In Loco A vunculi What's It All About? 5

Today we might better understand a college campus in terms of the avuncular rather than the paternal

IN LOCO AVUNCULI

By Joseph C. Robert

In these days of change in higher education, it is imperative that we keep our wits about us; there just may be some values in the old ways which at first glance might not be seen in their full glory. Or to put the matter more rudely, we must to careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

As university students you belong to a fellowship with magnificent dimensions in terms of both geography and time. I have heard noisy students at the University of Ath _ens duplicating the yells at a pre-football rally at our own Greek Theatre ( though really they were putting the pressure on their business manager to reduce tuition). The houses of the so-called nations at the University at Uppsala, Sweden, are similar to our own fraternity lodges, and serve the same purposes . Student caps in Rome put one in mind of freshman headgear all over the United States. In ordinary seasons you have much in common with students in the western world. Not only in mannerisms but in spirit.

Always acknowledging our intellectual debt to ancient times, we must realize that the college and university idea as we know it came to the English-speaking colonies from Europe by way of England , later in more direct fashion . Some of those seminal medieval universities were established by professors , some by students. Among the latter is Bologna, today a fascinating place with its miles of arcades and its busy industries. How did the university originate? In plain terms some young people wanted training not then available, and they employed teachers. In the face-to-face encounter between these professors and students we have the genesis of the university, as the term is usually understood in our times. The students militantly organized to protect themselves against the keepers of shops and taverns, who, according to the young people, habitually exploited them. And they, the students, made strict requirements of their professors, who were specifically forbidden to cut classes, and to postpone indefinitely troublesome points in their lectures through the device of protesting that these themes would be considered on the morrow! In those days before collect telephone calls were invented, students used to write home . Let us peek over the shoulders of a lad who is earnestly scratching away. This is 500 years ago. According to Haskins he writes about as follows. To "his venerable master" he sends "greetings. " This is to inform / Continued on page 42

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Edited by Dr. James A. Sartain

In an effort to deal with some of the major issues in America today the first two programs of the 1969 Faculty-Alumni Forum were devoted to "The Generation Gap" and to "Law and Disorder." Held in the Fine Arts Building, both of these panel discussions attracted a large audience and both provoked spirited debate. "The Generation Gap," moderated by Jerry L. Tarver, chairman of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts, had as its panel members H. I. Willett, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools; Guy Friddell, '46, editorial page editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot; Robert F. Smart, provost of the University of Richmond; Fred Smith, president of Richmond College Student Government; Mary Sue Terry, president of Westhampton College Government; and James A. Winders, Collegian columnist.

Miss Terry suggested that a lack of communication was one of the major factors in the generation gap and pointed out that "there are two types of communication with the older generation-pleasant and unpleasant." Part of the problem, as Miss Terry sees it, is that there is "a mutual misunderstanding of words," and the "danger and the folly of glibly classifying all members of one generation as unloving cntlcs and all members of the other generation as uncritical lovers."

Dr. Willett felt that the generation gap is more mental than physical and that "young people are missing discipline and want some authority to tell them what to do." In response to Dr. Willett's statement, Mr. Smith asserted that "advice we get from our parents sometimes does not assist with the problem for which an answer is being sought."

Mr. Friddell, more optimistic about the problem than the other panelists, suggested that the gap between the generations is diminishing. He cited recent court decisions and legislative acts involving civil rights as having helped close the gap. "Law and Disorder" was discussed by William T. Muse, dean of the T. C. Williams Law School; Henry L. Marsh, III, Richmond attorney and civil rights leader; and James A. Sartain, associate professor of sociology at the University of Richmond . This panel was moderated by Virginius Dabney, recently-retired editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "Crime is increasing in our county ... and it is not just the vice of a handful of / Continued on page 39