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Show THE THUNDERBIRD PACE 22 TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 1986 Braithwaite on nuclear disarmament, Apartheid and other subjects comes when you feel you are moving toward the realization of your goals. Which brings us to the essential business of a president. He has to know what the mission education in every one of our departments. And, now, it has helped bring recognition of the college throughout the of the institution is, what its goals are, its long range forecast, where you want to go year by year by year and U S. and the world. The other event that stands out has to do with athletics. then evaluate it and keep going forward toward the realization of its destiny. We played Dixie College and other two-yeinstitutions, the ICAC, but we decided to break and start playing Thunderbird: How do you teel about nucleardisarmament colleges and we competitive athletics with lour-yea- r and some of President Reagan's proposals? formed, helped form, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). We played colleges and universities Braithwaite: This college is situated in one of the most in the Rocky Mountains ard Plain States That has helped beautiful of all areas of the good earth the national parks, a gre.it deal in forwarding our rc putntion and now they're the desert, it's a great area ot the earth. We capitalize on going toward into even an ither conference that thethe You most important thing is hiring But, faculty. am frightened. have many misgivings. hope that we aie only as good as your faculty The college is only as will be able to go forward with President Reagan and his The as stalt. the students its faculty is good payott, where men and women around him and that we can head off a leel they are getting their money's worth, where they're nuclear confrontation. There are so many ramifications education. so the would And, say getting genuine continued hiring of outstanding faculty members and staff that it's just frightening. Not long ago was called by a person in Colorado and asked if really knew how members is the heart of it all. Creative insight and motivation is important: when you know they are going to vulnerable Cedar City is in relationship to the plan, including the MX Missile situation. That we would be a give outstanding performance and education can the target in a nuclear war because at that time there was athletic field, in the classroom, wherever they are, great concern that this would be a location for missiles. everyplace. That of course relates to the support of the The whole potential of nuclear warfare and Star Wars the community and of course this community has always whole business just frightens me. frankly admit that given excellent support. can't comprehend all of it because I'm not a scientist nor do have the background enough to really grasp what it Thunderbird: What do you see for the future of SUSC? all means. know this: It would result in the annihilation of all of us. And I'm hoping and praying that the political Braithwaite: see it going on and developing, of course. powers of the world will be able to cope with the threats can't predict the future exactly but it seems very and bring about a continuation of peace and stop the know a there to is increase challenge great promising. drainage of money. We are in need of so much money enrollment, to increase facilities, to become a center of for education for peaceful pursuits but we are putting so learning to surpass anything of the past and that's the much money into defense, it's scary. feel for those that of and legitimate challenging goal any president are moving into the future, into what might be. Yet, administration. have faith that we will be able to endure and work out a Given financial resources and we're moving into a way that we can live in peace. very difficult time in this economy of ours but, given financial support adequate to take care of the needs of the Thunderbird: How do you feel about racial discrimination institution, to retain quality faculty members and other and the ordeal in South Africa with Apartheid? programs, we'll continue to grow and progress. (continued from page 21) - I I I I I I I I Thunderbird: Did you ever have to deal with budget cuts like the 3 percent budget cut taking place right now ? Braithwaite: Oh, yes, all '.he time because there never is enough money to take cjre of all the needs and expectations and all the services the state and federal governments provide for their citizens and when times get tough and the economy is sluggish or if revenue predictions aren't met, based on a valid forecast, then you have to cut and we've had to cut many many times. Thunderbird: How do you deal with it? Braithwaite: Well, you go back to the teachers, the programs beginning at the level of faculty members and deans and plant operations, superintendents, for the whole1 works the whole family you have to see in your list of priorities where you might cut and of course you hope you don't have to cut faculty or raise tuition but the bills keep coming quite regularly. We did it often. It's painful, it's awful, we had to let programs go, faculty members go and then you have to tighten your belt and see what you can do. Sometimes faculty don't get a raise or you can't buy the number of books that you had hoped for the library these things are most important. Things like the media center, the resources for education, and sometimes you have to cut parts of it. Support systems sometimes have to be cut. You might have to cut out secretaries or a number of grounds people or plant operators. Thunderbird: So if you had to do it all over again, you would change? is there-anythin- Braithwaite: suppose. Yes, I'm sure. As I think back, one area is that if we could eliminate, sometimes, the mistakes we make when we build buildings. You never really know how a building is going to operate until you shake it down; that is you live with it for a year. Sometimes we build the buildings too fast. Sometimes we don't have the best architect, some make mistakes. So if I could change certain things: when we build a building, it would be done more effectively than we're able to do in the state system. But, generally speaking over the years, we were able to do a lot of good .hings and I hope not make too many mistakes. One thing for sure is that satisfaction I Braithwaite: Facing the daily challenge of bringing about peace means that in order to achieve peace, people must Braithwaite continues to work for beautification BY ANN HOLLINGER "We're creating beauty in the midst of change," says President Emeritus Royden C. Braithwaite, who deserves much of the credit for the beauty behind the landscaping of SUSC's award winning campus. Braithwaite has always made the aesthetics of the SUSC campus a top priority. When Braithwaite came to SUSC, the campus was overrun with weeds and there were a lot of slum areas. A maintenance budget was not available so the president initiated "Appreciation Days." These were days on which students and faculty joined together in campus beautification projects. Members of the community helped the college by donating much needed trees, flowers and time. In one year, they had accomplished work projects equivalent to the 'alary of one man for a year. Since his retirement, Braithwaite has been invited by SUSC President Gerald R. Sherratt to continue his interests in the college landscaping and beautification. In 1997, SUSC will celebrate its centennial. Sherratt and Braithwaite are aiready making plans. The master plans of the campus include: a mall on the south side of the new Student Center, tennis courts west of the Stadium, additional parking south of the baseball diamond, a .d a memorial walkway. The memorial walkway, extending from the Founders' Monument to Old Main, is now under construction. Members of the faculty, all specialists in plant science, have recommended trees and shrubs for the project that have the greatest potential for life on campus "The potential is so great for continued beautification.. .a lot of people don't like that word, but we do. It's a part of our vocabulary," says Braithwaite. Men like Royden C. Braithwaite and Gerald R. Sherratt are tru ly creating beauty in the midst of change. learn to live in peace together. had a secretary at Cornell who was black and did not know what it was like to be a black person until she helped me to try to appreciate the life of the black person. had to overcome biases myself. work with all nationalities now. When was a chaplain in the army had to work with all different kinds of nationalities. The skin color shouldn't and doesn't apply. don't know the answer in South Africa. The battle is on. Someday it will have to be solved don't know the answer. But do know, that the world will not let us continue to treat people with skin colors the way we have in the past. have learned four things. really believe that' the first is that each human being is a child of God, you may not believe this, other people may not, that isn't not my problem; the second is that we belong together, you and I, teachers and students belong together; the third is that life is struggle. South Africa is full of struggle, every human being has to struggle from the day he is born, even in conception until the time his eyelids flutter for the last time and close, we have to struggle to keep going; and the other one is fulfillment. We have to help each other to find fulfillment in our lives. could apply that on this campus, South Africa, between the two of us or in the college. These are personal convictions. have a hard time with violence, crime and drugs. don't know how we are able to live our lives with so much violence. Drugs are another major problem. have a hard time when have to go down the the Iron County Jail when a student is in there for drugs. Sitting there with him or her and still feeling close to them or seeing what could do to help, and many times they reject you. But that again comes back to your basic convictions about what life is all about. I'd like to ask you a question. What are your sources of joy? think you would say that you enjoy life and you love life. What are your sources for loving life? I I I I I Thunderbird: Just being happy is a source. To me, being happy is being successful and to be sucessful you must be happy, the two are dichotomous. Being successful is doing things that make you happy like achieving your goals and becoming a success. Braithwaite: Many times when I am with a person and get a sense of the joy in their life. I try Thunderbird: Do you have any hobbies? Braithwaite: Exploring nature, hiking. I don't do as much now, but I have hiked in most of the beautiful areas in southern Utah, alone and sometimes with others. I saw a student this morning who is suffering from cancer, outside the Library. We looked at the beauty of the roses at the library entrance. We noticed the intensity of the colors. ..I love it: nature, gardening and lanscaping. don't golf. I don't play tennis. Hiking is my hobby. Walking, going to different places. The mountains...! like to get perspective. like to see things as a whole. try and see things from the whole region. Whenever go to a city try and get to the highest mountain and see things from the highest point just to experience the wholeness of it all. I I I I Thunderbird: If you could sum it all up; your life, the college, serving as president for 23 years, what would you say? Braithwaite: That is most difficult to answer. would say that if you have found some degree of satisfaction, happiness, joy, in your work and in your life as a citizen in the community, somehow you have sensed a feeling of self realization and others' realization in the process. In my experience there isn't anything more powerful or important of our experiences than love. know a lot of people have difficulty in defining that but a working definition could be that it's a relationship that exists between you and me or you and somebody else but it's most conducive to the optimum development of both. So, have experienced the love of people, especially family, and love of community, love of work, love of worship, love of play. No one else can appreciate that but yourself. If we have helped to develop fulfillment of ourselves or others then we have pretty much had what Maslow would call peak experiences. One great satisfaction comes when you see somebody that comes to grips with life and goes on to find happiness there. I I |