THE ALUMNUS/A

a Salute... and a declaration of dependence

a special report

THIS IS A SALUTE, an acknowledgment of a partnership, and a declaration of dependence. It is directed to you as an alumnus or alumna. As such, you are one of the most important persons in American education today.

You are important to American education, and to your alma mater, for a variety of reasons, not all of which may be instantly apparent to you.

You are important, first, because you are the principal product of your alma mater—the principal claim she can make to fame. To a degree that few suspect, it is by its alumni that an educational institution is judged. And few yardsticks could more accurately measure an institution's true worth.

You are important to American education, further, because of the support you give to it. Financial support comes immediately to mind: the money that alumni are giving to the schools, colleges, and universities they once attended has reached an impressive sum, larger than that received from any other source of gifts. It is indispensable.

But the support you give in other forms is impressive and indispensable, also. Alumni push and guide the legislative programs that strengthen the nation's publicly supported educational institutions. They frequently act as academic talent scouts for their alma maters, meeting and talking with the college-bound high school students in their communities. They are among the staunchest defenders of high principles in education—e.g., academic freedom—even when such defense may not be the ' 'popular" posture. The list is long; yet every year alumni are finding ways to extend it.

To THE HUNDREDS of colleges and universities and secondary schools from which they came, alumni are important in another way—one that has nothing to do with what alumni can do for the institutions themselves. Unlike most other forms of human enterprise, educational institutions are not in business for what they themselves can get out of it. They exist so that free people, through education, can keep civilization on the forward move. Those who ultimately do this are their alumni. Thus only through its alumni can a school or a college or a university truly fulfill itself.

Chancellor Samuel B. Gould, of the University of California, put it this way:

"The serious truth of the matter is that you are the distilled essence of the university, for you are its product and the basis for its reputation. If anything lasting is to be achieved by us as a community of scholars, it must in most instances be reflected in you. If we are to win intellectual victories or make cultural advances, it must be through your good offices and your belief in our mission."

The italics are ours. The mission is yours and ours together.

As student, as alumna or alumnus: at both stages, one of the most important persons in higher education.

Alma Mater ... At an alumni-alumnae meeting in Washington, members sing the old school song. The purpose of this meeting was to introduce the institution to high school boys and girls who, with their parents, were present as the club's guests.

Alma Mater ... At an alumni-alumnae meeting in Washington, members sing the old school song. The purpose of this meeting was to introduce the institution to high school boys and girls who, with their parents, were present as the club's guests.