 | The Cavalier daily Tuesday, October 14, 1969 |  |
Five Days Of Celebration
Climax Sesquicentennial
By Tom Adams
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
At the University's Centennial celebration
in 1921, four days of the school year
were taken to let the world know that the
school had reached its one-hundredth
anniversary.
The celebration took place two years
late due to "disturbed world conditions
following the Great War." Included in the
proceedings were numerous award-giving ceremonies
(President Alderman received the
Distinguished Cross of Serbia), speeches, and a
great pageant that included among its cast
Thomas Jefferson; ex-presidents Madison and
Monroe; Raggi, an Italian stone-carver; Socrates;
the people of Virginia; the men of
Athens; and the maidens of Athens.
The latter group performed classical dances
on the Lawn that were one of the many
highlights of that gala affair.
The 1921 celebration ended with a huge
fireworks display that included one burst
showing the head of Mr. Jefferson and the
words "Jefferson still lives."
The climax of the University's Sesquicentennial
will take place during five days of activities
beginning Friday. During this period the
University will be host to eminent scholars,
representatives of universities and colleges
throughout the world, delegates of foreign
governments and Virginia officials.
Commonwealth Week-End
So that the Governor of Virginia, members
of the General Assembly and other State
officials might participate more closely in the
University's celebration, the annual Commonwealth
Day has been expanded this year into
Commonwealth Week-End.
On October 17, Governor Mills E. Godwin,
Jr. and other representatives of the Commonwealth
will be guests at a dinner in Memorial
Gymnasium, decorated for the occasion by
students and wives in the University's drama
department under the direction of David Weiss.
Saturday, October 18, the officials will form
a special cheering section at the University-North
Carolina State football game is Scott
Stadium
During these two days, the officials will view
exhibits of some of the University's advanced
research equipment including a supersonic wind
tunnel, a 12-foot tall high voltage electron
microscope and the nuclear reactor. Special
exhibits will also be on display in the new
School of Architecture on Carr's Hill and in
Alderman Library.
A delegates' reception at Monticello on
October 19 will open the three-day Sesquicentennial
Convocation.
Among those joining the University in its
celebration will be representatives of more than
150 colleges and universities, ranging from such
venerable institutions as the University of
Padua, Italy, founded in 1222, and Oxford
University, founded in 1249, to such academic
newcomers as Flinders University of South
Australia, founded in 1966.
Foreign Delegates
Delegates from 17 foreign governments
including Pakistan, New Zealand, Romania,
Nepal, Nigeria, Ecuador and Latvia will also
attend the convocation. Learned societies,
educational organizations, Virginia cultural and
educational groups and University alumni
chapters will be represented among the
delegates as well as Charlottesville and Albemarle
County officials.
Symposium focusing on modern man and
open to the public will be held on Monday,
October 20. Principal participants in the
morning sessions on "Modern Man and the
Enlightenment" will be Raymond Aron, professor
of letters at the University of Paris, France;
Daniel Boorstin, director of the National
Museum of History and Technology; and Peter
Gay, professor of comparative European
intellectual history at Yale University.
The afternoon sessions will deal with
"Modern Man and the Finite World." Kenneth
Clark, professor of psychology at City University
of New York; Philip M. auser, director
of the Population Research and Training Center
at the University of Chicago, and Athelstan
Spilhaus, president-elect of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science,
will be the principal participants.
The three morning and three afternoon
Symposium will be held concurrently from 10
a.m. to noon and from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.,
respectively, in Wilson Hall. In addition to the
principal participant, each session will have a
moderator and panelists from the University
community and neighboring universities and
institutions.
On the evening of the 20th, delegates and
invited guests will attend a Sesquicentennial
banquet in the gymnasium, followed by a
concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra at
University Hall.
Academic Procession
On Tuesday tho delegates will form an
academic procession down the University's
Lawn. There they will hear greetings from the
Commonwealth of Virginia delivered by Governor
Godwin; from sister institutions in the
United States and Canada delivered by Colin B.
Mackay, president of the Association of
Universities and Colleges of Canada, and from
sister institutions abroad delivered by Sir John
Wheeler-Bennett, honorary fellow of St.
Anthony's College, Oxford University, and
former scholar-in-residence at the University.
Classes have been suspended Tuesday from
9:30 in he morning until 2 p.m. to allow
students to attend the ceremonies. Most
student groups have been invited to send
representatives to march in the procession.
After a response from University president
Edgar F. Shannon, Jr., Philip Handler, president
of the National Academy of Sciences and
Chairman of the National Science Foundation,
will deliver the convocation address. Mr.
Handler's topic will be "The University in
Transition."
The University, to accommodate its many
guests, has secured the use of ten chauffeur-driven
Oldsmobiles from General Motors for
the five-day affair. The student service fraternity,
Alpha Phi Omega, is donating 700,
man-hours of time to man desks and do other
chores during the convocation.
| The Cavalier daily Tuesday, October 14, 1969 | |