WEBER STATE COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION , December 1972 President Weber State InauguratesA On a bright November afternoon, a long procession of educators, visiting dignitaries, and public officials, filed slowly out of the Weber State College Union Building. In the full academic pageantry of a commencement exercise, they made their way to the Fine Arts Center. The procession was followed by one lone figure walking in sober thoughtfulness to the ceremony that would inaugurate him, the seventh President of Weber State College. Ceremonial protocol requires that a president about to be inaugurated must follow some distance behind the procession, thereby being the last person to enter the area where the ceremony is to take place. After the inaugural ceremony when the charges of office has been given the new president, the procession leaves the building in reverse order with the new president, now bearing all of the rights of his office, taking his place at the head of the procession as the leader of the institution. This brief but impressive ceremony marked the highpoint of three days of inaugural activity that saw Dr. Joseph L. Bishop officially become the seventh President of Weber State College. E Several months of planning went into the many events of an inaugural week that included performances by the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Ballet West, and on campus theater groups; plus, a symposium of learned faculty members and addresses by noted guest lecturers. _ On Thursday, the Inaugural Convocation began the official period of celebration as an address was delivered in the Fine Arts Center Auditorium by Dr. Max Lerner, nationally renowned educator and writer. Dr. Lerner told a very attentive audience that America is the most revolutionary country in the world. In delivering the annual Cortez Family Honors Lecture, the celebrated writer discussed what he called the two concepts of revolution; one which seeks an overthrow of the existing power structure, and the other which is the process of accelerated change. “‘In this latter sense, America is the most revolutionary nation in the world, more so than China, Russia or Cuba,”’ and said Dr. Lerner, “I am very proud of that’’. Calling the past decade ‘‘the scarred ‘60’s’’ the famous scholar said that; “This particular period has left many scars on us because many of the changes were convulsive and dislocating.’’ Dr. Lerner, who is presently professor of American Civilization and World Politics at Brandeise heeBe University, spoke briefly about the results of the recent presidential election and attributed the resounding defeat of Senator George McGovern to the failure of the Democratic Party to realize how deeply America has been scarred by the decade of the 60‘s. He also said the election showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans want the management and social change in the hands of a man who will not accelerate the rate of change, but will keep it moving forward in non-disruptive ways. Dr. Lerner discussed briefly the reaffirmation of trust in values that nourish and heal a social fabric, which is often torn by change. He remarked later, ‘‘equal access to equal life’s chances and the opportunity to develop our unequal abilities to their fullest potential is the heart of America. And I cannot rest in content until every American youngster has been given that chance.’” In closing, Dr. Lerner spoke of the necessity of trust with the comment that, “when there is trust there can be communication; when there is not trust, language is only the empty jangling of sounds.”’ On Thursday evening, the Utah Symphony began its 1972-73 concert season in the Ogden area with a concert dedicated to Dr. Bishop, and designed to coincide with the three day inaugural ceremony. ae PF? Weenies Bs ae ieee ED) ow 5) 4 ry _ nm Gov. CalvinL. Rampton ’ Guest soloist with the Utah Symphony for the inaugural concert was Issac Stern who has played in all parts of the United States plus the capital cities of Europe, and was the first American artist to be invited to perform in the Soviet Union after World War II. Maurice Abravenal, director of the Utah Symphony, had chosen for the evening performance an all Brahms program including the very moving ‘Academic Overture’, The Symphony No. 3, and the great Violin Concerto featuring Mr. Stern as guest violinist. On Friday morning, a symposium made up of members of the Weber State faculty discussed the topic; Weber State College, Utah’s Total College, Looks To The Future. Panelists included, Dr. Charles Lein, School of Business; Dr. Jean Kunz, Family Life; Dr. Lawrence C. Evans, Philosophy; Dr. John H. McDonald, Health Occupations and Dr. Dale Cowgill, School of Technology. The panel was introduced by Dr. Helmut P. Hofmann, Weber State College Academic Vice President. At 11:30 a.m. on Friday, some 500 guests of the college, faculty and staff members and members of the Ogden community, joined for an inaugural luncheon to hear Utah’s governor Calvin L. Rampton deliver the first major address of the Inaugural day. In his remarks, Governor Rampton commented that, ‘“‘Dr. Bishop understands what the future requires of higher education in Utah. He has the ability to critically examine where we are now, and to initiate the changes necessary to guide our higher education effort in the direction it needs to go.’’ Governor Rampton discussed to some degree the changes in education, the new directions that education needs to take and the place that Weber State College will play in changing the direction of education.