Box 16, Folder 5, Document 131

Box 16, Folder 5, Document 131

THE 210TH COMMENCEMENT

fo A Call for Concern ak

at age of protest and participa-
tion has coined its own jargon
—“activism”, ‘‘Vietnik”, “freedom
marcher.”” For many of this year’s
American college graduates, picketing
has become the valid, and therefore
leading, answer to conventional prob-
lems. But Pennsylvania commence-
ment speaker (and U. S. Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development)
Robert C. Weaver offered an alterna-
tive for this generation of “activists”
and their restless social consciences.

Addressing 2,900 degree recipients
on May 23 in Convention Hall,
Weaver said: “Our need is to be con-
cerned with urban values and trans-
late them into equal opportunity, at-
tractive communities, and the good
life for ourselves and our neighbors.”
The new member of President John-
son’s cabinet said he is ‘sometimes
concerned Jest we underestimate or
misinterpret the implications and po-
tentialities of urbanization.” We need
to “raise the horizon of expectations
of the American people” in order to
accomplish this great goal. “It cannot
be that the complexity of the issue
deters us,” he said. Nor can it be that
“we shy away because the issues in-
volved yield to no simple, single, sure
solutions, for that is equally true of so
many other problems.

“Perhaps it is that urban problems
are so immediate and so much a part
of our daily existence that we accept
them as immutable. If so, I want to
disabuse you of that delusion. Man
has created cities and man can change
them. The fundamental issue,” he con-
tinued, “is, of course, whether or not
urban democracy will work, truly, for
all Americans. Stated another way, the
highest goal of our national efforts in
urban development is to maximize
options, to insure the highest possible
level of opportunities for all our
people, at tre same time that cities
and satisfactions for their occupants.”

ie Federa Thien is stressing







experimentation, innovation, and
demonstration,” he said, “. . . not to

fend off radical change in cities, but
to foster it.” Government is seeking
compromise solutions which it feels
are inevitable. This process calls for
planning and decision making, with
the implicit belief that “if people and
institutions can agree on common
problems, become involved in com-
mon solutions, and learn to work to-
gether for specific, though limited, ob-
jectives, then there is the basis for
wider joint action.”

Citing his aspirations for urbaniza-
tion and the complexities awaiting the
graduates of 1966, Weaver said: “I be-
lieve in cities. I welcome an urban
America. But I know both can be
much better than they now are. To
achieve the urban potential that is
ours is the domestic challenge of your
generation.

“It is my hope,” he told his audi-
ence, “that this will be your com-
mencement to identify with this cru-
cial issue. You are urban America.

What_you and others in our society
that maximizes choices, reduces in-
convenience, demands and_achieves
beauty, and establishes a viable system
of local and regional government.”
Sharing Weaver's platform of be-
liefs, President Harnwell said: “Com-
mencement implies the beginning of
new activities and new goals, and
offers new achievements. The chal-
lenge today for this potential energy
assures an opportunity for each indi-
vidual to contribute significantly to-
ward the revitalization of contempo-
rary society.’ Noting many changes
and improvements made by gov-
ernmental programs, the president
pointed to society's current “process
of dramatic evolution” and the role of
educational institutions in that proc-
ess: ‘“The great urban universities, as
communities of concerned and knowl-
edgeable people, are meeting the chal-
lenges of urbanization at an increas-



54 PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE July, 1966

ee to
Oe
out Cities "

ing pace... The university, as a non-
political, non-profit establishment, is
in a position to experiment with pro-
grams of innovation and to provide a
medium for action on the part of the
private citizen, the philanthropic
foundation, and the government.”

Pennsylvania’s involvement is “wit-
nessed in the enterprising community
efforts of our divisions of law, medi-
cine, education, city planning and its
environmental institute, regional sci-
ence, and the department of labor
and industry.

“More recently this thrust of the
University toward assisting our urban
neighbors in seeking experimental
idly emerging social problems is rep-
resented by our Human Resources

Program, a nationally acclaimed seg-
ment of the University which is in-

volved in seeking solutions to the
problems of breakdown in community
relations. The student involvement in
this University effort, the Community
Involvement Council and its Tutorial
Board, have demonstrated that our
undergraduate students care deeply
about the human and social problems
of our Philadelphia community. Over
600 of our students under the coor-
dinated efforts of their own leadership
actively engaged in performing a va-
lar_basis_in the Philadelphia area
throughout the past academic year in-
cluding tutoring elementary and high
school students. Clearly this Univer-
sity,” the president concluded, “stands
ready and willing to implement the

ellorts of those already engaged in
compounding a remedy for the prob-

lems of the city.” __
————————









tT the 210th Commencement, the
University also awarded honor-

ary degrees to ten distinguished men:
e Walter H. Annenberg, '3/ IW
editor and publisher oF The Philadel-
phia Inquirer and president of Tri-
angle Publications, Inc., doctor of