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Show Braithwaite: Ves, before then was invited to teach, so taught in family living and in psychology for three years after retired and President (Orville) Carnahan came, I helped in shaping the Shakespearean Festival. I hired Fred Adams and the staff that he had. Then, later, President (Gerald) Sherratt came and saw the need for a Special Events Center. So we organized people to provide leadership to get money for the Centrum in addition to what we hoped to get from the legislature. We got Dixie Leavitt, who has done so much for the college, and Dixie Leavitt had a political myself as background and helped mold organization of over 350 locals into a team of.. .salesmen, really. As a result, in one year we raised $2,200,000, the biggest per capita gift campaign in the state of Utah. So that was a great source of satisfaction. It's a jewel of a building now, unique in the nation in its combination of classrooms and a special events center. It boosts the growth of the college. It enriches everybody, it's not only for athletics. There are tremendous benefits in the Centrum. teaching. Any expression of the arts is certainly stimulating to the person if you let it be: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, every way. Thunderbird: Weren't the aesthetics of the campus always a top priority during your administration ? Thunderbird: During 1 955 when you came, the youth of the '50s were often called the "silent generation" and the '60s and the '70s were considered to be the "radical generations." How have the youth changed over the years or are they still the same ? I I I I Braithwaite: Yes, arts are very deeply involved in the nurture and development of the human soul. Every human being is sacred. Every human being has potential for development. The inspiration that comes from the arts has to be very significant in the fulfillment of human beings. Trees have played such an important part in the lives of human beings. Even when you talk about our founders going up in the mountains relying on Old Sorrel to buck his way through the snowdrifts you must remember if it wasn't for the trees we wouldn't have the college here because it took trees to provide the lumber and always like to emphasize that. We took our heritage and built upon it. We learned from nature, not to copy it, but to I learn from it. The poets said that the groves were God's first temples. Brigham Young, in his day, used to come to Cedar City, and one day said that there would one day be a temple here. Now, he surely meant an LDS temple such as in St. George. We never had a temple. But we have a temple of learning. have always felt that we were developing grounds for a temple of learning. We worked to make the landscape beautiful and a source of inspiration for students. There isn't any doubt that the environment is important for students and faculty and for learning. And know that when you are inspired by nature, you have the capacity to appreciate it. Once you appreciate something, then there is a motivation, a force that is released. Then a sense of awe of beauty and you are inspired. All the arts are expressed in the campus and through the years we have been blessed with great drama, great music, great teaching and that's the art of I I Thunderbird: The landscaping here is beautiful. We have a beautiful campus with a reputation of being one of the most beautiful in the West. I understand that the campus' appearance was always important to you and that you actually got out and worked yourself on the landscaping. Braithwaite. Yes, we used to have what we called "Appreciation Day," a day in which faculty and students would work for a full day under the direction of the grounds superintendent. We developed enough of the campus in one day to equal the pay of a man for a full year. We took down the old barns, cleaned out the weeds, planted trees, flowers, and went to the mountains to get lava and other materials to use in the development of the campus. Personally, spent much time working on campus sometimes to the neglect of my own home. I Braithwaite: Students are recipients of all the cultural and social forces that play around you. Basically human nature is the same but the pressure under which we live has changed and that's a consequence of many, many different forces. We had a theme through the years i was president that challenged all of us for the management of change that would result in fulfillment for the person and for the college. We tried to establish the goals of youth, the goals of society, and the goals of higher education institutions in keeping them up to date. But don't know if there was a silent generation. What they are talking about there is getting involved in social issues. have always felt that the young people have wanted to be involved and that they have wanted to plan their educational programs, they want to know that when they get out with a degree that they'll be able to take their place in society and not only obtain a good job but also participate in the ongoing challenges of society. As a consequence of the late '60s there was a time when many of the socialist issues produced a conflict ol values in students. There was a great deal of unrest. lived through that. Some of our finest students led protests and lit torches down on Main Street. I found it necessary because of potential destruction; taking over buildings, administration buildings, libraries, research facilities; that we had to prepare ourselves. So carried in my wallet at all times the phone numbers of all the peace officers in southern Utah every one of them: Highway Patrol, city I I I I detectives, local police and so forth. We had a system worked out so that we could cope with any kind of and violence. had one phone number that I carried d night which triggered every peace officer in southern Utah to come and help us if needed. As you recall there were all kinds of destructive acts and we had to defend against that. We didn't have any but we were ready. remember that one frequent visitor to the campus was an FBI agent or a member of the CIA or one time we thought that we might have some peddlers of drugs at one of the Shakespearean festivals. We had some police officers in the audience ready to take action if necessary. Fortunately we didn't have any trouble. We did have incidents, though, that we took care of quietly. Today we are gethng a little movement toward Apartheid and South Africa and I'm sure people are concerned about that, as well as other areas of social unrest. But it's always a good sign to have students involved and challenging. I I Thunderbird: We understand that you were and are an advocate of the open door policy in that you always took time to talk with both students and faculty. In fact, it's 0 been said that it was not unusual for you to spend hours a day devoted to making the college a better place. Was that always a top priority for you ? 16-2- Braithwaite: College exists for students and for faculty: that reciprocal learning process. Students teach faculty, too. They've always taught me. felt that the number one challenge of a college president is to keep close to the faculty, and importantlv even moreso, to keep close to what's happening in tht lives of students as it's one of the most important times of life and students like to have somebody they can talk to about it in confidence about Fasic inner questions. Part of my education was in counseling. I still counsel lots of students. I share with them their anxieties and joys. Right now iVn in touch with about five different graduate students. We correspond or we talk on the telephone as they go through that experience. I used to write a column for the newspaper called "Thunderbird Meditations." find that sharing 'insight or some bit of poetry is very, very helpful to students. I learned long ago that keeping track of rallenging ideas is part of your education. eel the same about faculty members. I'm have always oeen honored if faculty members have given me an opportunity to participate in their intellectual and educational concerns. What's going on with students is very important too. could go into a classroom for 30 minutes and pretty much tell you the quality of teaching going on in the classroom or laboratory. myself am very interested in the questions that the students have. In my I I I I (continued on page 21) |