
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Spaeth, Robert Louis
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Sinks, Jeffrey
Allanbrook, Douglas
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THE COLLEGE
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland
Santa Fe, New Mexico
October 1972
�THE COLLEGE
Vol. XXIV
October, 1972
No. 3
Editor: Robert Louis Spaeth
Alumn.i Editor: Thomas Panan, Jr.
Design: John Randolph Campbell
Production: J effrey Sinks
The College is published by the Development Office
of St.John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. Richard
D. Weigle, President. Paul D. Newland, Provost.
Editorial Board: Christine Constantine, Russell E .
Leavenworth, Paul D . Newland, Barbara Oosterhout,
Robert Spaeth, Deborah Traynor, Malcolm Wyatt.
Published (our times a year in January , April, July,
and October. Second class postage paid at Annapolis,
Mary land, and at other mailing offices.
1n the October Issue
Cover: President Stringfellow Barr and Dean Scott
Buchanan on the steps of McDowell Hall. Photo (c.
1940), courtesy of Mr. Winfree Smith.
The New Program at St.John's College
by Scott Buchanan
l
The Report of the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
An Interview with Barbara Leonard ........... 21
�The New Program
at St.John's College
by Scott Buchanan
The prospectus of the New Program reprinted here is
the earliest version to be publicly drculated. Written
in July of 1937, it was inserted in the current
Bulletins that were mailed out pending the issuance
of a new catalog.
The Airns of L£beral Education
Two or three generations ago, when the aims of
liberal education were still adequately implemented
in curricula which had the sanction of both learned
and popular opinion, it would have been unnecessary
to discuss the aims in a college catalogue. Statements
concerning aims would have appeared, and did appear, in the orig.inal charter of the college.
Whereas, Institutions for the liberal education of
youth in the principles of virtue, knowledge and
useful literature are of the highest benefit to society, in order to t rain up and perpe tuate, a succession of able and honest men for discharging the
various offices and duties of life, both civil and
religious, with usefulness and repu tation, and such
institutions of learning have accordingly been
promoted and encouraged by the wisest and best
best regulated States: Be it enacted, etc .
This is the elegant style and certain manner of
founders of St. John's College in 1784, as it was for
the founders of King William's School in 1696. They
could b e thus brief and concise, and their words
stood safe and secure in the steady faith they and
their readers had in the nature of things and of man.
We begin with a looser style and an uncertain
manner, and i t takes many more words to come to
the point. In order to state our purpose we start with
words from a writer, a scientific writer, of the nineteenth century: Education is the adaptation of the
human animal to his environment. We note the play
of the child and the restless activity of the adolescent
in o rder to discern the thread that we wish to follow
on to the end. Somewhere along this thread we must
pass fro m the merely physical aspects of the environ·
ment to the living aspects, and finally to those things
that minister to intellect and spirit. In the process of
adaptation play and activity must make their contribution to work and thought. Human animals must
feed themselves, sense the world they live in, and
move about; in these things they are like other
animals. But they must also imagine, speculate, and
practice the ar ts. These involve man the rational
animal.
We in this country have of necessity been concerned
chiefly with our competence and adaptation in the
useful arts, and in this we do not necessarily go astray. It is by taking the useful arts seriously that we
discover the liberal arts. In the pursuit of our vital
ends we find that imagination, scientific reason, speculation, and observation play an indispensable part,
but we also increasingly realize these are special
activities with special ends that must be pursued for
their own sakes if our more immediate ends are to be
gained. There must be appreciation, understanding,
and knowledge of the truth even for the sake of our
everyday needs. Recent crucial even ts make it
unnecessary to argue this point.
The arts of appreciating, understanding, and
knowing the truth are the liberal arts, and they set
their own ends. They are the arts of the freeman who
sets his own immediate ends in the light of the more
general good. It is only by the practice of the liberal
arts t hat the human animal becomes a free man. It is
only by discipline in these arts that spiritual, moral,
and civil liberties can be achieved and preserved. It is
in such obvious propositions as these that the
founding fathers of 1784 and 1789 gave reasons for
the instit utions that they set up. It is embarrassing to
admit that they are not always familiar and obvious
to us.
It will be an important part of the instructio n at S t.
J o hn's College to keep this part of our past alive in
the minds of the students, but it is even more importarlt that we implement the ends which the propositions celebrate and seek the virtues which t hey die-
�The College
tate. mtimately the ends of liberal eduction are the
intellectual virtues, the development of the capacities
from which they come, and the integration of the
characters to which they contribute.
Tradition
The most powerful controlling factor in any human
environment is tradition, and any system of educa·
tion that tries to ignore or escape the tradition within
which it operates is bound to fail and destroy itself.
The latent dangers in traditio ns become actual only
when thev are ignored and evaded. Conscious sup·
pression or artificial construction of traditions leads
only to cultura l monstrosity. Eternal vigilance within
a tradition is the price of liberty.
But there are many traditions : local traditions,
family traditions, even personal day-to-day traditions;
professional traditions, scientific and literary traditions, political traditions like monarchy and democracy. These provide the mediums in which the
individual lives and moves, moral supports for his
purposes, and ways for his imagination and thought
to travel. Fallen into decay and disrepute tradition
reaches out a dead hand and stops the individual in
his tracks. Traditions live in individual minds and
spirits; individuals find their vital fulfillments in (jving
traditions.
It is the purpose of the new program at St. John's
College to recover the great liberal tradition of
Europe and America, which for a period of two
thousand years has kept watch over and guided all the
other Occidental traditions. All liberal colleges o ught
to be devoted servants of this great tradition, and this
is the secret of their tenacious attempts to discharge
their functions against many odds.
The tangible and eminently available embodiments
and tools of this great tradition are the classics and
the liberal arts.
The Classics
For a long period of European history the ancient
languages and mathematics provided the educational
mediums of this tradition. They were called the
classics. In the last generation it has been known that
they were no longer effective carriers. Our educational system has responded by dropping them. But
we have not been successful in fmding the proper
substitutes, tangible, available, movable objects whose
obvious properties will enable teachers to move, lead,
and disCipline students in the liberal arts. Failure at
this point is fundamental failure, and compensations
in other directions no matter how good in themselves,
no matter how various and interesting they may
prove to be to the mass of students, are unfaithful to
the imperative need of genuine liberal education.
The first step in correction and recovery is
admission of failure, and the second step must be
research in the literal sense of retracing the steps in
the tradition back to the point where the thread was
2
lost. We, the members of the present administration
and staff of St. John's College, have been engaged in
this research for the last decade. By fo llowing the
traces we have found the steps in the great books of
the European intellectual tradition. They not only
throw light o n what has happened to the liberal
heritage, but they are themselves the mediums in
which it can be revived and carried on in the liberal
college. [n short the great books of European thought
are the classics, and in this sense liberal education
should still be classical.
It may be well in this place to state the criteria of a
classic, the standards by which a given book can be
judged to be or not to be a classic. To begin with the
apparently trivial, a great book is one that has been
read by the largest number of persons. To followers
of the publishers' announcements of best sellers this
criterion may seem unworthy. Over the entire period
of E Luopean history, Plato, Euclid, the Bible, and
Shakespeare are the best examples ; barring historical
accidents such as the burning of the library at
Alexandria, the judgment stands. The second
criterion is also apparently numerical: a great book
has the largest number of possible interpretations.
This does not mean that the book must be con·
fusi ngly ambiguous; it rather refers to the
inexhaustibility of its significance, each interpretation
possessing a clarity and force that will allow other
interpretations to stand by its side without confusion.
Dante's Divine Comedy and Newton's Principia are
the te!Ung examJ?Ies under this standard. The third
criterion is more Important and harder to determine:
a great book should raise the persistent unanswerable
questions about the great themes in European
thought. Questions concerning number and
measurement, matter and form, ultimate substance,
tragedy, and God open up mysteries for the human
mind. These questions are met and evaded regularly
by self styled practical men. Faced and explored they
induce, balance, and maintain the intellectual virtues,
and on their constant cultivation hang the issues of
orthodoxy, heresy, and freedom which are always
with us. The fourth criterion is that a great book
must be a work of fine art; it must have an immediate
intelligibility and style which will excite and discipline the ordinary mind by its form alone. Fifthly, a
great book must be a masterpiece of the liberal arts.
Its author must be a master of the arts o f thought and
imagination whose work has been fai thful to the ends
of these arts, the understanding and exposition of the
truth. These five are the tests which a book must pass
if it is to belong to any contemporary list o f the
classics.
But such a list makes a chronological series with an
order that imposes additional powers on each book.
Each book was written after and in the light of previous books; each book was written before other
books which it has influenced. Eacl1 master 'las stood
on the shoulders of another master and has had later
�October 1972
masters as his students. These innucnces, which are
historically vague in some cases, arc impressive in the
books themselves. r.ach is so mething more than itself
in its organic place in the series, and this has many
implications. One cannot internally understand a
given book un til he has read its predecessors and also
its successors. I t turns out that the best commentary
on a great book is another great book. Books now
unintelligible to both professor and student become
approachable and conquerable if the proper path
through other books is followed. Finally the educative value and power o f any given book increases at a
very high ratio as othe r books arc read. This is an
overwhelming answer to inevitab.lc doubts whether
the modern college student has capacities equal to the
tas k of reading which the St. J o hn's program sets. I t
is also intern al evidence from the books themselves
that they are the best instrumen ts of education.
Second-rate textbooks in special subject- matters do
not belong to t he classics; they are the best examples
we can find of books that are detached from the
tradition and therefore doomed to early death.
Several models and a great deal o f teaching and
reading have gone into the compilatio n of the list.
There is the experience with the American Expeditionary Force Uni versity at Baune at the end of the
War, the re is the expenence with ho nors courses at
Columbia University during the twenties, t here is the
experience wit h adult reading courses in connection
with the People 's Institute and the New Yo rk Public
Libraries, there is the experience with undergradua tes, graduates, and high school students at the
University of Chicago, there is the experience with
Litterae Humaniores at Oxford, there is experience in
the Benedictine monasteries fro m the sixth century
o n. But the best model that we have is the Bible, a
series of books so selected and ordered that they have
become the Scriptures of the whole race . This is the
most read book in our list, and its inspiration has
spread backward and forward through all the classics.
I t should be added that any limited list of the
classics must always remain open to revision. There is
no better way of revisi ng it than its continuous use in
teaching in a college. The "best hundred books" is a
variable for collecting the values that satisfy its
criteria. That is the minimum way of describing the
scholarly task that is laid on the teaching fa culty.
A LIST Of GREAT BOOKS TN CHRONOLOGICAL OROER
Homer: Iliad and Od yssey
Aeschylus: Oresteia
Herodotus: History
Sophocles: Oedipus Rex
Hippocrates: Sclcttions
Euripides: Medea and £/ectrtJ
Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesitln Wan
Old Testament
Aristophanes: Frogs, Clouds, Birds
AristaJ'chus: On the Distance of tlul Sun and Moon
Aristoxenus: Harmony
Pbto: Mcno, Republic, Sopilist
Aristotle: Organon and Poetics
ATchimedes: Works
Euclid: Elements
ApoUonius: Conics
Lucian: True History
Plutarch: Lives
Lucretius: On the Nature of Thi>ags
Nicomacbus: Introduction to Arithmetic
Ptolemy: Almagest
Virgil: Aeneid
S trabo: Geography
{,ivy: History of Rom a
Cicero: DeO[ficiis
lloraa:: Ars Poctica
Ovid: Metamorphoses
Quintilian: Institutes
Marcus Aurelius: To Himself
New Testament
Galen: On the Natural Faculties
Plotinus: Enneads
Augustine: De Mvsica and De Magistro
Song of Ro/ond.
Volstmga Saga
Bonaventura: Ott the R eduction.
of the Arts to '11wology
11)0 11'\as: Su.mm(l Th eolo&ricn
Roger Bacon: Opus Maius
Chaucer: Canterbury Tale.r
Leonardo: Note-books
Erasmus: CoUoquies
Rabelais: Gargantua
Copemkus: De Revo114tionibus
Machiavelli: The Prince
llarvey: On the Motion of the Hearl
Gilbert: On the Magnet
Kepler: Epitome of Astronomy
Calilco: Two New Sciences
Descartes: Geometry
Francis Bacon : Novum Organum
Hobbes~ Leviathan
Montaignc: Essays
Cervantes: Don Quixote
Shakespeare: Hamlet, King Lear
Calllin: hutitutes
Gr o t ius: The Low of ll'a r and Peace
Corndlle: Le Cid
Racin.:: Piledre
Molkn:: Tartuffe
Spino-.a: Ethics
Milton: Parad£<e Lost
L<:ibniz: Mathematical Papers
Newton: Principia
lklyle: Skeptical Chymist
Montesquieu: 1he Spirit of the Lows
Swirt : Gulliver's Travels
Locke: Es.say Concerning flu mma Undemanding
Voltrure: Candide
Fielding: Tom ]OIU!s
Ro usseau : Social Contract
Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations
Hume: 1)-eatise of flumon Nllture
Gibbon: Decline and Fall of th e Roman E mpire
Constitution of the United Sta tes
l'"cdcralist Papers
~\n t: Cri~ique of Pr
trc Reason
Goethe: Faust
Hegel: Science of Lol(ic
Schorcnhaurr: 11tc World IJJ WiU and ld~t1
Coleridge: Biographia Literaria
Bentham: Prineip les of Momls mad of Legislation
Mal thus: Esmy on the Principles of Population
Mill : Systc1ta of Logic
Marx : Capital
Balzac: Pere Gon·ot
Thackeray: llenry Esmond
Dickens: David Copperfield
Flaubert: Madame Bovary
Dostocvski; en·me and Pun.islnuont
Tohtoi: 111m- and Peace
Zola: E"perimental Novel
lb:scn: A Doll's House
Dalton: A New System of Chemical Pllilosophy
Oirrord: The Common Sense of the Exact Sciences
Fourier: Mathematical A>llllym of lleat
Faraday : Experimental Researches into Ekctricity
Pcaoock : Algebra
Lobachcvslti: Theory of Parallels
Darwin: Origin of Species
Mendel: Papers
Bemar<l : Introduction to E!!tpt'Tim<'tltal Medicine
Galton: EtllJ"iries into the Htmum Mind and its Faculties
J oule : Scientific Papers
Gauss: Mathematical Papers
Galois: Mathe matical Papers
Book: laws of Thought
llamilton: Q!;tJtemions
Riemann: The Hypotheses of Geometry
Cantor: Transfinite Numbers
Virchow: CeUu/ar Pathology
Poincare: Science and Hy p otl·esir
Hilbert: Foundations of Geometry
james: Principles of Psychology
Freud : Pt~pers on Hystena
Russell & Whitehead: Principill Mallaematica
Veblen & Young: Projective Geometry
3
�The books on this list for t he most part have
recently been republished in cheap editions. The cost
to the student during the four years' course will with
a few exceptions come within the customary sum
paid for textbooks. In special cases, for instance
Euclid's Elements in Heath's translation, the College
will arrange a subsidy. It is therefore feasible to make
and remake such a list and to prescribe it as required
reading of all students at St. J o hn's who enter the
new program of study.
The Liberal Arts
There are two ways of explaining the function of the
liberal arts in a liberal college. The simpler way is to
describe the mechanics of instmction. That will appear in what follows. But first it will be well to make
clear what the basic distinctions were before the
modern chaos buried t hem under the materials of
instruction. In general t he liberal arts are the three
R's, reading, writing, and reckoning. So they still
appear in our primary schools; it is their integrity and
power that still lure us back to the little red school
houses where our fathers and grandfathers studied
and practised them. Before the nineteenth century
they had a higher place and a more elaborate development which gave biith to and nurtured t he aiTay of
subject-matters in the modern university. For fifteen
hundred years they were called the Seven Liberal
Arts, and before that, they were called the Encyclopedia, the " circle for the training of boys." There is a
continuous tradition of these as there is of the books,
and the two traditions are one in the end. Their
formal and operating techniques arc more difficult to
recover than their products in the great books, but
the recovery has proved possible and also illuminating
for the practical problems of instruction that the
books raise.
The dearest historic pattern of the liberal arts for
the modern mind is, curiously enough, to be found in
the thirteenth century. At the Lime of Dante's Divine
Comedy and St. Thomas's Summa Theologies, they
were listed as follows:
Trivium
Quadrivium
Grammar
Rhetoric
Logic
Arithmetic
Geometry
Music
Astronomy
With the medieval emphasis on the rational activities
of man and the central position of the speculative
sciences of theology and philosophy interest cen tered
on the last m·t in each column , and the other arts
were subordinate and auxiliary to them. The master
of arts in the t hirteenth century would most likely
write his books on logic and metaphysics or in music
and astronomy. Other ages made different emphases.
The renaissance found rhetoric, geometry, a11d music
4
(measurement) most productive and illuminating with
the other arts subsidiary. The Romm1s went farthest
in rhetoric, as one might expect from noting their
legal activities. The Alexandrians gave h ighest honors
to the grammarian scholar and the arithmetician and
geometer, with considerable consequent attention in
experimental science. The Athenian Greeks agreed
with the thirteenth century in their ordering of the
arts. It seems that we in our political preoccupation
and economic energy, coupled with experimental
science, are primarily concerned with rhetoric and
music, the Pythagorean name for mathematical
physics.
The order and the shifts in order that this indicates
reflect the shifts of attention and emphasis in the
great books, and these in tum may be said to reflect
the spirit of the ages in which they were written.
These observations can be turned to account in the
manner of teaching which we propose to follow . The
entire period with the books and the patterns or the
arts can be recapitulated in the four-year college
course, the yearly divisions falling respectively at the
end of the Alexandrian period, at the end of the
middle ages, and in tl1e middle of the eighteenth
century, and ending with contemporary writers. The
schedule can be seen in the following scheme:
�October 1972
Schedule of Readings by Years
Languages and Literature
Liberal Arts
Mathc matks and Sdencc
First l"ear
Homer
Hero dotus
Thucydidcs
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Lucian
Old Testament
Plato
Aristotle
HipPQcrates
Galen
Euc~d
Nicomacbus
Aristarchus
ApoUonius
Ptolemy
Archimedes
Aristoxcnus
Second Year
Virgil
Lucretius
Strabo
Leonardo
Horace
Aurc~us
Ovid
Livy
Cicero
Plot in us
Augustine
Bonaventura
Thomas
Roger Bacon
Copernicus
Ca lvin
Spinoza
Kepler
Harvey
Cilbert
Newton
Leibniz
Boyle
New Testament
Quinrilian
Dante
Volsunga Saga
Song of Roland
Chauc<:r
Calilco
Descartes
Third Year
Cervantes
Shakes1>eare
Milton
Rabelais
Corneille
Racine
Moliere
Erasmus
Francis Bacon
llobbcs
Locke
Humc
Montaignc
Montcsquicu
Crotius
Fourth Year
Gibbon
Voltaire
Swift
Rousseau
American Constitution
f'cd("r.llist Papers
Adam Smith
Malthus
Man<
Fielding
Balzac
f'laubert
Thackeray
Dickens
Ibsen
Dostocvski
Tolstoi
Kant
Schopcnhaucr
Hegel
Goethe
Bentham
Mill
James
Freud
Peacock
Boolc
Fourier
Lavoisier
Dalton
Hamilton
Ostwald
Maxwell
Faraday
Joule
Danvin
Virchow
Bernard
Calton
Mendel
Clifford
Cantor
Riemann
Lobachevski
Hilbert
Poincare
Gauss
Galois
Russell & Whitehead
Veblen & Young
This scheme correlates the books with th e appro·
priate contemporaneous ordering of the li beral arts,
and provides the basic pattern of instruction so t hat it
will be most effective and economical. The two
outside columns give the divisions of the books that
are primarily literary and linguistic in medium and
s tyle and those that arc mathe matical and scientific in
these respects. The middle column gives the tests that
expound the distinctions and o rdering principles of
the arlS of reading, understanding, and criticism that
will most efficiently exploit the contents of the
boo ks. Along with these we propose to run laboratories of three kinds throughout the course, one to
study the devices of measurement and instrumen ts of
precision, another to repeat the crucial and canonical
experiments in the history of science, and still another for the focusing and concentrating of t he
devices of a ll the sciences upon such contemporary
problems as the nature of the cell, the chemical,
physical, and biological balances in the blood, and the
basic problems in embryology. These experiments are
the non-bookish classics that the modern laboratory
has produced, and the consequent disciplines will be
provtded for the liberal training of the student. I t is a
fact of modern times that it is ch iefly by experimentation that the classics and the libera l ar ts are kept
alive.
The li beral arts are chiefly concerned with the
na ture o f the symbols, written, spoken, and const ructed, in terms of which we rational animals find
our way around in t he material and cultural world in
which we live. Symbols have practical aspects, as in
rhetoric and industry, which must be understood and
distinguished from their theo retical uses and significances in science and literature. Again there are concrete data and artificial products that must be distin~ished [rom the abstract principles and ideas
wh1ch gove rn them. There arc many connections that
these aspects have \'\lith one another, and it is the
business of the liberal artist to see those apart and put
them together. Success in this constitutes intellectual
and moral health. Failure is stupid ity, intellectual and
mora l decay, ru1d slavery, to escape which the
foundjn~ fathers set up institutions of liberal education. It IS reassuring to know that they had more than
pious hopes in their minds when they made charters
for St. J ohn's College and its sister institutions.
Ma chinery of lustruction
For students who choose to enter this program of
study this year, 1937, there will be a staff of instructjon consisting of men who have come to St. John's
from the University of Chicago, the University of
Virginia, Columbia University, and Oxford. Ideall y
these me n should be equally well trained in each
<L~pcct of the progra m, have read all the books in the
list, a nd mas tered all the arts. Actu<tlly the members
of the staff have been educated during the period of
academic specialization, and they therefore are
5
�The College
specialists who have re-educated themselves in varying
degrees. T ogether their specialties cover the range of
the books and the arts, and stud ents will achieve
balanced training through a scheme of combination
and rotation for teaching techniques; the same will be
true for persons in charge. Such a scheme is dictated
by the books and the liberal arts.
The teaching devices in the scheme arc four: l} reading and discussion of the books in seminars; 2} formal
lectures on special topics in the liberal arts; 3} tutorials; 4 ) laboratories.
Seminars. Meetings of these seminars will occur
twice a week with any additional meetings that
special circumstances or difficul ties may indicate.
There wiJI be two instructors in charge, and the
instruction will make use of a wide range of devices
from explication de texte to analysis of intellectual
content and the dialectical treatment of critical
opinion.
Formal Lectures. T he liberal arts o pera te in the light
of principles which constitute the liberal sciences.
These sciences will be progressively expounded in
formal lectures by various members of t he staff as the
course proceeds. They will be expository and critical
also of themes that arise in the reading of the books.
There will be at least two formal lectures a week.
Tutorials. There will be three kinds of tutorial
instruction for small groups or individuals in original
languages, in mathemat ics, and in writing.
The study of an original htnguage will be initiated in
an intensive manner during a period of six o r eight
weeks a t the beginning of each year. The books will
be read in English transla tion, but their proper interpre tation is most rapid and efficient when they are
studied as translations. This requires only a part of
the knowledge commonly demanded now in language
courses, a knowledge that is rapidly and easily acquired by the study and analysis of texts selected
from the books on the list. T his training will serve
two pw·poses in the course, first as it contributes to a
knowledge of universal or general grammar as we shall
study that in the liberal arts, and as a cumulative skilJ
in the genuine reading of any text including those in
English. Greek will be thus studied in the first year,
Latin t he second, and French and German in the
third and fourth . I t should be noted that these correspond wi t h the original languages of t11e texts in those
years.
T he second kind of tutorial will be ordered to the
elementary study of the mathematical books. Modem
stude nts, more because of the dive rsity in previous
trainings rather than because o f any ge nuine d ifferences in native endo wments, vary a great d eal in their
mathematical abiljties. The mathematical tutorials
will be organized and taught o n the basis of diagnoses
of individual cases with the aim o f leading each
student into vita l inte llectual relations wit11 the mathematical texts. This task will be facilitated by the
6
mathematical laboratory for t hose whose d ifficulties
lie on the operational level.
The third kind of tutorial is concerned with training
in wri ti ng. Selected texts will be memorized, imitated
in style, translated, and criticized. The aim here will
triple: to induce active participation in the tho ught of
the great au thors, to increase the original literary
ability of the student, and to enco urage them in
original literary creation. There are plans for a magazine o f commentary and criticism to which students,
teachers, and friends of the St. J ohn's program may
contribute. This will be closely connected with the
writing tutorials and will be under studen t editorship.
Laboratories. There will be three kinds of labora·
tories: one in mathematics and measure ment; one in
e xperimentation; and one in the combination of
scienti fie findings.
The mathematical laboratory will be equipped with
t he basic instrumen ts of measw·ement in all the
sciences. Here students learn the mathematical principles that have been embodied in the instrumen ts,
learn to operate them, and thus become familiar with
the operational aspects of both mathematics and the
natural sciences. T hey will also acquire the "feel" of
elementary la borato1y techniques for all the sciences.
The second kind of Ia bora tory will allow s tudents to
repeat the crucial and canonical expet;ments in
historic and contemporary science. T here are classics
in e mpirical science, experiments which once un·
covered principles and laid t he foundation for whole
fields of investigation. Some of these go back to the
lever and the balance, some of them, like Gal.ilco's
experiments wi th t he inclined plane founded classical
mechanics, others like Millika.n's measurement of the
force o n the electron have set the themes for contemporary science. Students will study these scientific classics.
At t he end of the course there will be a labo ratory
for combining scien tific findings in order to investigate concrete problems of central importance. The
best prob lems come fro m t.he medical scie nces,
problems of the cell, problems of blood balances,
p roblems of embryology. They will be in c harge of a
member of the staff who is acquainted with medical
sc ience.
These laboratories will provide a pro per pre-professional scientific training, will illustrate the liberal arts
in their liveliest contemporary practices, and will
focus the past on the present for the who le course.
The mathematical laboratory will carry the student
through the first year, the experimental laboratory
through Lhe second and third years, and the combina·
torial labo ratory the last year.
Schedule
A given week will contain a maximum o r approximately seventeen hours of actual classroom and laborato ry work. T his will be divided as follows:
�October 1972
Seminars
Lectures
Tutorials
Language (for 6 weeks)
Mathematics
Writing
Labo ratory
Total
4 hours
2 hours
3 hours
3 hours
2 hours
2Y2 hours
16% hours
St udents entering St. J ohn's College in Septem ber,
19 3 7, will be personally advised concerning t he
opportunities for their education tha t this course
offers, and will be invited to enter it. Old students
who wish to make a new start may also choose to
enter it. It can no t be taken in part as substitute for
one, two, or three years that they still have to com·
plete in the old curriculum. This rule a lso applies to
students transferring from other institutions.
Degree Requirem ents
Actually this total will vary between fo urteen and
seventeen hours with an average of hours for the
week equal to the customary requirements of liberal
colleges in this country.
Admission to tlu:s course
On account of the great vanat10n in preparatory
training for college students, no preparation is
assumed for this course beyond a minimum of read·
ing, writing, and arithmetic; eventually there will be a
formulation of this minimum requirement. At the
start and for some time in the futu.re we shall apply
the usual set of requirements for admission to St.
J ohn's College, with special consideration for candi·
dates of outstanding ability whose previous records
may no t conform to the stated re~:,TJ.ilat ions. This
co urse is no t designed for any special type of student,
either better or worse than t he average. It has rigors
to meet t he abilities of the best students, and it has
excellences and aids for t he conventionally judged
mediocre or even poor student who also should have
the best e ducational material and teaching attention.
The course is a single all required course, and can not
be taken in part. It has within it so many degrees of
freedom not frequently offered at present that no
apology is needed for a formalism that is only
apparent.
Satisfactory work in this course for four years will
be accepted as fulfillment of the req uirements for a
Bachelor of Arts degree. There will be the usual
semester examinations, either oral or written o r both.
There will be a final comprehensive examination, oral
and written, a t the end of the four years.
Specifica.Uy, t he requirements are as follows :
Knowledge of the contents of the required books
of the course.
Competence in the liberal arts.
A reading knowledge in at least two foreign
languages.
Competence in mathematics thro ugh e lementary
calculus.
Three hundred hours of laboratory science.
These requirements more than meet t he demands of
graduate schools in this country, whether medical,
legal, theological, scientific, business, or in schools of
the arts and sciences. There is enough freedom in the
course for the individual studen t to mee t any special
requirements t hat his choice of career and graduate
study may dictate.
Despite daily assertio ns to the contrary, t here is no
educational device for assuring wordly success to the
student. It is more important to cultivate the ratio nal
human powers of the individual so that armed with
the intellectual and moral virtues he may hope to
meet and withstand the vicissitudes of outrageous
fortune .
7
�The Report of the Preside· t
n
All:
Hark, the tower bell is sounding;
Hearts with hope and fear arc bounding,
Anxious voices are resounding
As we congregate.
Soon the tutors and the Dean
Will examine Michael Green.
Now his future is unseen,
Will he graduate?
1971
1972
Miss With pride we come here to extol
Leonard: This College and its noble goal,
Which is, of course, the truth.
For we are liberal artists all,
Our speech is dialectical,
We swoon before the truth.
Chorus: Our speech is dialeclical.
We swoon before the truth.
Middies: T heir speech is dialectical.
They swoon before the truth.
So began Trial by johnny a musical parody on
Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury which the Senior
Class in Annapolis wrote and produced as its "senior
prank" in May. Under the baton o f Thomas Ascik,
'72, "Sovereign and Conductor" according to the
program, the seniors amused and delighted t he entire
college community, which had earlier been locked
out of the seminar rooms in McDowell Hall. Two
choruses, composed of "a motley collection of
Johnny women" and "amorous midshipmen", responded to the lyrics of the principals. Especially
uproarious was the deus ex machina appearance of a
senior impersonating Mortimer Adler with his
Syntopicon. To Sir Arthur Sullivan's music he sang in
five notable verses his autobiography. As he said, "I'll
tell you how I came to be a sage."
This performance was indicative of the excellent
morale which seemed to pervade the Annapolis
student body. Dean Robert Goldwin reported that
"the senior prank was so good-natured , so original,
and so tasteful that there was a visible lifting of spirits
for everyone. " Other events which followed - Reality
Weekend, the Senior Dinner, and Commencement were equally auspicious and enjoyable. Both Paul
Newland, the Provost, and the Dean, in commenting
upon this happy state of affairs, noted that special
attention will need to be paid to the matter of
student morale in the forth-coming academic year
because of the high enrollment. Ways must be found
to alleviate the strain that is always characteristic of
8
study at St. John's, for such te nsion will be
heightened by crowding in class and elsewhere on
campus.
Pleasantly enough , the problem of numbers will be
one of the pressing problems on the Annapolis
campus this fall . A fter years of struggling with insufficient enrollmen ts and with a high rate of attriti.o n,
the College now confronts a record number of 370
students. The Provost and the Dean are gratified that
larger numbers of students arc con tinuing at St.
J ohn 's and that there have been waiting lists for the
rising sophomore and senior classes since May. 1 agree
with the Dean when he writes that "the College
should face these new problems with a glad heart."
The Santa Fe campus has not yet been confro n ted
with the problem of numbers. Dean William A.
Darkey reports a good year from t he standpo int of
instruction, although the retention ra te of freshman
students left something to be desired.
It seems fruitless to speculate on the possible
causes of attrition. The Annapolis campus suffered
from this malady for years. It was on ly in the 1960's
when capacity freshman classes were recruited and
when total emollment fi nally passed the 300 figure
that real improvement began. I remain optimistic that
a similar effect will be seen on t he Santa Fe campus.
This o f course will not occur automatically. Full
freshman classes of qualified students must be sough t.
As a step in this direction the Santa Fe campus will
adlJlit its first January class of twenty freshme n this
year. Greater numbers of students mean more variety
in the composition of seminars and tutorials over the
fo ur years, wider choice of social contacts, and larger
poten tia l constituencies for sports and o ther extracurricular activities--hence a healthier total college
situation.
�Oc tober 1972
Instruction
There were no major changes in the instru ctional
program of the Co llege. Dean Go ldwin regretted that
insufficient p rogress had been made to carry out the
recommendatio n in the Dean's Statement of Edu ca·
tional Policy and J>rogram o f 19 71 that ways and
means be found to reduce the wo rk in the curric u·
lum. At the j oint meeting of the Instructio n
Co mmitlee, he ld in Annapolis in February , a pilot
graduate preceptorial on the Santa Fe campus was
approved, revisio n o f the Graduate Institute cun;cu·
lum in Po litics and Socie ty was decided upon, and
two papers o n the language program, one by Dean
Darkcy and the o the r by Edward Sparro w, were
considered . Further ~t te nti on to the language
program remains a matter of high priority for the
coming year.
Under the capable leadership of the Provost,
reorganization o f duties was undertaken in the Dean's
o ffice in Annapo lis, so that Mr. Goldwin can devote a
greater proportion of his time to instructional matters
in the future. A number o f admin istrative and clerical
functions were reassigned to other ofCices. Further·
more , a n Advisory Committee o n ew Appointments
was created to conduct preliminary correspondence,
screening, and interviewing of faculty applicants. This
committee, composed o f former members o f the
Instruction Committee, will free the time o f the
current Instruction Committee to consider instructional proposals. The Instruction Committee will still
retain fu ll responsibility for all final appointments, as
stipulated in the Po lity, and will also d eliberate all
no n-tenure reappointmenlS and tenure appointments
o n the Faculty.
This year marked the termination of the so-called
transfer program, whereby students entering St.
J ohn's after o ne or more years at another college
might earn the B. A. d egree in three years and one
summer session . Last year Annapolis conducted this
program for five summer seniors and Santa Fe for
eleven. This past summer the figures were ten and
three respectivclr. Both years the program operated
at some rinanc ia loss. The conclusion to be drawn is
tha t this truncated program, originally conceived as a
means of stimulating enrollment, cannot attract a
large enough number o f students to justify either its
cost or the e xpenditure of tuto rs' time and energy.
Th e Tutors
Unfort unately, the College lost ano ther of its
retired senior tu tors during the year. Mrs. l ola Riess
Scofield, widow of Ri chard Scofield, died on March
27, 1972. Sf1e was the second wo man tutor to be
appointed to the College following t he introduction
of co-education in the earl y 1950's. A tutor o f keen
sensitivity and insights, Mrs. Scofield was dedicated
to teaching and to her students . She had retired in
19 68 after sixteen years of d evoted service to the
Co llege.
New tutors appointed for 1972-3 on the Annapolis
campus are: Burton Blistein, who holds the A.B. and
M.A. degree from the Universi ty of Chicago, taught
for eight years at Shimer College, and will no w
become currently Tutor and Ar tist-in-Residence;
Cecil H. Fox, who earned the B.S . and M.S. degrees
from T rinity University, the Ph.D. degree fro m Clark
University, and the Fil.Lic. from Lund University in
Sweden; Leon Kass, who has both an M.D. from the
University of Chicago Medical School and a Ph.D.
from Harvard University and who is this year a
Guggenheim Fellow; 13ro ther Ro bert Smith, who was
for many years head o f the lntegrated Program of St.
Mary's Co llege in Cal ifo rnia and has ta ught before
both on the Annapolis campus and in the Graduate
Institute a t Santa f e; David E. Starr, who graduated
from Gordon College and then received the M.A. an.d
Ph.D. d egrees from 13osto n University; a nd RobertS.
Zelenka, a graduate o f Ri ce University, who was
awarded the M.A. degree by the j ohns Hopkins
University and the Ph.D. degree by the University o f
Maryland. William De Hart and E.rrol Pomerance
completed their appointments and left the Co llege,
while Robert Sacks, who spen t the year in J enasalem
o n sabbatical leave, has decided to move west to t he
Santa Fe Faculty . Laurence Berns, J oseph P. Cohen,
and Ro bert B. Willia mson return from sabbatical
leave, as Ro bert S. Bart, J o hn Sarkissian, David H.
Stephenson, and J ames M. T o lbert begin their sabba·
ticals. Gisela Berns resumes teaching following leave,
while Alvin Main will be absen t on leave during the
fust semester. The Annapolis Facul ty will number 5 3
for the year commencing this September.
On the Santa Fe Campus there were five new
appo intmen ts: Alfred J. DeGrazia III , who has the
B.A. de~,'ree fro m Swarthmore College and the M.A.
from Howard University; Norman S . Grabo, who
holds both the M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of
California at Los Angeles and who taught for five
years at Michigan State University and then for nine
years was Pro fesso r o f English at the University
Californ ia in Berkeley; Philip LeCuyer, a graduate of
the Colorado Co Uege who earned a B.A. at Merton
College, Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar and
has been a tutor in the Institute o f Social Research
and Develo pment at the University o f New Mexico
while working to ward a docto rate in Biology; Mary I.
Robinson, a graduate of the University of Chicago,
who is a Ph.D. candidate in bioche mistry at the
Universi ty o f Arizona; and Alfreda L. Verratti, who
graduated from St. J o hn 's College in 1966, became a
Ph.D. candidate at Washingto n Unjvcrsity in philosop hy, and taught at Webste r CoJ/cgc. Last year's report
omitted one late appointment, tha t of Allan
Pearson, whose B.A. was earned at Boston College
and A.l\1. at Boston Universit y in German language
and lj terature and who taugh t for five years at the
University of California at Riverside. 1\lrs. T oni Drew
completed two years as a Teaching Intern and has
now received a regu lar tutor's appo imment. Paul D.
9
�The College
Mannick will continue fo r a third and final year as a
Teaching i ntern, while Pat rick Hanson, a June gradu·
ate, has been appoiJHed as Teaching Intern wi_th
responsibility for organizing and maintaining equipment in the physics and chemistry laboratories.
Tutors returning from sabbatical leave are Robert
M. Bunker, David C. Jones, and Robert D. Sacks,
while Mic hael Ossorgin and J ohn S. Steadman will
take sabbtical leave during 1972-73 . Ellio tt T .
Skinner will be on leave during the first semester to
comple te his doctoral dissertation. Unhappily for the
College, Don B. Cook, a tenured Tutor, decided to
resign from the Faculty in o rder to try p reparatory
sch~o l teaching. Dennis V. Higgins and Henry N.
Larom left the Co llege at the e nd o f the acad emic
year, since they did not receive ten ure appointments.
Aaron Kirsc hbaum resigned in order to undertake the
study of law. The Santa Fe Faculty will number 39
for t he year commencing this September.
Th e Students
On J une 4, 1972, the College awarded 28 Bachelor
o f Arts degrees on t he Santa Fe campus, o ne magna
cum laude and three cum laude. One week later the
College awarded 39 Bachelor of Arts degrees to
seniors on t he Annapolis campus, ~ three of the m
magna cum laude and nine of the m cum laude. Erro l
Po merance was awarded the degree of Master of Arts.
At t he end of the summer Bachelor of Arts degrees
were awa:rded to seven seniors in Annapolis and two
seniors in Santa Fe. By happenstance the latter two
were both women. They therefore constitute the
smallest St. J ohn's class on record and the o nly
exclusively female class to graduate from the College.
Two graduating seniors received Watson T raveling
Fellowships, Christel M. Stevens at Annapolis and
J o nathan Krane at Santa Fe.
Enrollment figures for the beginning and the end
of the academic year were as fo llows :
Women
Men
Sept.
June
Sept.
June
71
62
54
Febmary Class
Sophomores
59
J uniors
46
Seniors
26
Graduate Students
I
Totals
203
II
55
44
Annapolis
Total
Sept.
June
56
125
39
39
19
9
33
37
20
98
85
45
118
20
88
81
47
200
151
155
354
355
34
32
26
17
109
58
37
22
46
28
19
12
105
107
81
47
27
262
81
59
45
29
214
Both Directors of Admissions, Michael Ham in his
first year on the Annapolis campus and Gerald Zollars
in his second year on the Santa Fe campus, did
exceJJent j obs in the recruitment of this fall's entering
classes. Comparative figures for 197-71 and 1971-72
follow:
Annapolis
Deposits Received
Enrolled
[nquirics
Visitors
3,612
277
Wi thdrawn
197 1-7 2
257
202
3,383
AppUcations
Accepted
Rej ected
1970·71
265
18 1
60
80
125
125
319
44
Santa Fe
1970·71
241
182
50
74
128
128
83
108
106
3,867
208
1971·72
256
175
60
81
108
108
5,118
174
Once again there was a wide geograp hical
distributio n of studen ts in the tw o entering classes.
St. J ohn's College continues to be national rather
than regional in its appeal to prospective students. (In
each case the first figure is for An napolis, lhe second
for Santa Fe).
I
4
Florida
Georgia
I
6
Arkansas
California
3
Colorado
Connecticut 6
Mhsouri
D.\..
2
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
3
15
11
2
z
Neb,as)<a
New Harnp.
Hawaii
illinois
2
Indiana 2
l owa
Rhode Is. Z
Kansas
2
Maine
2
0
2
2
Tennessee 2
New Jersey 9
New Mexico New York 21
Ohio
Oregon
Penna.
10
2
10
3
5
6
Texas
Vermont Virginia 14
Wash.
2
W.Va.
2
Wisconsin 2
Wyoming 1
2
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Austria
I
20
4
5
2
2
3
Car'lada
14
England
llongkong
Japan
S ingapore
Turkey
Totals
12 8 108
Th e Staff
Freshmen
27
I
I
I
Santa Fe
Freshn'ler
\
10
49
Sophomores
juniors
Scnion
Totals
44
25
16
134
11
128
The College suffered a real loss when J ulius
Rosenberg resigned as Director of Development i11
order to accept an important position in Baltimore.
!-Je had worked loyally and tirelessly for the College.
Fortunately, the Directors of the Alumni Associa tion
chose him to fill the unexpired term of Baker
Middelton on the Board of Visitors and G overnors.
Russell Leavenworth, of Fresno, Califo mia, was
appointed as Interim Director of Development in
J an-uary. He had been associated with the Provost and
wi th Mr. Rosenberg for the preceding year and a half.
T he Provost effected a number of organizational
changes in the offices o f the Dean , the Registrar, and
the Direc tor of Develo pment. Miss Miriam Strange,
the perennial Registrar of the College, was appointed
�October 1972
Co llege Archivist and Alu mni Secretary. i\lrs.
Margaret l.<auck became the new Registrar. Within
weeks of her appointment, however, she had to
w1dergo a major opera tion from which she never
recovered. Her death is mourned by the entire college
communi ty. Mrs. Ch ristiana Whi te, who had moved
from the Oea1 's office to the Development Office,
1
was then appointed Acting Registrar.
Th01'n as Parran, Director o f Alumni Activities, was
given additional duties in programmed or d eferred
givi ng and certain o f his alumni duties were red istributed to o thers in the Development OHice. Mrs.
Christine Co nstan tine, '72, jo ined the Development
Office as an Intern. The major object ives in making
all o f these changes were to diminish the administrative work in the Dean 's o ffi ce, to increase the
capability and effe ctiveness o f the Development
Office, and to establish a new area of fund-rajsing in a
progra mmed giving o pera tion.
Mrs. Chn"stine Consta11tine
At its May meeting the Board institllled a pension
plan for staff members whereby those who had
completed at least fifteen years o f service and had
altamed the age of 65 while still in the College's
employ would be eligible to rece ive $7.50 per mo n th
per yedr of service, the total not to exceed a maximum of $250 per month. The surviving spouse
wo uld also be eligible to receive half of the pension
for a period of up to ten yea rs from the date of the
employee's d eath. T his plan applies primarily w o lder
staff members. Yo unger and newer members will have
available to them t he same retirement arrangements
as faculty members. The Board also voted to make
available to all staff members major medical insurance, decreasing li fe insurance, and disability
insurance, in addition to the hospital and medical
benefits a lready in effect. These provisions, which
apply to both campuses, constitute appropriate and
well-earned recogrutio n o f the fin e and dcdjcatcd
service of staff members to the College over many
years.
Th e Libraries
I n Nove mber the basement area o f t he new Tower
Build ing was read y to become an auxiliary library for
the Sa nta Fe campus. Mrs. Alice Whelan, the
Librarian, repo rts an amazingly smooth transfer of
three-quarters or the circ ula ting book collection, as
well as all records and tapes. The new facility is
serving the collc~c community well under the
immcdjate supervisio n of Mrs. Beth Floyd. T he major
acquisition proj ect of the year was an effort to bwld
up secondary sources re lating to classic Greek and
Roman authors. Once again the Library Associates
Committee, under the able chairmanship of Richard
Stem, made notable contributions to the Library,
largely thro ugh its successful Book and Author
Luncheons: The Art of Manl1ind ( 16 volumes), Henry
Fielding's complete works ( 16 volumes), Hegel's
Samtliche IVerke (26 volumes), Th e International
Encyclopedw of the Social Sciences ( 17 volumes),
Th e Medieval Scie11ce Series (1 4 volumes), Tudor
Church Music ( l l volumes), and a collection of
classic French drama, recorded by Lc Thea tre
Na_
tional Po pulaire and La Comedic Francaise.
Charlotte Fle tcher, t he Librarian on the Annapolis
campus, reports a new peak in service to students and
t u tors. The re was a rifty per cent increase in the
books borrowed by students during the year. This
reflects an impetus which began with t he beautiful
renovated building a nd with the improvement in the
book collectio n made possibk by T itle lJ gran ts.
Major purchases include the /<."ncyclop edw Judaica, a
new 20-volume editio n o f Hegel in German, Wallis'
Opera Ma tlt errwtica , and a 17 68 edition or John
Locke in four vo lumes. Bo th li braries find that the
spiraling cost of new books res ults in a greatly
decreased purchasing po wer or the annual book
budgets. It seems clear that increased funds must be
made available in the future.
The Graduate Institute
The 1972 sessio n o f t he Graduate Institute
enro Ued 140 stude n ts. At the end o f the summer
eighteen received the Mas ter of Arts d egree, bringin~
the to tal number of Institute graduates to 75. During
the rruddle four weeks o f the session, sixteen
inner-city high school students from Albuquerque,
11
�The College
Baltimore, New York and Washin ~ton_ live~ . on
campus pursuing a program of stt~d•es m pol!t•cal
philosophy conducted by three Institute alumm and
two St. J ohn's College seniors. According to the
testimonials of most of these students, and the
judsments of the staff, t~ey wer~ enormously an_d
positively affected by the Ideal of m tellectual pursUit
to which they were exposed. It is our hope that as a
side-benefit from this program the College ~ill be
able to reach more capable Blacks and H1spanos
interested in enrolling as freshmen; at least three
members of this first group expressed such interest.
CarroU Barrister House immediately to the north. The
infirmary and a colJegc guest suite are located on the
first floor; the upper floor contains apartments for an
assistant dean and for the College Nurse. A construction contract was awarded to Stehle, Beans and Bean,
Inc., in December at a figure of $262,058. The new
structure is largely the gift of Mrs. J ohn T . Harrison
of Greens Farms, Connecticut, as a memorial to her
late husband, J ohn T. Harrison, '07, for many years a
member of the board of Visitors and Governors.
The Alumni
On December 4 , 197 1, a ribbon was cu t by Mr. and
Mrs. J ohn Murchison, of Dallas, Texas, officially
opening the new Tower Building at Santa Fe. Experience of the first ten months confirms the value of
having centralized all administrative o ffices and of
having freed from office use temporarily occupied
classroom and dormitory space. The cost of the
Tower Building, i11 cluding reserves for some furnishings still on order, was $582,932, all of which was
fully funded.
The Alumni Association completed another active
year under the presidency of William R. Tilles '59.
Homecoming was held in conjunction with the 275th
Anniversary celebration of the Co llege wi th a large
number o f alumni in attendance. At the dinner that
evening alumni Awards of Merit were made to
William B. Athey '32, Edward J . Dwyer '30, and Paul
Mellon x'44. Dr. Eugene N. Cozzolino, '29, and J ohn
D. Oostcrhoul, '51, were elected as Alumni representatives on the Board of Visitors and Governors for
three-year terms. As already noted, J ulius Rosenberg,
'38, was later chosen to fill the vacancy caused by the
resignation of J . S. Baker Middelton, ' 38, who retired
from business and moved to New Hampshire.
Under Mr. Middelto n's conscientious chairmanship,
an alumni committee gave consideration to the desirability of changing the name of the College so as to
avoid confusion with church-related institutions and
to re fl ect more accurately the College's program. A
survey was cond ucted which showed that a large
majority of alumni strongly favored continuing the
St. J ohn's name. Both F ac ulties similarly expressed
themselves. The Board voted at its May meeting to
abandon any though t of a possible name ch ange ..
Again this year alumni served the College m a
variety of ways. Counseling sessions with seniors were
held on graduate schools, Jaw schools, business and
government. Interviews with prospective students
were conducted in many parts of the country. In the
area of fund- raising a total of $44,840 was received
in ann ual giving, including a bequest of $12,000 fro m
the estate of the late Vincent W. McKay, x'46. The
su m of $306,890 was received from the estate of
Richard H. Elliott, '17, thus establishing the
permanent endowment for the Richard Hammond
Elliott Tutorship.
IIamson Health Center
Desi~ned by J ames Wood Burch and William H.
Kirby, J r., the new two·story Harrison Heal th Center
on the Annapolis campus will be completed in time
for the faU term. The building is in the shape of a
Greek cross; its configuration, its red brick walls, and
its slate roof blend harm oniously with the Charles
12
Tower Building
Holzman Music and Fine Arts Center
Ground was broken on August 23, 1972, for the
Holzman Music and Fine Arts Center, a wing of the
future library, to be located just south of the
Peterson Student Center on the Santa Fe campus.
Designed by William R. Buckley, the new structure
will contain two music seminar rooms, a music
library, and two practice rooms or offices on the first
floor; a large listening lounge, an office, and a fin e
arts studio on the second floor, and six pract ice
rooms, a ceramics studio and mechanical equipment
on the ground floor. The construction contract in the
amount of $374,500 was awarded to J ohn C. Cornell,
Jnc. of Clovis, New Mexico. Occupancy is planned for
the late spring. Principal donor of the building is J ac
Holzman, x'52, of New York City, a Visitor and
Governor of the College, who is m aking the gift in
memory of his grandparents. T he Kresge 'Foundation,
of Detroit, Michigan, has helpfully voted a grant of
$75,000 toward the cost of the building. A bequest
from the late Miss Flora Conrad of Srulta Fe, an
anonymous pledge from a Board member, and several
smaller gifts accoun t for the balan ce of the financing.
The Campuses
Under the guiding hand of Arthur Kungle, '67,
flower beds bloomed this year in many areas of the
Annapolis campus. Mr. Kungle's horticultural knowfcdge and enthusiasm attracted many students who
worked long hours planting and weeding. The campus
has never looked better, nor have studen ts ever taken
more in terest in its ap pearance. The Provost calls Mr.
Ku ngle's dedication and service invaluable and speaks
for the college community in expressing gratitude. At
�October 1972
1
the same time a tree conditioning program has been
undertaken and new trees have been planted to
replace those which had to be removed as potential
dangers to life and limb.
At Santa Fe the College was successful in preserving its clear and unobstructed vista to the north.
Upon earnest entreaty, the developer who proposed
to buy and seek rezoning for twelve acres of land
immediately adjacent to the campus withdrew the
option to buy and the request for rezoning. It is
hoped that friends will now purchase the property
and give it to the College. In March the residence of
the late Witter Bynner was deeded to the College.
Through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Dean Haggard
a loan has been advanced to recondition this property
and make it suitable as an off. campus residence for a
dozen students.
St. john 's Film
During the year the San.ta Fe campus commis·
sioned Mr. Carroll Williams to produce a short twelve·
minute color-sound film on the College. The film will
be ready for distribution this fall. It is expected to
help materially with the recruitment of students,
particularly since the Admissions Office plans activity
in the relatively new territory of the mid-West. The
film will be shown to teachers, counsellors, prospective students, and to alumni groups and prospective
donors as well. The seminar sequence in particular
seems to be well done.
Finances
In a year when many colleges and universities have
experienced severe financial difficulties St. John's
College on both its campuses fared surprisingly well.
The Annapolis campus closed the year with a small
deficit of $11,036, all of which was met from a
reserve fund. Expenditures amounted to $1,991,859,
exceeding the budget by $41,000. Total revenues
came to $1,980,823. Th.is surpassed expectations by
$30,000.
The Santa Fe Campus was even more fortunate,
since it completed the year with a modest surplus of
$3,346. Total revenues came to $1,783,916, as compared with expenditures and appropriations o{
$1,780,570. Savings of $75,978 were effected on the
budget which was adop ted a year ago. A considerable
part o f this was in financial aid to students. It is
college policy to ask sch.olarship students to use their
own funds during the first semester and to apply
grants during the second semester. This saving there·
fore resulted from scholarship students who left the
Co llege in the middle of the year and therefore did
not benefit fully from funds awarded to them.
As .Burchenal Ault, Vice President in Santa Fe,
correctly states, ru1 institution's budget is one of its
clearest statements of intention and its most pttrposeful and effective evaluations of priorities. The
budgets for the coming year are the largest in the
College's history, $2,192,508 on the Annapolis
campus and $1,949,080 on the Santa Fe campus. The
new faculty salary scale rangin& from just under
$10,000 for a new tutor twenty-stx years of age to a
maximum of $19,500 represents a needed upward
adjustment in compensation. Furthermore, removal
of any limitat ion on the number of annual service
increments will do greater justice to the more senior
members of the Faculty. At the same time administrative salaries and expenses have been held to
previous levels as far as possible. Increased student
fees of $3,900 have been offset in part by major
increases in financial aid to undergraduates.
On J anuary 1, 1971 the College's investment portfolio was placed under the supervision of T. Rowe
Price and Associates, Inc., of Baltimore, Maryland. By
instruction of the Finance Committee the portfolio
was divided into two parts, one for growth and one
for income. As of J une 30, 1972, the endowment
principal totaled $9,676,130 in market value as
compared with a book value of $8,702,149. The
growth fund had a total accomplishment index of
147.3 with an annual yield of 1.7%; the income fund
a total accomplishment index of 111 with an annual
yield of 6.5%. The College continued to adhere to the
total yield concept drawing down 6% of the average
market value of the endowment fund over the past
three years. As of July l, 1972 the Santa Fe campus
placed $130,330 in the investment pool at a unit
value of $11.7399.
Public Relations
During the year an an hoc committee was
appointed to study the publication, The College.
Members were Russell Leavenworth, Director of
Development, Deborah Traynor, Robert L. Spaeth,
Edward M. Wyatt, Tutors, and Mrs. John Oosterhout,
'55, speaking for the alumni. As a result of the
com1mttee's study publication of The College became
an in-house operation upon an offset press purchased
by the College. Jeffrey Sinks, '73, is in charge of the
new facility which will be used by the Admissions
Office and other offices as well. The cost of pub·
lishing The College annually has been reduced from
$ 16,000 to $5,000 as a result of this change. Much of
the labor cost is expended for student aid. During the
year ahead the ad hoc committee will continue as a
permanent editorial committee. Mr. Spaeth succeeds
Mr. Wyatt as editor.
The Caritas Society and the Annapolis Friends of
St. J ohn's continued their activities on behalf of the
College. The Development Office provides coordination and clerical help to these organizations. The
most noteworthy event of the past year was an
ail-day symposium on "Women in Focus through the
'70's," conducted jointly by the Caritas Society and
the Annapolis Chap ter of the American Association
of University Women. The Key Memorial was filled
13
�The College
for the morning and afternoon sessions which featured such speakers as: De Barbette Blackington,
Director of the International institute for Women
Studies; J ane Howard, author and LIFE writer;
Barbara Mik ulski, Baltimore City Councilwoman;
Anais Nin, author of D£ar£es: and Marlo Thomas,
actress.
In Santa Fe the Boards of Associates from
Albuquerque, Los Alamos, and San ta Fe met periodically to gain new understandings about the College.
Under Mr. J\ult's leadership an Indian Table was
instituted whereby interested persons from outside
and within the College met monthly for dinner to
hear a speaker on L
ndian cuiLUre. A successio n of
interesting sho ws in the gallery o n the balcony of the
dining hall attracted much local interest_ Among
these were the work of Fritz Holder, a jo int exhibition by Peter Hurd and his wife, Henriette Wyeth
Hurd, Public Architecture in the Southwest by John
Gaw Meem, and the Lessing Rosenwald Collection of
15th and 16th century prints by Albrecht Durer, and
others on loan from the National Gallery of Art. The
College and Community Chamber Orchestra gave two
concerts, one conducted by Henry Schuman of 1 ew
York City, who spen t a week in residence on campus.
These activities and the regular Friday evening
lectures and concerts have won for the College a firm
place in the affections of the community.
275th Anniversary Fund
At the end of the first year i11 the three-year
Anniversary Fund campaign, the half-way point has
been reached. New girts and pledges received since
the drive opened J uly 1. 1971, have been less than
hoped for since they amounted to only $1,560,311.
The Annapolis campus sent out over a hundred
proposals to foundations with very little success.
Both campuses have been slow in organizational
efforts, but hopefully city solicitation committees
will begin active work this fa ll. Against its campaign
goal of $5,000,000, the Annapolis campus has now
raised $1,810,1 51; against its goal o r $10,000,000,
the Santa Fe campus has now raised $5,568,345 .
Gifts and Grants
During the year a total of $753,256 was received in
new gifts and pledge payments on the Annapolis
campus and $1,115,393 on the Santa Fe campus. The
two charts below show sources of these gifts and
grants and the purposes to which they were applied:
A nnapoli.s
Donors
Board
Faculty, Staff,
Students
National Committee
Alumni
Paren ts
Friends
Fo undations
Corporations
Government
Purposes
Unrestricted
Library
Scho larships
Graduate Institute
Special Projects
Endowment
Plant
Debt repayment
jeffrey Sinks {'73 ), Editor of the Collegian and
Manager of the St. John's Press.
10,277
3.604
394,732
3 ,095
34,264
106,850
26,934
173,500
$ 753,256
$ 205,155
150
2,665
19,598
352,259
173,429
s 753,256
Sante Fe
$
734,704
8,880
14,738
2,232
43,338
92,351
160,710
13,380
45,050
$ 1,115,393
$
620,982
6,584
48,109
104,670
74,948
155,100
105,000
$ 1,115,393
The College is deeply grateful to all of its alumni
and friends, to corporations and foundations, and to
faculty, staff and Board members, who by their gifts
and grants have demonstrated commitment to St.
John's College and confidence in the future of this
exemplar of the liberal arts upo n its two campuses.
Once again in the year ahead we will need to loo k to
these same friends - and to new ones - for something
over a million dollars, a quarter of the total to
balance the eastern budget ru1d three-quarters to
underwrite the western.
14
l
�October 1972
Television Seminars
Dean Go. dwin devoted considerable time during
l
the academic year to conducting a series of fifteen
one-hour television seminars. Three students partici·
pated regularly, Mrs. Christine Constantine, '72,
Michael Jordan, • 73, and Steven Sedlis, '73. J oAnn
Morse, '74 was an altern ate. For each seminar there
was an invited guest. For example, Alexander Bickel
of the Yale Law Schoo. participated in the seminar
!
on Plato's Crito; Robert Novak, the columnist, in the
seminar on Aristotle's Politics; Senator Charles
Mathias in the seminar on The Prince; Huw Wheldon
of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the
seminar on As You Lihe Tt; Senator Charles Percy in
the seminar on The Federalist No. 1 0; Admiral james
Calvert of the United States Naval Academy in the
seminar on Billy Budd; and Representative Abner
Mikva in the seminar o n the political thought of
Abraham Lincoln.
The project was financed by the Maryland Center
for Public Broadcasting with partial assistance
thro ugh a grant from the National Endowment for
the Humanities. The video tapings are to be shown
over educational television channels this fall and
winter. The Public Broadcasting Service Library has
accepted the entire series for national distribu tion.
The Dean says that in his opinion none of t he
programs disgrace the College and that some are
really excellent examples of good seminar discussion.
He notes that only time will tell whether the efforts
required to produce the seminars were justified.
The academic year that was concluded in June was
the thirty-fifth since inauguration of the present
curriculum at St. John's College. The fall of 1972 is a
far cry from that of 193 7 when less than sixty
freshmen enrolled on a bankrupt and dilapidated
campus in Annapolis. By contrast St. J o hn's College
today is a nourishing enterprise, which has expanded
to a second campus in the Southwest without sacri·
ficing the integrity of its educational program or the
sense of dose community which animates t he Col·
lege. From less than 150 students in 1937, enrollment
has grown to over 650, the Faculty from some
twenty to nearly a hL
mdred. Graduates of St. John's
are indeed fulfilling the goal of the 1784 Charter by
"discharging the various offices and duties of life,
both civil and religious, with usefulness and reputation,..." No longer can this college be termed an
experiment, as it was in the late thirties. The concept
an.d practice of liberal education at St.John's College
have earned for trus small but venerable institution a
respected place upon the American educational scene.
Richard D. Weigle
President
Santa Fe, New Mexico
September 1, 1972
15
[
�1/rl
0\
St. J ohn's College
Annapolis, Maryland
Comparative Balance Sheet, July 1, 1971 - June 30, 1972
ASSETS
LIABILTfiES AND FUND BALANCES
CURRENT FUNDS
1971
s 50,830
Unrestricted
Cash.
ln\'estrnrots ·At Cost
Account. Receh'llble
Due from St. John's College Santa Fe
Other Receivables
Dderred Expenses
Bookstore Inventory
1972
s 44 ,026
157
4,316
17,878
1,503
442
25,514
$100,640
Restricted
Cash
loans Receivable
Investments- At Cost
157
5,094
16,769
14,152
19,376
26,595
$126,169
$317,331
840
12,169
$330,340
S430,980
Total Current Funds
LOAN FUNDS
Cash
Student Loans Receivable
National Direct Studeut Loans
$
7,014
840
278,230
$286.084
5,893
2,031
146,290
s 13,011
$154,214
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
Cash
Friedland Student Loans
Faculty Home Loam
Santa Fe Campus Note
Other
Investment Cash Account
Investments - At Cost
5,680
6,759
141,221
1,375,625
$
225,992
6,578,456
$ 30,354
6,288
159,117
1,265,594
1,0 10
79,354
7,161,370
$8,335,474
s 8,703,097
$
~740
PLANT FUJ\'DS
Cash
Total Plan t Funds
Total Funds
64,363
375,677
5,194,327
394,220
325
79,158
375,677
5,373.537
394,221
6,028,587
$ 6,222,918
$ 14,949,255
$ 15,513,044
Investments ·At Cost
Land and Campus Improvement
Buildings
Equipment
-
s
Restricted
Fw1cl Balllnces
Due to Other Funds
s
19,478
$ 23,583
230
56,279
31,487
14,590
$126,169
44,249
2~,453
13,460
$ 100,640
s 329,843
497
s 330,340
s
$ 430,980
$ 412,253
IS7,~90
$ 159,191
15,585
$ 286,084
Total Current Funds
LOAN FUNDS
Federal Ad\'llnces for NOS Loans
Fund Balances
S
286,084
$174,776
731
161,034
$
Total Endowment Funds
Unrestricted
AccountS Payable
Due to Other Funds
Student Advance lkposits
Deferred Income
Reserve (or Future Operations
641 2,253
$
Total Loan Funds
CURRENT FUNDS
16,624
$ 154,214
s
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
Principal, Unrenricted as to Income
Principal, Restricted as to Income
Reservation of Profits- Sale of Securities
Unexpetldcd Income
$ 7,187,807
958,820
186,38 ]
2,466
s 7,530,05 7
Total Endowment FWJds
$ 8,335,4 74
$ 8,703,097
Total Loan Funds
PLA!-:T FUNDS
Due to Other Funds
Investment in Plant
Unexpended Plant Funds
$
1.917
!>,964.224
62.446
Total Plant Funds
s
Total f'unds
$ 14,949,255
6,028,587
174,776
972,207
199,885
948
$
6,143,435
79,483
s
6,222,918
s 15,513,044
�IW
...:=,,
"'-
-~
St.John's College
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Comparative Balance Sheet, July 1, 1971 - June 30,1972
ASSETS
LIABfLITIES AND FUND BALANCES
CURRENT FUNDS
197 1
Unrestricted
Cash
Investments • At Cost
Accounts Receivable
Due from Other Funds
Prepaid Expenses
Bookstore Inventory
$
-
s
12,740
1,000
144,064
26,402
$169,125
s
s
s
$ 62,039
s
$ 207,125
$ 44,000
2,443
15,596
Total Endowment Funds
s 207,125
$210,910
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
Cash
Receivables
Investments - At Cost
$ 184,206
$210,910
Total Life Estate Funds
Total Funds
s 355,778
3,668
1,000
139,782
24,675
LIFE ESTATE FUNDS
Due from Other Funds
-..J
$ 42,122
174,388
$216,510
s
Total Loan Funds
....
-
$391,831
Total CuJTent Funds
Bond Sinking Fund Investments
Land and Campus Improvements
Buildings
Construction in Progress
Equipment and Furnishings
Library Books
Total Plant Funds
38,480
16,340
11 ,747
.51,072
21,629
s 139,268
$238,505
3,226
$241,731
LOAN FUNDS
Cash
United Student Aid Deposit
National Direct Student Loans
Other Student Loans
Investments
s
5,084
.59,718
34,956
27,236
23,106
$1.50,100
Restricted
Cash
Investments- At Cost
PLANT FUNDS
Cash
1972
$ 135,757
91,286
185,000
136,774
315,495
4,874,412
284,743
436,757
77,452
6,401,919
7,235,824
9,881
-
125,876
s
1,038
18.5,226
154,479
314,024
5,403,448
-
472,567
116,969
6,647,751
s
s 7,530,617
CURRENT FUNDS
1971
Unrestricted
Note Payable
Accounts Payable
Due to Annapolis Campus
Due to Other Funds
Deferred Income
Reserve for Future Operations
1972
s
s
Restricted
Fund Balances
Due to Other Funds
.s
10,000
15,984
16,769
19,631
75,987
897
$ 139,268
13,627
17,878
20,512
93,815
4,268
150,100
s 216,510
$ 222,740
18,99 1
$ 241 ,731
$ 391,831
Total Current Funds
-
$ 216,510
$ 355,778
LOAN FUNDS
Federal Advances for NDS Loans
College Loan Fund Balance
Due to Other Funds
$126,714
29,394
13,017
s 155,600
Total Loan Funds
$ 169,125
s 184,206
$ 210,910
$ 207,125
$210,910
$ 207 ,1 25
$ 62,039
$ 135,757
s
$ 135 ,757
LIFE ESTATE FUNDS
Liabilitv 10nder A!(!'Cements
To tal Life Estate Funds
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
Fund Balances
Total Endowment Funds
PLANT FUNDS
Note Payable
Loan Payable to t\nnapolis Campus
Dormitory Bon<is • Series 1964
Series 1966
Due to Other Funds
Net Investment in Plant
Unexpended Plant Funds
Dormitory Bond Sinking Fund
28,606
-
62,039
$
$
1,375,625
838,000
855,000
199,399
2,722,836
274,285
136,i74
2,154
I, 265,594
824,000
840,000
187.494
3,187,766
186,264
154,479
Total Plant Funds
s
6,401,919
$
6,647,751
Total Funds
$ 7,235,824
$
7,530,617
�ST.JOHN'S COLLEGE
Annapolis. Maryland Santa Fe , New Mexico
CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES
Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 1971 and 1972
ANNAPOLIS
1970·7 1
197 1·72
REVENUES
Educational and General
Tuition
Endowment Income
Gifts and Grants
Graduate Institute Gmnts
State of Maryland Grants
Student financial Aid
Miscellaneous
T otals
Auxiliary Enterprises
Bookstore
Dining Hall
Dorrnito ries
Totals
Total Revenues
s
784,578
418,754
186,190
$ 902,155
414,987
193,329
87,464
18,242
$ 1,495,228
SANTA FE
1970·71
1971·72
s 625,291
2,833
554.932
89,445
$640,126
!>,122
673,744
90,!>84
23,.5 00
87, 11 7
16,465
Sl,550,416
40,713
3 1,573
$1,344,787
45 ,324
34,890
$ 1,489,790
47 ,798
161,390
139,7 80
$ !118,968
48,486
166,03 1
128,773
$ 343,290
33,875
140,260
125,355
$ 299,490
36,147
137,163
120,8 16
$ 294,126
$1,844,196
$1 ,980,823
$1,644,277
$1,783,916
191,57 1
183 ,392
750,562
$ 28!1,220
145,130
817,361
$ 213,14·8
145,674
566,277
151,110
27,160
186.022
$1,289,391
EXPENDITURES
Educational and General
Administrative
General
Instruction
Graduate Institute
S tudent Activities
Opemtion & Maintenance
Totals
Auxiliary Enteq>rises
Book Store
Dining Hall
Dormitories (Debt SeMce)
Totals
15,391
332,652
$1,473,568
-
19,194
338,306
$1,608,211
$ 205,283
159,586
5 13,77 1
11 7,688
25,667
160,013
$1,182,008
s
46,127
150.259
$
49,550
148.950
$
$ 196,386
s
198,500
s
$ 174,242
s
185,148
s
174,242
s
185,148
s
$
~iiscellaneous
Student financial Aid
Federal Programs
Capital Appropriations
Totals
Total Expenditures
Exoess Revenue or
(Expenditures)
18
-
$
51,844,196
34,1 4 1
103,383
109,302
246,826
$
17 1,170
17,094
22,9 12
211.176
33,97!\
89,889
109,303
233,167
s
s
189,348
16,369
52,295
$ 258,0 12
$ 1,991,859
$1,640,010
$1,780,570
( $1 1,036)
$
$
4,267
3,346
�-1'---·ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE
Annapolis, Maryland
PERMANENT ENDOWMENT FUNDS,jWle 30, 1972
Gift
of Donor
TUTORSHIP ENDOWMENTS:
Richard Hammond Elliott, 1917
Andrew W. MeUoo
Addison E. Mullikin, 1895
Arthur de Talma Valk, 1906
1.0
-
$ 306,865
$
1,989,953
150,216
$2,447,034
2,679,846
500,000
150,000
$3,329,846
-
SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENTS:
Annapolis Self Help
15,000
$
George M. Austin, 1908
25,000
WalterS. Baird, 1930
5,000
Chicago Regional
3,070
Class of 1897
8,672
Class of 1898
87,933
Dr. Charles Cook
13,705
George E. Cunniff m, 1930
135
Faculty
32,463
john T. Harrison·, 1907
25,025
Hillh ouse High School, 1927
9,667
Richard H. Hodgson, 1906
150,250
Alfred and Ruth Houston, 1906
42,787
Houston Regional
500
Jesse H. Jones and Mary Gibbs jones
36,000
Robert E. and Margaret Larsh Jones, 1909 31,533
Arthur E. and Hilda Combs Landers, 1930
5,445
22,685
Massachusetts Regional
Philip A. Myers U, 1938
19,362
Oklahoma Regional
26,000
Thomas Parran, 1911
6,165
Pittsburgh Regional
560
Reader's Digest Foundation
12,500
Clifton A. Roeh1e
7,056
Murray J oe1 Rosenberg
3,356
Hazel Norris and J. Graham Shannahan 1908 3,664
Clarence Stryker
3,668
Friedrich]. Von Schwerdtncr
1,552
$ 598,753
-
A . W. Mellon
Foundation
Matching Gift
ALUMNI AND MEMORIAL ENDOWMENTS
Granville Q. Adams, 1929
$
1,100
6,125
Charles Edward Athey, 1931
William C. Baxter, 1923
25
Drew H. Beatty, 1903
600
Or. William Brewer, 1823
125
Frederick W. Brune, 1874
855
Benjamin Duvall Chambers, 1905
2,638
Henry M. Cooper, J r., 1934
1,000
Helen C. and George Davidson, Jr., 1916
21,025
Walter I. Dawkins, 1880
58,683
Robert F.Duer,Jr. 1921
3,365
Dr. Philip H. Edwards, 1898
1,135
$
15,000
25,000
Total Fund
Principal
$ 306,865
2,679,846
2,489,953
300,216
$5,776,880
s
3,070
-
135
2,359
20,025
7,367
150,250
2,500
500
36,000
-
22,685
9,000
26,000
-
-
560
-
-
3,413
$
$
323,864
-
$
-
-
-
s
200
125
507
1,000
-
335
985
30,000
50,000
5,000
6,140
8,672
87,933
13,705
270
34,822
45,050
17,034
300,500
45,287
1,000
72,000
31,533
5,445
45,370
28,362
52,000
6,165
1,120
12,500
7,056
3,356
3,664
7,081
1,552
922,61 7
1,100
6,125
25
800
250
1,362
2,638
2,000
21,025
58,683
3,700
2,120
joseph W. fastncr,Jr., 1960
2,000
AUen Lester fowler, 1915
500
Edna G. and Roscoe E. Grove, 1910
16,556
Charles W. Hass, 1927
40
Dr. Amos F. Hutchins, 1906
658
Clarence T.johnson, 1909
100
ClifJord L.johnson, 1911
100
He.len B. Jones and Robert O.jones,l916 18,357
jonathan D. Korshin, 1966
200
Oliver M. Korshin, 1963
200
5,140
Dr. W. Oscar LaMotte, 1902
23,223
John H. E. Legg, 1921
William Lentz, 1912
1,020
Leola B. and Thomas W. Ligon, 1916
5,000
Harrison McAlpine, 1909
325
Vincent W. McKay, 1946
9,000
Robert F. Maddox, 1876
650
12,219
The Rev. William L. Mayo, 1899
Ridgely P. Melvin, 1899
100
WiUiam S. MorseU, 1922, Athletic Fund
5,000
John Mullan, 1847
10,000
Walter C. Mylander,Jr., 1932
5,133
M. Keith Neville, 1905
1,000
Dr. john 0. Neustadt, 1939
1,109
Blanchard RandaU, 1874
851
Susan Irene Roberts, 1966
652
Leroy T. Rohrer, 1903
100
Harrison Sasscer, 1944
4,551
Charles H. Schoff, 1889
500
28,633
Henry F. Sturdy, 1906
The Rev. Enoch M. Thompson, 1895
3,000
John T. Tucker, 1914
2,500
125
Dr. RobertS. C. Welch, 1913
Willis H. White, 1922
625
$ 255,843
LECTURESHIP ENDOWMENTS
Fund for Tomorrow
$
Clare Eddy and Eugene V. Thaw, 1947
$
UBRARY ENDOWMENTS
Alumni Memorial Book fund
Benwood Foundation
Mary Safford Hoogcwerff
Library Fund
EUen C. Murphy
Henry H. and Cora Dodson
Sasscer Newspaper Fund
E1ma R. and Charles D. Todd
Clara B. Weigle
j ack \V'
tlen Fou.odation in
Memory of Murray Joel Rosenberg
$
-
633
-
7,563
-
-
-
-
1,020
-
-
$
$
325
-100
5,000
10,000
1,000
-
-
330
100
500
3,000
$
125
625
33,973
3,000
10,900
13,900
$
3,000
355
25,000
31,683
560
1,500
$
1,000
82,294
22,872
5,247
28,119
2,000
1,000
16,556
40
1,291
100
100
25,920
200
200
5,140
23,223
2,040
5,000
650
9,000
650
500
-
$
5
19,500
$
J
-
400
1,500
$
10,000
20,000
5,133
2,000
1,109
1,181
652
200
4,551
1,000
28,633
6,000
2,500
250
1,250
J 289,816
s
-
J
12,~~
3,000
25,000
1,500
19,500
1,196
$
LOAN FUND ENDOWMENTS
George Friedland
John David Pyle, 1962
-
46,400
20,000
1,470
21,470
6,000
10,900
16,900
355
50,000
31,683
960
3,000
1,500
39,000
1,196
1,000
$ 128,694
$ 42,872
6,717
$ 49,589
0
(")
..,.
0
cr
,..
....
-
<0
-...1
1\:)
�N
0
PRIZE ENDOWMENTS
Philo Sherman Bennett
Floyd Hayden
James R. McClintock, 1965
Mrs. Blair T. Scott
Kathryn Milroie Stevens
Millard Tydings
Amos W. W. WoodCO<>k
SANTA F E ENDOWMENT FUNDS
308
77
H7
518
1,250
1,000
2,000
5,61 0
$
$
$
-
Reservation of ProfitsSale of Securities
Total Endowment Principal
$
$
25
$
1,000
1,025
$
OTHER ENDOWMENTS
Hn-tha S. and jesse L. Adams
Concert Fund
$ 60,000
George A. Bingley Memorial l~und
17.600
Scott Buchanan Memorial Fund
5,770
10,000
H.A.B. Ow1ning Memorial fund
Monterey Mackey Memorial Fund
600
Emlly Boyce Mackubin Fund
75,192
124,349
Kate Moo re Myen Landscaping Fund
Adolph W. Schmidt Fund
15,628
Richard Sco field Memorial Fund
1,345
Daniel E. and Jessie N. Weigle Memoria.!
Fund
2,500
19,325
Victor Zuckcrkandl Me morial fund
206,112
Alurnni Endowment Fund
526,404
General Endowment Fund
$1,064,825
Total Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grants
-
60,000
17,600
5,770
10,000
600
75,192
124,349
15,628
1,345
-
-
186,309
-
s 246,309
s
2.500
19,325
39 2,421
526,-w4
",311 ,1 34
4,005,887
Graduate Institu te
Helen & Everett Jones Scholarships fund
Public Scnice Co. of ~ew Mexico
Readers Digest Fou ndation Scholarship Fund
Nina Otero Warren Memorial Schol:ushii>S Fund
General
199,885
s 8,702,150
s
162
31),000
1,000
7,500
1,875
2,103
s 42,640
Library Endowments
Emlcn Davies Memoria l
Angeline Eaton Memorial
Nina Garson Memorial
Edith B. King Memorial
Brad ley Skeele Memorial
Dr. C('Orge Stewart Memorial
Duane L. Peterson ~icmorial
Wi nfield Townly Scolt Memorial
Clara B. Weigle Memorial
Victor Zuckerkandl
Other Memorisls
Life Memberships
Genera l
4,005,887
$
s
Scholarship Endowments
$ 120,000
-
199,885
$4,696,263
$
308
102
457
518
1,250
1,000
5,000
6.635
s
s
1,118
1,150
2,000
500
550
500
800
2,499
600
4,200
13,728
13,005
748
41,398
Other Endowrnenu
Henry Austin Poetry Prize Fund
Fie tcher Catro n Memorial
Margo Dawn Gerber Prize fund
Eliubetb R. & Alvin C. Graves Memorial
.Margaret Milliken Hatch Memorial
Dr. Plorence Kluckhohn
Frank Patania Memorial
E. l. "Tommy" Thompson ~iemorial
Millard E. Tyings Pri7.c Fund
Claro B. Weigle Memorial
jessie N. & Dan E. Weigle Memorial
General
Total Endowment funds
s
s
4.500
1,400
1,14 1
8,881
25,000
1,000
3,340
1.920
1,000
3,600
2,500
306
54,588
$138.626
�'lln Interview with
J3ar6ara f:eonaro
R obert Spaeth, Editor of The College, interviewed
Miss Barbara Leonard in September, 1972.
ROBERT SPAETH: Miss Leonard, you've been a
Tutor at St. J ohn's for 20 years. Yo u came when the
first girls came, when St. John's became co-educational in 1951. Has co-education proved to be a
success at St.John's?
BARBARA LEONARD: Well, I would say that it
certainly has. There were 24 girls in that entering
class - they came in as Freshmen. At the present
time almost half the student body, or close to 180
students, are women. I think if you check the records
of the graduating class, a good share of the honors
have been earned by the women students. In the last
te n years th e silver medal offered by the Board of
Visitors and Governors to the Senior who has the
highest standing has been awarded five ti mes to
women.
SPAETH: T here had becn only men at St. J ohn'sfor
many , many years. Was there a period of adjustme nt
when the men became used to having girls in class and
on the campus?
LEONARD: There was an adjustment in the first
year just getting used to having them around, having
them in the dining hall. It wasn't a problem in the
Freshman class since it was a co-educational group
that came in. It was a problem for the sophomores,
juniors and seniors. The girls who came in were
mainly older ones; some of them were wives of stu·
dents who were already in college so that they had
had some contact with the program. There was
obviously more adj ustment, I think, on the part of
the men than there was on the part of the women.
SPAETH : Do you remember very well the first class
that included women?
LEONARD: Yes, I do, very much so- All o f us, with
the exception of the married ones, lived in Randall. 1
had two rooms there. Three of th e married ones lived
with their husbands in the housing units near the
21
�The College
location of the present Heating Plant. The wife of one
of the present Tutors was a member of that class,
Mrs. Kutler (Emily Jane Martin); in fact her husband
was a sophomore at that time. Mr. Sacks, who is a
Tutor, was also a sophomore al that time. Barbara
Brunner, one of the first women, is now Mrs. J ohn
Oosterhout, the wife of an alumnus who is also a
member of the Board of Visitors and Governors.
There were three wives of students; one was a regis·
tered nurse, Lydia Aston, who after she graduated
can1e back and was College Nurse for two or three
years. There were several who had two or three years
at other colleges such as Barnard and Swarthmore,
and there were - a minority, T think- who entered
right out of high school. One married lady, Ruth
Barron, was in her mid-forties.
SPAETH: Have the girls in the classes of the 60's and
70's been different from those early classes?
LEONARD : Well, that's a hard question to answer
because we've always had some older girls in all the
entering classes. The younger ones coming in from
high school now are more mature in many ways than
students coming into the College 20 years ago would
have been. They have been exposed to more things,
have had more varied experiences than students used
to have at the high school level; things that used to be
encountered first in college are now encountered in
high schools and junior high schools.
SPAETH: You were also the first woman Tutor at
St.John's. Was there any adjustment necessary on the
faculty's part?
LEONARD: Well, I can't speak for the rest of the
facu lty. I had a lot of adjusting to do. It wasn't such a
problem adjusting to being in a male environment
because I had done my graduate work on a men's
campus and had broken in as the first woman &rradu·
ate assistant on the men's campus at the University of
Rochester. My adjustment came in getting used to
trying to learn E uclid and Greek, teach biology with a
new approach - the so-called St. John's approach and co-leading a seminar with Jacob Klein . This was
all rather difficult since I had not been in contact
with anything but zoology since I had graduated
quite a few years before, so that I was forced to think
in areas that had not been my primary concern.
SPAETH: It's also true that you came not only as a
T utor, but as an Assistant Dean, which means that
you immediately plunged into all sorts of academic
and non-academic problems of students. You have
continued to be an Assistant Dean for these 20 years;
could you say why you've persisted in dealing with
22
-
difficult problems for that long?
LEONARD: Well, I must admit that sometimes
wonder myself. However, I do enjoy working with
the students and I think the relationship as Assistant
Dean and Tutor is the ideal relationship. I certainly
wouldn't want to be an Assistant Dean if I weren't
actively engaged in teaching. The students, in addition to experiencing the problems similar to those of
any student going to college, have particular problems
that arise out of the program. One of these is the
problem that appears when on e questions one's
beliefs. And I think the students need someone to go
to who can give them some foundation or can restore
a little perspective and can reassure them that the
world does go on and caution them that it is not wise
to question everything all at once.
SPAETH: Perhaps you would explain what the job
or an Assistant Dean is.
LEONARD: It really amounts to almost everything
that isn't done in the classroom. We arc concerned
with the health of the students, their housing, their
emotional problems, their financial problems. When I
frrst came, the financial aid was all done in our office,
mainly by me. Any placement that was done was
handled through our office. Now there is a special
officer for Financial Aid and Placement. Discipline,
both academic and non-academic, is handled by the
Assistant Deans. The welfare in general of the
students outside of the classroom is really the responsibility of the Assistant Dean's office. Now even
details of class scheduling are part of the Assistant
Dean's duties.
SPAETH: Have the problems of the students that
you've had to deal with over these 20 years changed
from the early 50's to the early 70's?
LEONARD: l think the problems have remained
pretty much the same. Some things have become
more open; things that used to be considered taboo
now are accepted in society at large so that they
don't cause the problems that they used to cause.
There have been changes in the patterns in the students' reactions to problems. At one period violent
hysterics was the way that quite a few of the students
released their tensions. That is now old-fashioned,
and you very seldom see a case of real hysterics. The
students have developed other ways of coping or not
coping with problems. Some of these ways are better,
some of them possibly worse.
SPAETH: 1 remember hearing a story - 1 don't
know for sure whether it is true - that on occasion
you would give a teddy bear or a ragdo ll to one of the
�October 1972
girls who was upset. Is this true, or is it someth ing
that you and the students involved would deny?
LEONARD: Well, the students might deny it, but it
worked at times with certain students.
SPAETH: Throughout these years you've also taught
in the program a great deaL You came as a profes·
sional biologist, but I know you've taught in other
areas of tl1e program. Could you say something abo ut
how you made progress in the St. John's program?
You said earlier that you began co-leading a seminar
with Mr. Klein and that you were lcaming Gree k in
your early years. What parts of the program have you
become invo lved in?
LEONARD: Well, in the first few years in addition
to teaching in the laboratory - the first year then was
biology for the first semester and measurement the
second semester - and co-leading the seminar, T
audited as much as I could. Subsequently, I have
taught in the freshman, sophomore and junior mathe·
matics tutorials. I have taught all the first three years
of the laboratory program and have audited the
fourth year. I've co-led the seminars of all four years
and I have taught beginning Greek class. I have also
audited part of the senior math and part of the Music
tutorial.
SPAETH: Twenty years ago it must have seemed an
unlikely possibility to a biologist that you'd be
teaching Greek. How did you make the plunge into
that area?
LEONARD: It so happens that when I entered
Oberlin College as a F reshman, I was going to be a
classics major. That was before I had taken my bio·
logy course. I had no science until my sophomore
year in college. Then I decided that 1 really preferred
science, and I dropped the Greek. Therefore, I had
had an introduction to Greek and had studied it at
one time, so the plunge might not be as drastic as it
looks at first sight.
SPAETH: Has it been possible for you to keep up
with the field of biology while you've been so busy
with teaching other parts of the program and doing
the job of an Assistant Dean?
LEONARD: It has been very difficult to do that.
The only way I can keep up at all is through reading
and through contacts I have made during my sabbatical leaves. On my first sabbatical leave I taught biology in two Indian colleges; one at the undergraduate
level and one at the graduate level, and during that
time I had a chance to bring myself up to date
somewhal. And this past sabbatical 1 had similar
opportunities to catch up a litt le bit, but I certainly
could not say that I have been able to keep up the
way a research biologist or even a full-time teacher of
biology should.
SPAETH: St. J ohn's students study the entire
program; that means that all of our students study
biology. Have you found in your teaching of biology
that students find it interesting, important, no matter
what their inclination is, or can you reach, in a significant way, only a fraction of the students?
LEONARD: I think you will always find a certain
number of students who cannot see the reason for the
laboratory, whether the subj ect matter is biology or
physics. They put up with it because it is part of the
program. Some of them think that they've had all the
biology they need or just aren't interested in the
dissection part or cannot understand what biology
can possibly offer them. They are the ones,
sometimes, I think, who don't know enough to know
what they are missing.
SPAETH : Perhaps we could talk a little about your
experience in teaching in India. A few years ago St.
John's had an Indian lady as a Tutor, Ida
Doraiswamy, whom you and I both know very well.
Perhaps you could tell us how you made your con·
tacts with India and how you met Miss Doraiswamy
and what teaching you have done in India.
LEONARD: Well, my contact was made through an
association in Oberlin who had connections with the
two colleges in India where I taught, and I went out
there in the summer of 1959 with my sister who was
visiting these colleges, and at that time the principal
of Lady Doa k College wanted me to stay and teach. I
23
�told her I would come back on my sabbatical, which I
did. I applied for a Fulbright Award and went as a
Fulbright Lecturer and Honorary Professor of Zoology .
SPAETH: I believe that was in 1962.
LEONARD: That was in 1962-63. I taught a genetics
course and an embryology course there. The teaching
is done in English, so the language was no problem .
The problem is that there are no textbooks for the
students, so you have to give them the factual information. You have to teach from a syllabus on which
questions for the final exam are based. The examination is given by the University, and anything the
student does in the class during the year has no
bearing on his fmal standing for the year - that is,
you have no control over the grade the student will
get - everything depends upon how the student does
in the examination. This restricts your teaching
pretty much to the material that is given in the syllabus. You don't do the student a favor by branching
off into topics that aren't covered by the syllabus. It
was a little difficul t for me coming from the St.
J ohn's method of teaching to have to confine myself
to lectures, and mainly factual lectures at lhat. However, in the postgraduate program I had more leeway
- that was a co-educational program. While I was
there I filled in in two mathematics classes for a
teacher who had the mumps. Miss Doraiswamy knew
that I had taugh t math at St. J ohn's College. This was
unusual in India because at that time zoologists, once
they had decided to major, which they do at the end
of the first year of college, can no longer take mathematics even if they wan t it. And I also gave a paper at
a post-graduate five-college mathematics seminar,
which again surprised the Indians because zoologists
are not supposed to know math, and in addition, I
was the first woman to address them.
SPAETH: You didn't sav what the colleges were and
where they are located in India.
LEONARD: The women's college was Lady Doak
College. The men's college was American College.
These two colleges are located in Madurai in South
India.
SPAETH: And you were there in 19 62-63, and you
met Miss Doraiswamy and she came here as a Tutor
from 1964-1966 and then you went back to Lady
Doak during your second sabbatical in 1970.
LEONARD: Well, I met Miss Doraiswamy the firs t
time I was in lndia in 1959. Then she came to the
United States to Oberlin College on a fellowship in
1961, and I believe you met her .n Wisconsin in 1961.
i
24
I
Then she went back to Lady Doak College. I, of
course, enjoyed her company there, and then after I
returned to the United States, she expressed a desire
to teach at St. J ohn's College, and she came here
from 1964-66. You asked if I went back to India
again. Yes I did, twice. I visited there in the summer
of 1969 and was there for six months in 1971, this
time staying but not teaching at Lady Doak College.
There is now a University of Madurai in the city, and
I delivered some lectures on Population Genetics to
the post-graduates in the Biology Departme nt there. I
was an advisor on several science projects at Lady
Doak College and gave talks at different functions at
various institutions. I travelled around by myself in
India for over a month visiting game parks and other
places of interest. I spent three weeks birding in
Nepal and northern India (Kashmir and Daljeeling). I
was in Darjceling when the Bangladesh erup tion took
place. I was within ten miles of the border, witnessed
small troop movements and had to sleep in the
Calcutta airport because of the disturbance.
SPAETH: I'm sure yo u had an affect on Lady Doak
College and American College because of Miss
Doraiswamy's reaction to St. John's and the St.
J ohn's method of teaching. I visited New Delhi in
1967 soon after Miss Doraiswamy had left St. J ohn's
and I learned that she was tremendously affected by
the program here. She's a mathematician, as you
know, but her contact with the seminar and with the
other parts o f the program left quite an impression on
her. What is her position today in India?
LEONARD: She is head of the mathematics department at Lady Doak College, and since Lady Doak is
affiliated with the new University of Madurai in stead
of the University of Madras, the affiliated colleges
have had a chance to liberalize their curricula quite a
bit, and Miss Doraiswamy has introduced discussion
classes into the mathematics department. She also has
brought outsiders in who can cross departmental
lines. Her college was chosen for a three-year grant
from the Indian government for a college science
improvement program (COSIP) which allows them to
improve their library and teaching facilities, to give
further training to the faculty and to permi t the
students to undertake projects. Miss Doraiswamy 's
department has had ve ry high ratings from the
government on the basis of what she is doing. She has
said that she would not have been able to do all that
she is doing if she had not had her two years at St.
Joh n's College. She would like to return to St.John's
sometime.
�October 1972
CLASS NOTES
that there is something about t he St. John's
training that tunls 1
>eopJc toward systematic
arld scientific study of language.
1932
1962
Robert L. Burwell, Jr., professor of chemistry at Northwestern University, in August
was announced as the 1973 winner of the
American Chemical Society~s Award in
Colloid or Surface Chemistry. The Award
was established by the Kendall Company in
1952 to recognize and encourage out·
standing scientific contributions in colloid
or surface chemistry in the Un.it.ed States
and Canada. The presentation will take
place next April in Dallas.
Charles Bentley is secretary of the Rio
1938
j. S. Baker Middelton, who last spring
retired from the J<euffel and Esser Company
as vice - resident for Industrial Relations,
p
has taken a position as Deputy Special
Assistant for Manpower (or the State of
New Hampshire.
1948
A first-hand report on Raf>hael Ben Yosef
(better known to his classmates as Ralph C.
f'inkel) comes to us (rom julius Rosenberg
'38, who has just returned from a trip to
Israel. Raphael has been living in Israel since
the early 1950's, is r'narried to an Israeli girt.
and they have t\vo children. lie issued a
most sincere invitation for any St. johnoies
who are in Israel to visit him. His address is
Asavah A.T.l., Inc, Maya House, 74, De.r ech
Petah 'likvah Road, Tel-Aviv. His mailing
address is P.O. Box 14051, Tel-Aviv.
1949
Michael Mok wrote an interesting article in
the August 7th issue of Publishers Weekly
conc(!rning a Publishing Procedures course
offered at Radcljffe. After a number of
years with L•fe magazine, Mike is now News
Editor of the Weekly.
1953
Pt<blishers Weekly crops up again: Paul
Nathan's column "Rights and Permissions"
reports the publishing efforts of jeremy
Tarcher. After a number of years of
"packaging" books for other publishers, .I.
r. Tarcher, ITlc., will release "The Sex·Lifc
Letters'', a selection of rather candid letters
originally appearing in the magazine Pent·
house. Any volunteer reviewers?
A recent note from R. M. R. (Mike) Hall
re ports that he is an associate professor of
linguistic~ at Queens CoUcge, CUNY, and is
at present c hai_ nan of the department. His
n
wife Beatrice, who teaches li nguistics at
SUNY Stony Brook, and he have daughters
aged three years and L4 months. Mike feels
Grande Educational Association. He and his
wife, Dianne (Stone), make their home in
Santa Fe.
john P. Chatfield, working for his Ph.D.
degree in philosophy at the New School for
Social Research, has been made editor of
the Graduate Faculty Philosophy founwL
This is a student publication, sponsored by
the Graduate Faculty, which first appeared
last May. For the time being there will be
one issue a year, and it is availab le by sub·
scription. You may address John at the
Pbilooophy Department, Graduate Faculty,
New School for Social Research, 66 West
12th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011.
1965
judith
At~drea
jacobson received her Ph.D.
degree in psychology from the Johns
Hopkins University on May 26th.
1967
July brought another good l<tter from »o
Meredith Burke~ with news that she is now
in Philadelphia, starting on a research pro·
ject at the Human Resource Center of the
Uni.ersit y of Pennsylvania. She also sends
news of Fred Fedderson, who has finished
his post·graduate course in cultural anthro·
pology at Cambridge. He will now work
with the United Kingdom equivalent of
VISTA on community development in large
cities. A final bit from Meredith's Jetter
advises that Gay (Singer) 8oro.tta has
finished her first year at Harvard's Graduate
School of De.sign.
1968
A Ph.D. degree in the History of Science
wa.• awarded to William R. Albury this past
spring by the Johns Hopkins. Randy's dis·
sertation was on French chemistry and
biology at the e nd of d>c 18th century. This
year he will b e a Macy Postdoctoral Fellow
in the History of Medicine and the Biologi·
cal Sciences at the Hopkins. His wife Becky
(McClure) will be working for her master's
degree in U. S. foreign poJjcy at d~e same
university.
The summer issue of Tire Law School
RecCfTd (corn the Uni\rersity of Chicago
brings news that Bartholomew Lee. one of
last year's Bigelow Fellows at the Law
School, has been named Senior Bigelow
Teaching Fdlow and ln.~tructor. Bart has
been taking courses in the Croduate School
of Business, in addition to teaching fuU·tiroc
this past year at the Law School. Mean·
while, he has found time to write an article,
"A New and Legal Pun in Chaucer: A Signi·
ficatio for the Summoner," which wilJ
appear in Modem Philolog)l.
Mary C. Howard and the Rev. James G.
Callaway, Jr., were married on May 20th at
Union Theological Seminary. Belat<d
congratulations and best wishes.
Domrld j. Schell (SF) is now associate
Episcopal chaplain at Yale University.
Another Santa Fe graduate, Steven Shore,
makes the news: he is now a financial
analyst with Westinghouse Broadcasting in
New York City.
1969
A good letter from john H. Strange lets us
know that he is in his third year of study
toward the degree of Master of Divinity at
Austin (Texas) Presbyteria" 1"heological
Seminary. john anticipatc.s receiving hjs
degree and being ordained as a Minister in
the Presby terial Church next spring. John
and the former Camille Phillips of San
Marcos~ Texas, were married on September
2nd. The new Mrs. Strange, a honors
graduate of Southwest Texas State Univer·
sity, wilJ receive her master's degree in
German literature rrom the University of
Texas next May.
1970
July brought our annual j ohn R. Dean
postcard from fat·away places, this time
from Yugoslavia. J ohn was on his way to
England for a summer of study at Trinity
College, Oxford. He also reports that
l>imitri Devyatkin works in "The l{jtchen".
a "cybcttietics extravaganza in N.Y .C."
In Memoriam
1904 · Burtis N. Coopcr,June 15, 1972.
1907 • The Rev. Walter B. McKinley,
Boonsboro, Md., June 20, 1972.
1915 • Caiman J. Zarnoiski, Sr., Balli·
more, Md., September 3, 19 72.
191 9 ·James K. Wood, Annapolis, Md.,
August 21, 1972.
1921 · George W. Barnes, Cherry Hill,
NJ.,July 26, 1972.
1921 · Wiijjam P. Maddox, Rocky Hill,
N.J., September 27, 1972.
1921 • J. Milton WiUey, Springfield, Pa.,
July 26, 1972.
1922 · Edward W. Cashell, Clarksville,
Md., August 27, 1972.
I 926 · H. Stanley Schmidt, Cockeys·
ville, Md., May 19, 1972.
1927 · Cordon S. Duvall, Edgewater,
Md.,July 5, 1972.
1931 · W. Tate Robinson, Honolulu,
I·la.,July 19, 197 2.
1932 · G eorge E. Rudolph, Baltimore,
Md., August 15, 1972.
1970 · Joan Leslie Kramer, New York,
N.Y., August 1972.
25
,_______
=--
�Photo Credits: ]ames Grady, back cover. M. E.
lllarTtm, page 21 . Maryland Center for Public
Broadcasting, pages 11 and 15. Charles Post.
page 14.
The College
St. John's College
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
Second-class postage paid at
Annapolis, Maryland, and at
additional mailing offices.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>The College </em>(1969-1981)
Description
An account of the resource
St. John's College's Office of the Dean published <em>The College</em> from 1969 to 1981. The publication superseded <em><a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/collections/show/37" title="The Bulletin of St. John's College">The Bulletin of St. John's College</a></em>. <em>The College</em> was in turn continued by <a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/collections/show/13" title="The St. John's Review"><em>The St. John's Review</em></a> in 1981. <br /><br />A separate magazine for St. John's alumni titled <em>The College </em>began publication in 2001, continuing <em>The St. John's Reporter</em>. <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The College" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=12">Items in the The College Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
St. John's College
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Annapolis, MD
Santa Fe, NM
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
St. John's College Greenfield Library
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
thecollegemagazine
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Page numeration
Number of pages in the original item.
25 pages
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Development Offices of St. John's College
Title
A name given to the resource
The College, October 1972
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1972-10
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Spaeth, Robert Louis
Parran, Jr., Thomas
Compbell, Randolph
Sinks, Jeffrey
Description
An account of the resource
Volume XXIV, Number 3 of The College. Published in October 1972.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
The_College_Vol_24_No__1972
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
St. John's College
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Annapolis, MD
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
text
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
St. John's College owns the rights to this publication.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
pdf
The College
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