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Show In our opinion - SUSC, universities still serve purpose The value of education in institutions in-stitutions of higher education and the heritage of Southern Utah State College were emphasized at the Alumni Association banquet held in conjunction with the school's homecoming events Saturday evening. ". . . We can turn out weapons and arms with increasing speed, but we can't build character faster than a man lives, faster than he gains experience, faster than he learns to cherish principles," members of the alumni association were told by Dr. Gerald R. Sherratt, vice president for University Relationsat Utah State University. The speaker told his audience that "I am inclined to believe that there is no shortcut to any worthwhile wor-thwhile horizon -- not where mankind is concerned. And that is why we need those institutions which teach and promote the age-old age-old values. SUSC being one such institution." The value of a post secondary degree has become a matter of debate in the eeucational community com-munity of this nation but Dr. Sherratt emphasized the need for second education and defined the place that education has placed "In the American scheme of things." Dr. Sherratt suggested that "the college occupies a significant, place. The commitment com-mitment to the advancement of higher education is as old as the Republic itself and indeed its roots predate the Revolution. . . Our forefathers recognized early that the prusuit of life, liberty, and happiness were dependent in no small part upon a pursuit of knowledge. . Beyond that, they believed that the end of education was to see men made whole, both in competence and in conscience. They asked that colleges not only assist their students to absorb knowledge, to acquire skills, and talents, but that they also help them to develop character." . ." The efforts of Cedar City's pioneers in establishing what was then the Branch Normal School were detailed and at one point Dr. Sherratt acknowledged that "To the everlasting credit of the people of this town, they set out to do the impossible, (establish a building for the new school). Nobody, they said, was going to take their school away from them, not even if it meant bucking the moutain snows to get the lumber to construct the new building, which, of course, it did. ". . .There has probably never been a more romantic or dramatic founding of any school in America. That first building was literally torn from icy crags and moded by the hands of more than 100 men and women. The community of Cedar City had met its greatest test and Southern Utah State College was given a heritage that few educational institutions possess." Dr. Sherratt further suggested that ". . .now, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of that moinentous winter, we can pause to remember and to offer out thanks for the inspiring commitment of the founders to the cause of higher education. It is a legacy that this town and this part of Utah must strive always to merit. "All of us. . .who love this institution, in-stitution, who prize the education we received here, owe to the founders an everlasting remembrance. No timid souls, they were people who spent themselves in a worthy cause, and in the end, knew the triumph of high achievement." Thanks Dr. Sherratt for those remarks. We share his views on the significance of SUSC and the heritage that it represents to Cedar City and the entire state. |